WinCo Foods Portland Open and Web.com Tour Update
The WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by Kraft Heinz is the final regular-season event on the Web.com Tour. This year is the fourth edition of the Portland area event held at the renowned Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, host site of Tiger Woods’ historic U.S. Amateur “three-peat” and several national championships. The following are storylines of the players who will be making a stop in Portland later this summer.
THE RACE TO SECURE ONE OF 25 PGA TOUR CARDS
At the conclusion of the WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by Kraft-Heinz, August 24-27, the top 25 players on the 2017 Web.com Tour money list will earn their PGA TOUR cards for the 2017-18 season. Here’s a look at Nos. 23 through 27 on the money list through 14 events:
|
23. Alex Prugh |
$110,116 |
Four top-10s |
University of Washington |
|
24. Chris Baker |
$108,659 |
Runner-up, eight cuts made |
Iowa State |
|
25. Casey Wittenberg |
$106,585 |
One victory |
Oklahoma State |
|
26. Nicholas Thompson |
$91,122 |
One runner-up, eight cuts made |
Georgia Tech |
|
27. Taylor Moore |
$91,081 |
Two top-10s, 11 cuts made |
University of Arkansas |
WEB.COM TOUR ALUM KYLE STANLEY WINS SECOND PGA TOUR TITLE
Kyle Stanley, a 2015 Web.com Tour graduate, won for the second time on the PGA TOUR with a playoff victory over Charles Howell III at the Quicken Loans National. Stanley, who has 42 career starts on the Web.com Tour with nine top-10s, is the 470th TOUR victory by a former Web.com Tour player. The Gig Harbor, Wash. Native finished 15th on the 2015 Web.com Tour Finals money list with three top-10s in 10 starts, including a T5 at the 2015 Web.com Tour Championship. Stanley held the 54-hole lead at this year’s THE PLAYERS Championship on his way to a T4 finish.
ADAM SCHENK HEADED TO PGA TOUR AFTER ANOTHER TOP-FIVE FINISH
Courtesy of his third consecutive top-five performance, Adam Schenk moved up to No. 7 on the Web.com Tour Regular Season money list, securing his PGA TOUR card for the 2017-18 season with $176,816 in earnings. After finishing 40th on the money list a season ago as a rookie, the 25-year-old missed the cut in five of his first six starts to open this season, but has since been on a tear with seven made cuts in his last eight starts. His run of three consecutive top-fives began at the Air Capital Classic in June with a T4. The Vincennes, Indiana native followed it up the next week with his first career win, taking home the Lincoln Land Charity Championship with a 25-foot birdie on the second playoff hole. Schenk wrapped up his TOUR card with a T5 finish last week at the Nashville Golf Open.
LANTO GRIFFIN BIRDIES FIRST PLAYOFF HOLE FOR VICTORY IN NASHVILLE
Lanto Griffin became the first player since 2004 on the Web.com Tour to win a tournament after making the cut on the number Sunday at the Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation. Griffin opened with rounds of 72-70 but shot 62-68 on the weekend to force a playoff with Abraham Ancer. On the first playoff hole, Griffin holed a 17-foot birdie for his first Web.com Tour victory. With his victory, the 29-year-old moved up to No. 21 on the Regular Season money list. Griffin received his trophy from a champion in his own right -- eight-time PGA TOUR winner and 2012 FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker. Snedeker, who won twice on the Web.com Tour in 2006, presented the signature guitar trophy in his first year as the tournament’s host.
Griffin is in his first season on Tour after spending the last two seasons on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, where he’s posted two top-10s in 23 starts. The Virginia Commonwealth University grad earned conditional status on the Web.com Tour this season for the first time with a T53 finish at the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
- 10 – Conrad Shindler and Lanto Griffin both fired the lowest round in relation to par this season on the Web.com Tour with 10-under 62s at the Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation. Their 62s broke Wesley Bryan’s course record of 63.
- 15 – Guillermo Pereira currently leads the Web.com Tour with 15 consecutive rounds of par or better.
- 95 – Lanto Griffin needed just 95 putts for four rounds at the Nashville Golf Open, the lowest total on the Web.com Tour this season. Griffin ranked 67th among the 68 players to make the cut in greens in regulation (39/72), but was first in putting and needed just 20 putts in a third-round 62.
2017 WEB.COM TOUR MEMBER TO WATCH
Guillermo Pereira – 22 – Santiago, Chile
After a slow start that included missed cuts in six of his first eight starts, Guillermo “Mito” Pereira has turned around his season over his last five starts with five consecutive made cuts. Beginning at the BMW Charity Pro- Am Presented by the SYNNEX Corporation, Pereira has gotten better each week, reeling off finishes of T44, T28, T15, T11, and T3 over his last five. The 22-year-old played the last two seasons on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, where he finished third on the 2016 Order of Merit with a victory at the Roberto De Vicenzo Punta del Este Open Copa NEC. In 18 starts, he posted a victory, two runner-ups, and four additional top-10s. Pereira entered the season with conditional status after placing T120 at the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament and has moved up to No. 44 on the Regular Season money list with $61,148 in earnings. The Chile native finished just one shot out of a playoff at last week’s Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation with a final-round 67. Pereira spent one season at Texas Tech, where he posted four top-10s and earned All-Big 12 honors before turning professional. As a junior, Pereira won the Marbella Open, Chilean Championship, Peru International Amateur, and the Las Brisas Open.








