The last promotion from the Web.com Tour to the PGA Tour came down to the final green of the final regular-season event.
The WinCo Foods Portland Open is always full of drama, and that was certainly the case Sunday as Keith Mitchell strode to the 72nd hole with his status for next season hanging in the balance.
Mitchell was T-6 on the leaderboard, but the standings that mattered were tied to the season-long money race. The top 25 from the developmental circuit earn PGA Tour cards for the following season, and Mitchell needed to birdie the par-5 closing hole at Pumpkin Ridge to pass Roberto Diaz and claim the final spot among “The 25.”
But Mitchell’s math was wrong, as he explained after the round that he thought he needed an eagle to get the job done. His 15-footer for birdie missed, and after making par he finished the season at No. 26 on the money list. His season-long earnings of $151,444 left him about $6,000 behind Diaz.
So while Diaz has a spot next season on the PGA Tour, Mitchell will join a large group of players that includes Nos. 26-75 on the Web.com money list and Nos. 126-200 on the FedExCup points list at Web.com Tour Finals. That four-event stretch kicks off this week in Columbus, Ohio, and will offer an additional 25 cards for next season to the top earners.
Other notables to finish just outside the top-25 cutoff included Rob Oppenheim (No. 27), Martin Piller (No. 28), Nicholas Thompson (No. 32) and Jason Gore (No. 35).
Thanks in large part to his four-shot win in Portland, Brice Garnett took the top spot on the 2017 money list and will be fully exempt next season on the PGA Tour. Here’s a look at the 25 players who earned a promotion this year, as all but Garnett will hope to better their position in the initial reshuffle based on their play over the next four weeks:
1. Brice Garnett (fully exempt)
2. Sam Ryder
3. Abraham Ancer
4. Andrew Landry
5. Stephan Jaeger
6. Talor Gooch
7. Kyle Thompson
8. Andrew Putnam
9. Chesson Hadley
10. Ben Silverman
11. Nate Lashley
12. Adam Schenk
13. Andrew Yun
14. Ted Potter, Jr.
15. Austin Cook
16. Zecheng Dou
17. Conrad Shindler
18. Aaron Wise
19. Matt Atkins
20. Xinjun Zhang
21. Brandon Harkins
22. Lanto Griffin
23. Beau Hossler
24. Ethan Tracy
25. Roberto Diaz
Source: Internet
