Percy’s win has him PGA Tour bound

Victorian Cameron Percy has all but guaranteed a return to the PGA Tour by winning the Web.com Tour Price Cutter Charity Cup by one-stroke.

Fittingly, Percy completed his final round of the tournament by with birdies at the two final holes to card a 67 and finish the tournament at 21-under, one stroke clear of a group of four players.

Cameron Percy has played his way back onto the PGA Tour with this win. PHOTO: Getty Images

The win moved the 40-year-old to 12th place on the Tour money list, virtually guaranteeing a return to the PGA Tour as the top 25 after the final two regular season events will earn PGA Tour cards for the 2014-15 season.

Percy took advantage of the soft conditions at Highland Springs CC and hit 61 of 72 greens for the week, ranking him tied third for the tournament. Percy opened with a 64 in his first round and maintained his spot near the top of the leaderboard through 70 holes. His double birdie finish pushed him ahead of American foursome Brandt Jobe, Zac Blair, Michael Kim, and current Web.com money leader, Carlos Sainz Jr.

It appeared that luck was on Percy’s side on the final par-5 18th hole, when Percy received a free drop after he drove the ball into the left rough and hit a hybrid from 208 yards through the green. After a free drop from a sprinkler head, Percy claimed the victory. American Michael Kim, one of the four players tied for second was on the receiving end of some bad fortune when he was penalised one stroke on the 18th for improperly touching his ball in the second-cut. With the soft conditions, Kim said, “I wanted to check if there was mud on the ball anywhere for the lay-up. I marked it, I picked it up, and I put it back right where it went. The rules official came because we weren’t sure if that was a penalty or not. And he told me it was a one-shot penalty…It’s pretty disappointing.” In the process, the one-stroke penalty cost Kim a playoff chance.

This was only the second victory at the Price Cutter Charity Championship by an Australian, the last being Anthony Painter who won the event in 1998 with the same total of 21-under 267. Previously, Percy’s best finish on the Web.com Tour this season was when he tied for 3rd place at the Air Capital Classic at Crestview CC in June. Earlier in the season Percy had two tied for 9th finished, at the Brasil Championship in Sau Paulo and the El Bosque Mexican Championship.

The victory marked Percy’s first Web.com tour win in 131 events, having had six second place finishes and four top 10 finishes on the tour. A top 25 finish on the Web.com Tour will ensure Percy a card on the PGA Tour. Last time Percy featured on the PGA Tour was 2013, with his best finish being a second place on the PGA Tour in 2011 at the Shriners Hospital for Children Open.

The win could not have come at a better time for the father-of-three. Percy, who currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina is moving into a new house this week at TPC Wakefield and was planning to take the week off. With his PGA Tour card all but locked up, Percy’s plans have changed. He will now take the next two weeks off so he can be fresh for the start of the Web.com Tour Finals, which start with the Hotel Fitness Championship at Sycamore Hills Golf Club, Fort Wayne, Indiana on August 28.

Unfortunately, it was not a strong tournament for fellow Aussies, with Aron Price shooting a 272 to finish tied for 17th while Matthew Goggin and Rod Pampling both shot a 273 to tie for 24th. Jarrod Lyle, in only his second tournament back after beating leukaemia for the second time missed the cut. The Price Cutter Charity Championship was the fourth of five “warm-up” events Lyle has been allowed by the PGA Tour’s medical exemption before he returns to the PGA Tour. Although Lyle missed the cut, he was content to be back playing. He will play in next week’s News Sentinel Open in Knoxville, Tennessee, a place that holds fond memories for Lyle – having picked up his only Web.com Tour victory there back in 2008

- Lukas Raschilla