For de Jonge, hot streak culminates with Xerox Classic victory

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The field in the Xerox Classic should have known by mid-afternoon Saturday, about the time a Houdini from Zimbabwe was turning a sure bogey into an improbable birdie with some serious sleight of hand with a sand wedge.

Brendon de Jonge rose to No. 2 on the money list with his victory in Rochester. (Cohen/Getty Images)

Inside the Numbers

De Jonge in 2008

Category Total Rank Driving Distance 297.0 yds. 37 Driving Accuracy 67.97% 76 Greens in Regulation 72.32% 13 Putting Average 1.757 9 Sand Saves 58.46% 5 Scoring Average 70.10 4 Money Leaders $316,056 2

This was Brendon de Jonge's week. The Xerox Classic was his to lose.

When it's your time, you short-side yourself on the par-4 18th hole in the third round and make a trip-the-light-fantastic 3 instead of the 5 you deserve.

When it's your time, you barely escape a greenside bunker with your second on a driveable par 4 in the final round, leave it in the spinach salad rough. And you chip in for birdie -- again -- with that deadly sand wedge.

So welcome de Jonge, 28, to the Nationwide Tour winner's circle, where many will tell you he certainly belongs after his four-shot victory over Jarrod Lyle that was much closer than the margin indicates.

"He has been on a roll for the last five or six weeks and I've just been waiting for him to get that first one,'' said Johnson Wagner, the 2008 Shell Houston Open champion who is de Jonge's closest professional friend. "This has been a long time coming. I'm surprised it hasn't happened soon. Brendon is that good.''

Using a superlative short game, de Jonge punched his ticket for a return trip to the PGA TOUR in 2009 thanks to his $108,000 first prize. An indication of just spectacular it was came from two statistical categories. De Jonge was 29th in the field in greens in regulation, hitting 48 of 72, yet he was first in putting needing just 107 strokes -- almost 10 under his tournament average -- on Irondequoit's Donald Ross-designed greens that baffled many in the field.

Who knew it was that good?

"I didn't,'' de Jonge said, laughing sheepishly. "But this is the best it has ever been over the course of a full week. I just had one of those weeks.''

That's right. It was de Jonge's time.

And it's about time for a player who had won at every level except on the Nationwide Tour, where he will finish his fourth season by playing in each of the eight events remaining on the 2008 schedule as the new No. 2 man on the money list (de Jonge has won $316,056) attempts to chase down Numero Uno, Lyle, who leads by a little more than $42,000.

"Brendon's too good a player to be hanging around here,'' said Lyle, who, like de Jonge, played on the PGA TOUR in 2007 bit failed to retain his privileges. "We're both headed to where we belong.''

Someone else is going there too, de Jonge's caddy, Greg Bitterly. This dynamic duo has been on a serious roll since Bitterly took the loop five weeks ago in Springfield, Mo. How they hooked up bears repeating.

Bitterly was fired by Tag Ridings following the PGA TOUR's AT&T Classic and by chance he ran into Wagner in an RV park an hour after receiving the pink slip. Wagner told Bitterly he had to go to work for de Jonge. So Bitterly pointed his RV -- with wife Janell and baby daughter Alivia in it -- toward West Virginia, where he hope to speak to de Jonge during the Nationwide Tour Player's Cup.

De Jonge had a caddy that week, who was about to leave his bag to return to work for Jason Gore on the PGA TOUR. But he said the only way he would leave was if de Jonge hired Bitterly, who found work that week with Jason Schultz. As luck would have it, Schultz was paired with de Jonge in the first two rounds, 36 holes that served as an audition.

"Greg did some great work with Jason that week,'' said de Jonge, who finished in a tie for 14th in The Nationwide Tour Players Cup, an event that started his ascension up the money ladder. "So I hired him.''

It's five week later. De Jonge has his first significant professional victory and has never played better golf. That's what you call an employer and employee meshing.

"We have similar personalities,'' de Jonge said. "I've been looking forward to coming to the golf course. Greg is a lot of fun out there.''

How much fun? De Jonge has played just one over-par round in his last 24. He has broken 70 in each of his last 12.

And the fun doesn't stop in Rochester. The party will carry on Monday when de Jonge returns home to Charlotte. N.C. His wife Mary, who is expecting the couple's first child in mid-January, will be there waiting. The de Jonges have a doctor's appointment later in the afternoon, where an ultra-sound test will reveal whether the new de Jonge will be a boy or a girl.

"Tomorrow is going to match today, excitement wise,'' de Jonge said, adding that he had no preference.

"As long as it has 10 fingers and 10 toes, I'll be happy,'' he said, smiling like the winner and proud papa-to-be he is.