Wyndham Clark of Highlands Ranch made a statement by leading wire-to-wire and winning a Web.com Tour Q-school tournament by four on Friday in Murrieta, Calif.
Clark followed up a 17th-place finish Sunday in the Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA Tour with a dominating performance in advancing to the Final Stage of Q-school, where he’s guaranteed at least conditional status on the Web.com Tour in 2018.
Clark (left) shot his fourth consecutive sub-par round — a 2-under-par 70 — on Friday, giving him a 17-under 271 total. He made five birdies and three bogeys in round 4, giving him two eagles, 20 birdies and seven bogeys over 72 holes.
The top 20 finishers and ties after Friday advance to the Final Stage of Web qualifying, set for Dec. 7-10 in Chandler, Ariz. In Arizona, all the finishers will be guaranteed some Web.com Tour status in 2018, but the top 45 and ties there will earn exempt status of varying degrees, while the rest will have conditional status. And it’s not unusual for some players with conditional status to get very few starts on the Web.com Tour.
Two-time CoBank Colorado Open Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch was the next-closest Coloradan to advancing, but he fell three strokes shy in a Second Stage tournament in Dothan, Ala. The former University of Colorado golfer tied for 28th at a site where the top 19 players and ties advanced. Tolan finished at even-par 288 (73-76-70-69), while 285 and better was necessary to make it to the Final Stage.
Three more Second Stage tournaments are scheduled for next week, with four other players with strong Colorado ties scheduled to tee it up: Jim Knous of Littleton, Tom Whitney of Fort Collins, A.J. Morris of Aspen and former University of Colorado golfer Justin Bardgett.
Here are the scores for all the Coloradans who competed this week:
Murrieta, Calif. (Top 20 Finishers and Ties Advance to Final Stage)
EARNED SPOT IN Q-SCHOO FINALS
1. Wyndham Clark, Highlands Ranch 66-66-69-70–271
FAILED TO ADVANCE
50. Riley Arp, Fort Collins 68-72-73-79–292
50. Parker Edens, Greeley 69-71-75-77–292
66. Jimmy Makloski, Pueblo 76-74-75-73–298
Dothan, Ala. (Top 19 Finishers and Ties Advance to Final Stage)
FAILED TO ADVANCE
28. Derek Tolan, Highlands Ranch 73-76-70-69–288
Knous Will Play on Weekend in Vegas PGA Tour Event: Meanwhile, Jim Knous of Littleton, who Monday qualified for the PGA Tour’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, is in good shape to make his first cut ever on the PGA Tour.
The former Colorado School of Mines golfer has shot rounds of 71-71, leaving him at even-par 142 and tied for 47th place. Though round 2 wasn’t completed on Friday, the players at 1 over par and better look likely to make the cut.
Former Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders is in 13th place at 3 under par after playing 33 holes through two days.
Fort Collins’ Tom Whitney, who like Knous Monday qualified for the tournament, will miss the cut after rounds of 71-76.
