DeLaet bolsters Tour Card chances with fifth place finish at Viking Classic
Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:57:32
by Jeff Brooke
Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., went a long way toward securing his PGA Tour card for 2011 on Sunday by tying for fifth place at the Viking Classic.
For his second-best finish of his rookie season, DeLaet earned $131,400 (all currency U.S.) and moved up 15 spots on the tour's money list to No. 114.
The top 125 at the end of the season earn full playing privileges for next year.
DeLaet has won $720,640 this year in 25 starts. The No. 125 player last year finished at about $660,000.
The long bomber, who just last year was playing on the Canadian Tour, shot four-under-par 68 at Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss., on Sunday to charge up the leaderboard. He made six birdies, including four in a five-hole stretch, against two bogeys.
No one in the field had a lower final-round score.
His four-day total of 10-under 278 was five shots behind champion Bill Hass, who won for the second time in his career and this season.
Haas of the United States overcame five bogeys to win by three strokes over 51-year-old Michael Allen.
Haas, who never trailed in the tournament, bogeyed the first hole, and had four bogeys on the back nine - including one of the par-five 18th. He also scattered five birdies to finish at 15-under 273.
