News >> Alumni Update
Former Member Wins 1st Title, Others Finish Strong
Columbus, OH (August 2, 2009)…With a three foot par putt on the second playoff hole Sunday, former Hooters Tour member Derek Lamely, captured his first Nationwide Tour title at The Children’s Hospital Invitational. (picture left of Derek Lamely courtesy of Martin/Getty Images)The Ft. Meyers, FL resident carded rounds of 71-69-68-65 for a four day total of eleven-under par 273 and a playoff victory over Oklahoma State standout Rickie Fowler. Lamely matched the course record with a six-under par 65 in the final round to vault to the top of the leader board.
"With the way the conditions were, holding the lead, I assumed 10-under would be a good number finishing the day," said Lamely, who was making only his 10th career start on Tour, and the eighth this season. "My goal was to get to 10 (under). Then I got there and saw the lead was 11 (under) so I thought I had to keep making birdies."
With the victory, Lamely collects a first place check worth $139,500 and moves from 135th on the money list to 12th with $154,826 in earnings.
Lamely played the Hooters Tour during the 2008 season. He made the cut in four of the seven events he entered and posted three top 10’s with a second place finish in his first event.
Lamely wasn’t the only successful former Hooters Tour player in Columbus on Sunday as a handful of former players earned top 25 finishes including current member Andrew Svoboda. Svoboda carded a four round total of two-under par and joined former members Brian Stuard and Justin Bolli in a tie for 24th.
Tom Gillis and Blake Adams both continued their magical ride to the PGA Tour Sunday as Gillis finished tied for third and Adams finished tied for sixth. With his finish, Gillis moved to second on the money list with over $270,000 in earnings and Adams maintained his fifth position with over $239,000 in earnings.
Rounding out the Top 25 were Dave Schultz (T-3), Justin Hicks (T-8), B.J. Staten (T-17) and Chad Collins (T-17).
This past weekend also saw successful weekends for former Hooters Tour members on the PGA Tour. At The Buick Open, former member Michael Letzig played in the final group on Sunday with Tiger Woods but a one-over 73 left him tied for 6th five strokes back, while past members Vaughn Taylor, John Rollins and Bob Heintz finished tied for eighth. Rounding out the top 25 were Bill Lunde (T-18), Chad Campbell (T-25) and Jim Furyk (T-25). Current member Matt Harmon started the day tied for 19th but a disappointing three-over par 75 dropped him into a tie at 52nd.
The NGA/Hooters Tour is the 3rd largest men’s 72-hole professional golf tour in the country behind the PGA and Nationwide Tours, and boasts alumni like 2009 British Open Champion Stewart Cink, 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson, 2003 PGA Champion Shaun Micheel, 2003 US Open Champion Jim Furyk, 2003 British Open Champion Ben Curtis, British and PGA Champion John Daly, Two-time US Open Champion Lee Janzen, British Open Champion Tom Lehman as well as PGA Champion David Toms, Tour Championship winner Chad Campbell and back to back Reno Tahoe Winner Vaughn Taylor to name just a few. In all told, the NGA Hooters Tour alumni have an incredible ELEVEN MAJOR championships to their credit. The NGA Hooters Tour has helped more than 100 golf professionals acquire their PGA, Nationwide and Champion’s Tour cards. In fact, 32% of the players that earned their 2009 PGA Tour cards and 41% of the players that earned full exempt status on the Nationwide Tour started their careers on the Hooters Tour.
For more information about NGA Hooters Professional Golf Tour, check out our website at www.hooterstour.com or contact our Tour office toll free at 800-992-8648.
