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. 2017 marks 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 eight events:
|
23. Sebastian Munoz |
$70,200 |
One top-10 |
University of North Texas |
|
24. Talor Gooch |
$65,427 |
Two top-10s, seven made cuts |
Oklahoma State University |
|
25. Austin Cook |
$62,761 |
One top-five, five top-25s |
University of Arkansas |
|
26. Corey Conners |
$58,628 |
Two top-10s, six made cuts |
Kent State University |
|
27. Aaron Wise |
$58,572 |
One top-five, five made cuts |
University of Oregon |
BILLY HORSCHEL WINS NO. 466 AT THE AT&T BYRON NELSON
After four straight missed cuts, Billy Horschel picked up PGA TOUR win No. 466 by a former Web.com Tour player at the AT&T Byron Nelson, where he defeated former Tour graduate Jason Day on the first playoff hole. Horschel birdied two of his final five holes of regulation to shoot a final-round 69 and match Day at 12-under 268. The former University of Florida product began the week No. 71 in the FedExCup standings and moved to No. 15 with the win.
Horschel has now accounted for four TOUR wins and one FedExCup since he competed on Tour in 2012. The victory marked Horschel’s first win in a playoff on the PGA TOUR. Horschel was the first player eliminated in a six-man playoff earlier this season at The RSM Classic, eventually won by Class of 2016 member Mackenzie Hughes.
STEPHAN JAEGER PICKS UP WIN NO. 2 AT BMW CHARITY PRO-AM
Stephan Jaegar picked up his second victory on the Web.com Tour at the rain-shortened BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation. Jaeger held the 54-hole lead, one-stroke ahead of Andrew Yun, Tyler Duncan and Xinjun Zhang, and was declared the winner when Tour officials were forced to cancel the final round due to impending thunderstorms. Jaeger moves from outside the top 100 on the money list to No. 7 with a first-place prize of $126,000. Before his triumph in Greenville, the 27-year-old from Munich, Germany missed two straight cuts and only broke par once in his last six rounds.
Last year, Jaeger shattered all the scoring records on the Web.com Tour. At the 2016 edition of the Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga grad became the first player in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event to shoot a 58. In that wire-to-wire, seven-shot victory, the Chattanooga, Tennessee resident broke the 18-hole, 36-hole, 54-hole and 72-hole scoring records with a 30-under 250, which broke Steve Wheatcroft’s previous 72-hole mark by five shots.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
16 – The number of players with over $100,000 in earnings through nine events in 2017, as opposed to 12 in 2016.
134 – Web.com Tour rookie Taylor Moore leads the Tour in total birdies made with 134 through nine tournaments.
2017 WEB.COM TOUR MEMBER TO WATCH
Abraham Ancer – 26 – McAllen, Texas
Ancer originally graduated to the PGA TOUR in 2015 after six top-25s including a victory at the Nova Scotia Open, where he defeated Bronson Burgoon in a playoff. Ancer struggled in his rookie campaing on TOUR and made just six cuts in 19 events.Through nine events this season, the Norman, Okla. resident has made eight cuts and recorded five top-25s, two of which were top-10s.
While Ancer was born in South Texas, he grew up in Reynosa, Mexico, where he lived until age 14. His parents are both natives of Mexico and he has dual citizenship in Mexico and the United States. This diversity has afforded him the opportunity to compete in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba the last two years. Last November, Ancer trailed the leader by four strokes heading into the weekend and carded 74-72 for a T55.
As a freshman at Odessa Junior College, Ancer was a Ping All-American and Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson Award winner. He won five tournaments before tranferssing to Oklahoma. In Norman, he was an Honorable Mention All-American selection and a three-time all-region choice, winning two individual tournaments and finishing second in school history to Anthony Kim in career scoring average in relation to par. He also holds the school record for lowest 54-hole score (21-under).
