Baryla earns first win at the Chattanooga Classic

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Chris Baryla has become the latest resident in "THE 25" after winning the Chattanooga Classic by one stroke.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Chris Baryla fired a 2-under-par 70 in the final round of the Chattanooga Classic presented by Black Creek to finish at 19 under for the week and win by a shot over Troy Kelly. David Branshaw, Cameron Percy and Vance Veazey finished tied for third at 17-under par.

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After starting the day two strokes ahead of Kyle Reifers, Baryla got off to an inauspicious start.

"I bogeyed the first two and wasn't feeling too good about things," he said. "They were shaky bogeys. I hit good shots, but I three-putted the first and had an easy up-and-down on the second that I didn't convert. My caddie Brian Sullivan did a great job of keeping me in the moment and focused on what I needed to do."

"That's the good thing about starting with a two-stroke lead," he continued. "Even if you stumble a bit you're still going to be right there. I played fantastic for the rest of the way other than No. 12 where I made a double bogey. But I kept it together after that and made three in a row coming in."

This is the first Nationwide Tour win for Baryla and the $90,000 paycheck moves him from 57th to 20th on the money list with cumulative earnings of $184,055 for the season. With two events remaining, it puts him in good position to finish in "THE 25" leading money winners that earn PGA TOUR cards for 2010. Last year, Ricky Barnes was 25th on the final money list at $218,902.

The 26-year-old out of the University of Texas at El Paso made his first start of the season in May after recovering from a back injury that kept him off the golf course for nearly a year. He open qualified for the Rex Hospital Open, finished tied for fourth and has kept the momentum going ever since. Baryla has missed only one cut in 12 starts and has three other top-10s to his credit in addition to today's victory.

The Nationwide Tour travels to Miami, Fla. next week for the Miccosukee Championship, the second-to-last event of the season. The top-60 players on the money list are eligible for the season-ending $1 million Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island from October 19-25.