Some players cried, but not Matt Every. At
least not on camera. Instead, Every thanked his wife, his caddie, his parents
and "everyone who believes in me."
"They know who they are. There's a lot of people," Every said.
Gotta have supporters.
A former All-American at the University of Florida -- where he was a walk-on
-- Every lived out a dream on Sunday when he won the season-ending Nationwide
Tour Championship to earn a PGA Tour card for next year.
The tournament is reserved for the top 60 players on the developmental tour's
money list, and only the top 25 at the end receive PGA Tour cards.
Soft-spoken and gracious, Every scorched the Ralston Creek course at Daniel
Island for a 63 on Friday, then posted back-to-back 67s on the weekend to beat
tour money leader Michael Sim by three shots.
Sim, of course, had already locked up his PGA Tour card for 2010 by winning
three times on the Nationwide Tour this season to earn an automatic promotion.
That's one way to do it.
Every needed a solo third place or better to earn his card -- and he got more
than that. The win moved him from 49th place to 10th on the money list, well
inside the top 25.
"I got lucky a couple of times, and that happens -- I guess -- when you win,"
said Every, a second-year player.
He had to guess, because Every had never won as a professional. Not until
Sunday.
His win, though, had a ripple effect. Among the players who entered the
tournament inside the top 25 on the money list, 23 of them played well enough
to stay there.
Two did not.
With Every moving to No. 10 -- and Steve Wheatcroft vaulting 11 places to No.
20 after finishing in a third-place tie -- room had to be made in the top 25.
Brian Stuard dropped from 23rd to 26th -- the last man out by less than $3,000
-- and Alistair Presnell slipped from 25th to 28th. Those players will toil
again on the Nationwide Tour next year unless they can make it through PGA
Tour Q-school.
Which is exactly where Every didn't want to be this winter.
"I'm relieved," said Every. "The practice I put in this year hasn't been
paying off and I dreaded the thought of having to go back to Q-school."
There are good reasons the Nationwide Tour is mostly overlooked by golf fans.
With no bankable stars, not much of a personality and few prime television
slots, it can be a chore to follow.
Especially while the PGA Tour is in full swing.
But there are weekends during the year when the developmental circuit produces
enough drama and excitement to step briefly out of the shadow of its big
brother.
The Cox Classic, for example, where Jason Gore once shot a 59, is always a
shootout. The 14 winners of that tournament have averaged a score of 20-under
par.
And the Tour Championship is a survival-of-the-fittest soap opera that should
be filmed one year for a reality special: "Who Wants To Be A Golfing
Millionaire."
Eighty-eight players on the PGA Tour had made $1 million or more this season
through Sunday. And there are 25 more candidates for next year's list, all
recent graduates with actual job prospects.
Every and the rest of the 25 join a storied list of players who have made the
jump since the formation of the Nationwide Tour -- originally called the Ben
Hogan Tour -- was announced at a Fort Worth, Texas, press conference in 1989.
Over the past two decades, players like Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson,
John Daly, David Duval, David Toms and Tom Lehman -- major winners all -- have
emerged from the Nationwide Tour and become stars.
In fact, alumni have claimed nearly 250 victories on the PGA Tour -- an
average of about 13 a year -- making the Nationwide Tour a pretty good
predictor of future success.
Every couldn't be more excited to start.
"It's hard to watch your college buddies play on tour and in the Presidents
Cup. You start to think 'Are these guys really that much better than me?'"
Every said.
"And I know the answer to that question. Deep down I do."
©2009 Sports Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
