If there's a 'Hail Mary' in golf, Points pulled it off

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D.A. Points' dramatic chip on the 17th was just the beginning of his return to the TOUR.

If you're going to "The Big Show," why not travel in style?

Why not make the journey to golf's biggest and best tour on the wings of an eagle?

Why not slam-dunk a wedge from 125 yards for an electrifying deuce on the final hole to get into a playoff?

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This will be D.A. Points' third outing on the PGA TOUR.

Points' season

Best five finishes

Event Finish Miccosukee champ. P1 HSBC New Zealand PGA Champ. T5 Moonah Classic T7 N.E. Pennsylvania Classic T9 Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic T10

Why not make a birdie -- on the same hole -- to score a Nationwide Tour victory that sends you back to the PGA TOUR in 2009.

Do that and it's safe to say you're scoring points. Or at the very least you're D.A. Points.

That's precisely what Points, 31, did Sunday to claim the Miccosukee Championship -- the final regular-season event of 2008. And to the victor goes the spoils, a first-place check for $112,500 that allowed Points to move up 25 spots on the money list and slip comfortably into "THE 25" at No. 15 with $261,096.

"I'm 10 spots inside "THE 25," so I'm absolutely certain I've secured my card,'' Points said about an hour after his finishing fireworks Sunday afternoon. "But I definitely will go into the (Nationwide) Tour Championship (scheduled Nov. 6-9 at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas) with high hopes. Spots in tournaments (on the PGA TOUR) keep getting tougher to come by, so I'd like to play my way into the top 10.''

Shoot, with a $1 million purse and a winner's prize of $180,000, Points could play his way right to the very top of the money list -- which Brendon de Jonge leads with $415,835 -- should things fall his way in Texas.

"The nice thing is I'll be playing with a little less pressure,'' said Points, who led the Miccosukee Championship field in putting. "I can free-wheel it, and if I can keep my putter rolling, who knows? I've played that course a few times. Maybe I'll have an advantage.''

Regardless of what happens at the Nationwide Tour Championship, Points turned a solid 2008 season into a spectacular one last week with his overtime victory over Matt Bettencourt. Bettencourt certainly was disappointed, but not disconsolate. The runner-up finish came with a lovely consolation prize, a check for $67,500, which moved him from No. 22 to No. 12 among "THE 25."

"Nobody has ever been happier to finish second,'' said Bettencourt, who closed the 2008 regular season with a heated rush to secure his first trip to the PGA TOUR after almost a decade of trying.

Bettencourt, who recently scored his first Nationwide Tour victory at the Oregon Classic presented by Kendall Automotive, likely will be in for some inevitable shock and awe during his rookie season as he goes about learning a new golf course and a new city each week with visions of $6 million purses dancing in his head. That sort of experience will be old hat for Points, who played the PGA TOUR in 2005 after finishing second on the Nationwide Tour money list and again in 2006 when he earned his privileges through the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament.

"In 2005, I don't know if I ever felt comfortable,'' Points said. "I just didn't get it dialed in. I went through two different instructors and constantly battled my swing. I didn't get it tightened up until late in 2006.''

Points had begun working with Brian Mogg by then, and the teacher and pupil are still at it. That's why Points feels he is ready to stick around for a while.

"I think I just get it more now than I did then,'' he said of what it takes to succeed in the ultra-competitive world of professional golf. "I know I'll be more comfortable. I feel like I belong out there. I know I can play. I feel like I've been improving every year.''

Points has worked hard on three phases of the game, two physical and one mental.

His short game, his swing and his character have come under extensive examination in his sessions with Mogg, a former PGA TOUR member. They have worked on his ball position and setup with the putter and seen improvement. The swing has tightened to the point where Points is getting the club on the ball squarely. As far as character goes, Points is making an exerted effort not to try as hard and get in his own way.

"We all want it so badly out here,'' he said. "There were times when that got the best of me. I'd get to over-examining things when I'd miss a shot. So I'm trying not to get too excited or worry too much and get out of kilter.''

His mantra for the week of the Miccosukee Championship was to remain laid back and loose. He went with the flow, even in his third-round 62, when he wasn't aware of how many under par he was. It worked like a charm, with the help of those 18th-hole heroics. Points also won for the fourth time on the Nationwide Tour, but for the first time in front of his wife, Lori, and his parents, making an incredibly satisfying work week feel that much better.