May 5, 2010

By Jon Levy - Staff Writer
Photo provided by PGA TOUR


Although the large number of former Gateway Tour players teeing it up at last week’s Quail Hollow Championship couldn’t back up the robust five top-10s they scored at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans two weeks ago, former Gateway player, Matt Jones, notched a solid T7 finish at the marquee TOUR stop -- his fourth top-10 of the year, worth $175,964.69 -- to keep an impressive streak of top-10s by Gateway Tour alumni alive.

An Aussie who has earned over $2 million on the PGA TOUR since just 2008, Jones vaulted to over $650,000 in earnings on the year and to 54th in the FedEx Cup standings with the finish. But what’s more impressive is his four top-10s this year (including a top-10 at the Zurich Classic two weeks ago) already double the amount of top-10s he’s earned in his previous two years, which means -- in his third year on the PGA TOUR -- Jones could be ready for a breakout season.

In reference to breaking out, though, that’s exactly what former player, Martin Piller, did last week at the Stadion Athens Classic at UGA on the Nationwide Tour. With just one stroke to spare, the 24-year-old Texas A&M grad took good notes from fellow Gateway Alum and former teammate, Bobby Gates (who won The Michael Hill New Zealand Open), by notching his first nationwide Tour victory during a year in which he’s already posted two other top-10s. After playing 26 events on the Tour and finishing 35th on the money list last year, Piller has already earned more money than he did in all of ’09 (with $157,886 on the books this year compared to $157,153 last year), and now looks primed to earn his 2011 PGA TOUR card with a second place standing in The 25.

So congratulations to Piller for his success and congratulations also to the seven other former Gateway Tour players who found their way into the top-10, including Daniel Summerhays, Gary Christian, Bradley Iles and Mark Anderson, who took every spot in the top-5 of the event.

Failling just a shot short of Piller in second to lead the pack was Summerhays, who, with just his second cut made of the year, jumped all the way to 20th on the money list with the $59,400 payday. Summerhays earned over $177,000 on the Nationwide Tour in 2008 and banked another $70,540 on the Tour last year to finish 35th and 81st on the money list, respectively, but for the player who won the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational in ’07 as an amateur -- and who a lot has been expected from -- he hasn’t yet made it to the PGA TOUR.

Perhaps, then, this will be his year to get there, as it may also for Christian, Iles and Anderson, who vie to play the PGA TOUR for the first time in their careers.

A seasoned Nationwide Tour player who has earned almost $600,000 since 2006, Christian is well on his way to earning over $100,000 on the circuit for the fifth-straight year, with almost $75,000 in earnings to date. Likewise, for Ilies, a third-year Nationwide Tour member who has earned over $265,000 in his short tenure, his $45,113 earned this year has him on the fast track for another successful season as well.

But for Anderson, a Nationwide Tour rookie this year who has already notched three top-10s in his first seven events, with $69,427 banked to date; his strong 16th place money list-standing from the quick start to his Nationwide career probably has him thinking he won’t stay around long enough to rack up such impressive numbers and Christian and Iles.

Likewise, for former players and rookie Nationwide Tour members William McGirt and Bobby Gates -- who each finished T7 in Georgia -- each looks to quickly earn their PGA TOUR cards after their rookie Nationwide seasons as McGirt’s $69,279 in earnings place him 17th, and Gates’ $186,383 -- coming mainly via the win and a third place showing at the Moonah Classic -- has him leading the Nationwide Tour money list to date.

Finally, for the eighth and final member of the Gateway group to crack the top-10 last week, Brian Smock, the Hawaii native secured his second top-10 of the year, worth just over $11,000. Similar to each of his Gateway peers accruing the top-10 honor last week, Smock looks primed for a good shot at an 2011 TOUR card himself, as his $86,934 in earnings and 14th place standing on the money list -- mainly due from his second place finish in Panama -- perhaps has him in the best position of his Nationwide Tour career at this point in the year.


Regardless, though -- for him and all former Gateway Tour players on the Nationwide Tour and PGA TOUR alike -- the year is still young, with endless possibilities. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.


Click here for full field results of the Quail Hollow Championship and here for full field results of the Stadion Athens Classic at UGA, from pgatour.com…