Henrik Norlander entered the final round of the Hotel Fitness Championship trailing leader D.H. Lee by six shots, with a crowded path of contenders to pass along the way to the top.
Then Norlander made 10 birdies and no bogeys on Sunday at Sycamore Hills Golf Club, shooting a 62 that allowed him to sprint past all of the other challengers en route to a three-shot win in the first leg of the Web.com Tour Finals.
The Web.com Tour Finals is a four-event series combining the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour regular season money list and players who finished between 126th and 200th in FedEx Cup points on the PGA Tour. The top 25 players on the Web.com Tour regular season money list have already earned PGA Tour cards for next season. Another 25 are on the line, doled out based on the top money winners in the four-event series who didn’t earn status through the Web.com Tour season. The priority order for all 50 cards is determined by a combined money list.
Norlander, who finished 47th in the Web.com Tour’s regular season money list, picked up his first Web.com Tour win and earned his 2015-16 PGA Tour card in the process. The $ 180,000 first-place check is enough to assure Norlander that he’ll finish inside the top 25 of the money list for the four-event series, garnering one of the cards available.
The 28-year-old played on the PGA Tour in 2013, but finished 159th in FedEx Cup points and has spent the last two seasons on the Web.com Tour.
Lee finished tied for second with Michael Thompson. Both should now have 2015-16 PGA Tour cards in hand. Hiroshi Iwata and Sam Saunders finished T-4 at 14-under 274.
Anirban Lahiri, who was vying for a card-clinching win, dropped from second place after 54 holes into a tie for sixth with Jamie Lovemark when it was all finished. Another similar finish should lock up PGA Tour status.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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