CHANDLER, Ariz. — With a tight leaderboard down the stretch at Final Stage of the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament, University of Virginia alum Danny Walker emerged from the pack to birdie his final three holes and claim medalist honors at 27-under at Whirlwind Golf Club. Coming from the fourth-to-last group, Walker posted an early 9-under 63 before waiting for his fate as the final groups finished. With the victory, Walker earns fully-exempt status on the Web.com Tour in 2019.

Players who finished top-40 (and ties) earned guaranteed starts next year. This year, the cutoff came at 18-under 270 with 49 players earning guaranteed starts.

“I’m super excited right now — my goal was to come top-10 this week, so I wasn't really thinking about winning,” Walker said. “But I’m excited about it now obviously and relieved to have the week done, it’s a stressful week for everybody so it feels good to play well.”

Walker, who finished seventh on the Mackenzie Tour — PGA TOUR Canada Order of Merit this year, led the field in birdies with 33, including nine on the final day. Despite the field’s scoring average being better on the Devil’s Claw course, Walker shot one stroke better on the Cattail course over the two days.

“I set my goal to not make a bogey today because I made a couple in the first few rounds,” Walker said. “I wanted to have a clean card because there are enough birdie holes out there that if I stayed bogey-free I knew I’d make some birdies and be in good shape.”

Walker’s come-from-behind win came at the expense of Norman Xiong, who led after 36 holes and shared the lead after 54. A late birdie at the 17th wasn’t enough to offset Walker’s charge as Xiong finished one stroke back at 26-under.

“Other than an unplayable after a wayward drive on the first hole, I played the front nine pretty well,” Xiong said. “I lost my swing a little bit [on the back nine]. I had some poor swings and a couple bad breaks, but that happens at some point over 72 holes, so I think overall it was pretty solid and I’ll take where I got.”

Xiong has already had an accomplished year. The 20-year-old is the reigning Fred Haskins Award winner and Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the most outstanding male collegiate player in 2018, after winning the Phil Mickelson Award last year as the top freshman in the country. Xiong made his first cut on the PGA TOUR in October at the Sanderson Farms Championship before finishing T26.

Nine other players joined Xiong in the top-10, and in doing so earned 12 guaranteed starts in 2019. A five-way tie for third included 2018 Masters low amateur Doug Ghim, Xinjun Zhang, Timothy Madigan, Michael Gellerman and Jimmy Stanger, a former teammate (and roommate of Walker’s). Four players followed at T8: Oliver Bekker, Kevin Lucas, Brad Fritsch and Andy Zhang, who claimed the individual title at the 2018 SEC Championships.

While finishing T25, Cody Blick was the story of the day. Blick woke up before the final round to discover his golf clubs had been stolen out of the home he was staying in this week. He pieced together a makeshift set with wedges from the pro shop, irons from the superintendent, the head professional’s 4-iron and a driver from the Titleist representative, and then went out and shot a final-round 9-under 63 to earn guaranteed starts in 2019.

“When I woke up this morning the garage door was open and the clubs weren’t there,” Blick said. “I kind of panicked and got on the phone with Titleist and two hours later they came through … I don’t even know where the putter came from, but I had a set that was good enough, I guess.”

Players that finished Nos. 11-40 (and ties) earned eight guaranteed starts in 2019. Other notables that earned guaranteed starts include last year’s medalist Lee McCoy (T34) and Scottie Scheffler (T34), the low amateur at the 2017 U.S. Open.

SUNDAY NOTES

* Sunday’s weather: Sunny, High of 69, Winds N 3-7 mph.

* This week’s purse was $480,000, with $50,000 going to the medalist, Danny Walker.

* The Final Stage of the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament marked the last qualifying stage for the 2019 Web.com Tour season. Players are competing for status on the 2019 Web.com Tour. The medalist (or co-medalists) will be fully-exempt status next year, while finishers Nos. 2-10 (and ties) will be subject to the third reshuffle (12 guaranteed starts). Players Nos. 11-40 (and ties) will be subject to the second reshuffle (eight guaranteed starts).

* In the end, 18-under 270 ended up being the cutoff with 49 players earning guaranteed starts in 2019. In 2017, that number was 14-under.

* After slow starts, several players went low on the Devil’s Claw course to reach 18-under and earn guaranteed starts. Among them were Lee McCoy (64), Chris Baker (64), Jack Maguire (64) and Steve LeBrun (62).

* Michael Gellerman (T3) led the field with four eagles. Despite an opening round of even-par 72 to sit T115, Gellerman went 60-63-68 over the next three days to earn 12 guaranteed starts.

* Former No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, Braden Thornberry, dropped to T74 after a final-round 70. The other amateur in the field, Minwoo Lee, finished T67.

*Oscar Fraustro led the field with only one bogey in 72 holes. He went 66 holes bogey-free before a bogey at the par-4 13th on the Cattail course on Sunday.