For some, entire year's work came down to Sunday
By Dave Lagarde, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
McKINNEY, Texas -- It was a day of high drama, a day when emotions ran the gamut from euphoric to despondent.
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It was a day when career paths were set, at least for a year, and dreams were fulfilled; a day when high hopes were dashed, stomachs turned somersaults and fingernails were chewed to the quick.
It's always that kind of day when the curtain comes down on another Nationwide Tour season. And Sunday was no different.
Matt Bettencourt authored a serious feel-good story over the course of 72 holes here north of Dallas. Not only did Bettencourt win the Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch, but his $180,000 first-place check also gave him the 2008 money title, a perk that guarantees him a full exemption on the PGA TOUR in 2009, plus spots in THE PLAYERS Championship and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
Fittingly, Bettencourt, who had made just 32 of 72 cuts in his career prior to scoring his first Nationwide Tour victory in Oregon seven weeks ago, saved the best of this week's 267 strokes for last. He closed the season with a six-foot birdie putt to defeat Jeff Klauk by a stroke for the biggest win of his eight-year professional career. Bryce Molder and Colt Knost tied for third, two strokes back.
Bettencourt knew his winning putt was headed in about two feet before it dropped. He raised his arms and then tossed his putted into the air, touching off quite a celebration on the 18th green. Bettencourt leaped into the arms of his caddie, J.J. Jackovac. Seconds later his fianceé, Kelly Rush, joined the happy scrum.
"I'm in shock right now, to be honest,'' Bettencourt said. "And to end up No. 1 on the money list (he passed previous money leader Brendon de Jonge by $10,828 with $447,863), well, that's what dreams are made of. This is the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.''
It almost didn't happen. A kidney stone forced Bettencourt to the hospital just before midnight Wednesday. He was hooked up to an IV. Four hours later, he passed it.
"Good thing it didn't happen Thursday morning,'' he said. "I would have had to withdraw.''
Bettencourt wasn't the only winner Sunday. Twenty-four of his peers also left the sprawling premises of Craig Ranch with wide smiles on their faces and 2009 PGA TOUR cards in their pockets.
D.A. Points summed it up for each member of 'The 25' when he entered the scorer's trailer moments after completing his final round.
"Yeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!'' he screamed.
It was a happy scream. Points finished 17th on the money list and the whoop was his way of letting off a year's worth of satisfying steam.
Finally the grind of chasing money was over, but not before a number of intriguing stories played themselves out through a sun-splashed afternoon. Here are details of just a few.
WHAT GOES UP: Bettencourt wasn't the only player who came up with a clutch performance. Molder was in that number, too. He started the tournament on the outside looking in at 'The 25,' but played his way on the PGA TOUR over the course of 72 holes at TPC Craig Ranch, and it got a little hairy at the end when Molder made bogey on the 70th and 71st holes. But he parred the 72nd, and his third-place check got him in under the financial wire as he jumped from 32nd to 23rd.
"I've just got to make it interesting,'' a relieved Molder said as he accepted a congratulatory kiss from his wife Kelley as she shed tears of joy. "It was a tough situation for me because I was trying to win the tournament.''
He didn't, but third place never felt so good.
THE DAD FACTOR: Sunday was an excruciating day for more than one spectator, but no one experienced more ups and downs and belly turn-arounds Sunday than Champions Tour player D.A. Weibring, whose son, Matt, was battling down to the wire for his first crack at golf's highest level.
"I couldn't stand still out there,'' D.A. said as he stared a hole in a computer behind the 18th. It was projecting where players would finish on the money list. "I've coached Matt in baseball, caddied for him in q-school and watched my daughters dance competitively. But today was the toughest day I've ever had. Nothing comes close.''
All's well that ends well, though. Matt Weibring finished 24th on the money list.
THE LONGEST WAIT: Former U.S. Amateur champion Ricky Barnes waited through four seasons on the Nationwide Tour before he finally graduated Sunday -- in the 25th and last position. He won $218,902, $3,582 more than David Branshaw, who finished 26th.
Barnes, who began the week 22nd, was certain he had played his way out of 'The 25' by finishing in a tie for 37th. At that point Branshaw had moved in front of him, but still had eight holes to play. So Barnes sat and waited for two hours, a span that made the four seasons seem like a New York second.
"It hasn't been easy,'' Barnes said as he sat nervously inside the TPC Craig Ranch clubhouse, knocking on wood from time to time as tournament updates came across his Blackberry. "I'm not rooting against anybody, but I need some stuff to happen.''
It did when Branshaw missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 16th that would have moved him past Barnes.
Barnes could commiserate, though. He finished 26th on the money list in 2006, lipping out on a birdie attempt on the 72nd hole that would have sent him to the PGA TOUR.
"I've been on the opposite end,'' he said. "It doesn't feel good.''
UNLUCKY LOSERS: Chris Tidland, who was bumped out of 25th, and Branshaw certainly qualify in this category. Tidland got off on the wrong foot in Thursday's first round when he made a triple bogey on the first hole.
"I just didn't play well enough,'' said Tidland, who finished tied for 42nd to drop to 28th on the final money list. "I didn't come here to protect. I had great preparation, but I just couldn't sustain it.''
Branshaw made an early run up the leader board in the final round and was 5 under for the day through 10 holes, but a bogey on the 11th stopped his momentum and the miss on 16 sealed his fate.
"I had every chance in the world to make it,'' he said. "But I just didn't make anything coming in today.''
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