The Baylor School contingent on the PGA Tour will remain a foursome.
Stephan Jaeger has earned his PGA Tour card for the 2018-19 schedule, which begins next month, meaning there will be four former Red Raiders standouts on the top circuit in professional golf for the second straight season.
Harris English, Luke List and Keith Mitchell already had retained their cards by finishing in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the regular season, which also qualified them for the PGA Tour’s four-tournament playoffs.
Jaeger – like Mitchell, he was a PGA Tour rookie this season – finished 165th in those standings but had the chance to regain his card by performing well in the Web.com Tour Finals, the second-tier tour’s four-tournament playoffs. While two events remain, the 29-year-old Germany native and Chattanooga resident who played at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga knew he could secure his status with a top-four finish Sunday at the DAP Championship in Beachwood, Ohio, and he got it – barely.
Despite back-to-back bogeys to close out a 1-over-par 71 and finish at 10-under 270 overall, he tied for fourth with Seth Reeves. Jaeger totaled four bogeys in the round, with the others on the sixth and 11th holes, but he also made three bogeys – on the eighth, ninth and 16th holes.
Kramer Hickok completed a wire-to-wire victory at Canterbury Golf Club with his second straight 68, beating Hunter Mahan and Matt Jones, who each shot a 67, by three strokes.
Playing to improve his PGA Tour status after earning one of 25 cards from the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list, Hickok finished at 14-under 266. He matched the Canterbury Golf Club record Thursday with a 63 and had a 67 on Friday.
“Wire to wire has been one of my goals,” said Hickok, the tour’s first player to accomplish the feat this season. “Not only to win, but to face that pressure being on top of the leaderboard every single day and know that you can play to your best ability is one of the things that I wanted to come to in my practice and the mental work that I do. It’s been a long way coming.”
A former University of Texas teammate and housemate of three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, the 26-year-old Hickok earned $180,000 for his first tour victory to push his season total to $373,635. He has jumped from 23rd to second among the 25 regular-season qualifiers in the first two tournaments, earning a series-best $198,000.
Jones and Mahan also wrapped up PGA Tour cards, earning $88,000. Jones is fourth in Web.com Tour Finals earnings with $112,000, and Mahan fifth with $102,500. Jaeger is 10th with $44,000.
Like Jaeger, a four-time winner on the Web.com Tour who will soon get to turn his attention back to seeking his first PGA Tour win, Jones and Mahan have played the top circuit before. Reeves is headed there for the first time.
The Web.com Tour Finals features the top 75 players from its regular-season money list, plus Nos. 126-200 in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 25 finishers on the Web.com money list are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for 25 cards based on series earnings.
Athens, Tennessee, native Eric Axley (74) tied for 53rd at 1-over 281.
Battle looms at TPC Boston
NORTON, Mass. – Abraham Ancer learned the hard way that a game that got him to the PGA Tour was good enough to win. A Labor Day finish at TPC Boston will be his biggest test.
Ancer opened with three straight birdies, had a birdie chance on all but one hole and shot a 6-under 65 that gave him a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Dell Technologies Championship, which could change his career.
He showed up at the second FedEx Cup playoffs event at No. 92 in the standings, hopeful of getting into the top 70 to keep his season going. A victory would send him to Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship and give him a spot in all four majors, but one look at the leaderboard is enough to suggest that 18 holes is a long way off.
Right behind is a player who had the lowest score before the largest gallery at the event. That would be Bryson DeChambeau, who played with Tiger Woods for the first time in competition and delivered a 63 to get within one shot of the lead while trying to win for the second straight event.
Tyrrell Hatton had a shot bounce off a cart and into the woods, never to be found, leading to double bogey. He still managed a 69 and joined DeChambeau one off the lead. They were among 10 players within four shots of the lead, a group that includes major champions Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Spieth.
“I just know to win I’ve got to play good,” Ancer said. “There’s no way if you play sloppy you’re going to win out here. So I know I have to put up a good score out there tomorrow. And I know if I follow my game plan and make some putts, that could happen.”
He was at 13-under 200.
Woods had to settle for a 69 that left him in a tie for 16th, six shots behind, in a group that included Mitchell after he moved 13 spots up the leaderboard with a 67. He was 78th in the standings entering the tournament but can advance if he holds steady.
McCarron repeats as champ
CALGARY, Alberta – Scott McCarron made a one-hop ace on the par-3 14th and closed with a birdie to repeat as the winner of the Shaw Charity Classic.
McCarron closed with a 7-under 63 for a one-stroke victory over Joe Durant, Scott Parel and Kirk Triplett at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club. McCarron, 53, has seven PGA Tour Champions victories, and this is his second this year.
He finished at 15-under 195, jusst ahead of Durant (67), Parel (62) and Triplett (65).
Ooltewah’s Gibby Gilbert III (72) tied for 28th at 3-under 207.
Alex rallies for LPGA win
PORTLAND, Ore. – Marina Alex rallied to win the Cambia Portland Classic for her first LPGA Tour title, closing with a 7-under 65 for a four-stroke victory over Georgia Hall.
The 28-year-old former Vanderbilt star birdied the final five holes in a front-nine 30 to take the lead and added birdies on the par-5 12th and par-4 15th at tree-lined Columbia Edgewater. She made her only bogey of the day on the par-4 18th, leaving her at 19-under 269.
Alex matched the course record with a 62 on Thursday, then shot 71-71 to begin the final round six strokes behind reigning Women’s British Open champion Hall, who had a 75.
Ayako Uehara was third at 13 under after a closing 69, with Minjee Lee (77) fourth at 11 under.
Olesen set for Ryder Cup
AARHUS, Denmark – Thorbjorn Olesen earned the final automatic qualification spot on the European Ryder Cup team after Matthew Fitzpatrick failed to win the Made in Denmark tournament.
Fitzpatrick needed to overturn a six-shot deficit to leader Lee Westwood going into the final round, but it was another Englishman, Matt Wallace, who got the victory.
Wallace came through a four-man playoff against Westwood, Steven Brown and Jonathan Thomson to win at European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn’s home course. Wallace closed with a 67 to match Brown (68), Thomson (68) and Westwood (69) at 19-under 269 for 72 holes.
Having secured his third victory in 15 tournaments, Wallace could now be a contender, alongside Fitzpatrick, for one of Bjorn’s four captain’s picks, which the Dane will reveal Wednesday.
Despite finishing eight shots off the lead at his home tournament, Olesen can now watch Bjorn’s announcement over the Sept. 28-30 matchup with the United States at Le Golf National in Paris with his place assured.
U.S. captain Jim Furyk announces the first three of his four captain’s picks on Tuesday.