RICO Hoey took a step nearer a PGA Tour card after shooting a 2-under-par 70 in the final round and tied for 21st in the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos, Mexico Sunday (Monday in Manila).
Hoey moved from 112th position to 106th in the race for a PGA Tour full-exempt privileges which is granted to players who finish in the Top 100 in the ongoing FedEx Cup Fall series.
Hoey, 31, the only Filipino competing regularly in the PGA Tour, has two more chances to secure his card. He could do it in next week’s Austin Championship in Texas or at the RSM Classic in Georgia, the last two events of the Fall series.
Hoey on target
If Hoey fails to make the Top 100, he will still be able to play in the Tour if he stays in the Top 125, but with conditional status.
That is perhaps not on Hoey’s mind after passing up the chance to play for the Philippine team in the last Asian Games so he could concentrate on his PGA Tour career which this year saw him stay beyond the Top 100 ranking for most of the season.
Meanwhile, history was made when Blades Brown became the youngest to win a PGA Tour event in 95 years after the 19-year-old beat Ben James on the second playoff hole of the World Wide Technology Championship.
Brown shot a 9-under-par 63 to force the playoff after coming from a seven-shot deficit and then beat James with a birdie on the second playoff hole.
Brown is the youngest winner since Charles Kocsis won the Michigan Open in 1931 when he was 18. The tournament was then considered a regional event in the early years of the PGA Tour.
Brown posted a 23-under 265 as he rallied with three straight birdies on the back nine to earn a share of the lead. He capped his round with spot-on pitch for a birdie on the final hole.
James had led the final round by four shots and trailed by one going to the 18th. But he showed class when he hit his second shot from 285 yards to within 20 feet and made eagle for a final-round 70 to seal the playoff.
But he missed an 8-foot putt on the second playoff hole, and Brown made his 3-footer.
"I'm so obsessed with this game. It tests you in so many ways," said Brown, who graduated high school in January. "I love golf, all the stuff that goes into it and I can't wait for what's next."
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