Adam Hadwin authored a fantastic finish to the Web.com Tour regular season, coming within a whisker of his second victory of the campaign.
The 26-year-old Abbotsford golfer tied for second at the Winco Foods Portland Open, ending up just one stroke back of Carlos Ortiz of Mexico.
Hadwin opened the tournament with a two-over 73 on Thursday, before rallying with rounds of 65 and 63 on Friday and Saturday to get within two strokes of Ortiz atop the leaderboard.
After recording two birdies and one bogey over his first five holes on Sunday, Hadwin parred the last 13 holes en route to a one-under 70.
Ortiz’s round was more of a roller-coaster – he registered three birdies and three bogeys – but he finished at even-par 71 to fend off the Bateman Secondary grad by a stroke.
Hadwin and Jason Gore, whose five-under 66 was tied for the lowest round of the day, both earned second-place money ($70,400).
It was already set to be a big weekend for Hadwin – at the conclusion of the Portland Open, the top 25 money-list finishers participated in a ceremony to celebrate earning their PGA Tour cards for next season.
Hadwin, who came in 10th on the money list highlighted by a win at the Chile Open, was already assured of that distinction, but he leaped up to fourth by virtue of his runner-up result, with total earnings of $293,667.
That stands him in good stead heading into the four-event Web.com Tour playoffs. Hadwin and the rest of the regular-season card recipients will be competing with each other for priority access to the PGA Tour, with their earnings to date carrying over.
Ortiz, the runaway leader on the money list with earnings of $515,403, won for the third time this season and will thus be fully exempt on the PGA Tour in 2014-15.
TAYLOR PLAYOFF-BOUND
Fellow Abbotsford golfer Nick Taylor also had reason to celebrate at the Portland Open, as his T26 finish was enough to qualify him for the Web.com Tour playoffs.
The top 75 on the money list advance to the post-season, and Taylor came into the regular-season finale on the bubble, sitting in 74th place.
Taylor carded rounds of 68-71-67-72 to end up at six under par, good for $5,576 and boosting his total earnings to $70,389. That left him safely in the top 75.
Taylor assured himself of full status on the Web.com Tour next season by virtue of his top-75 finish, and he’ll have a shot at one of 25 PGA Tour cards up for grabs during the Web.com playoffs.
