Every wins Nationwide Tour Champ. to earn TOUR card

CHARLESTON, S.C.—Former University of Florida All-American Matt Every posted a 5-under 67 Sunday to outlast the Nationwide Tour's most dominating player of 2009, Michael Sim, and win the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship at the Daniel Island.

With 25 PGA TOUR cards on the line, Every began the week No. 49 on the money list and was a long shot to earn his PGA TOUR playing privileges for 2010. On Sunday, he was headed to the PGA TOUR for the first time after collecting a check for $180,000 from the $1 million purse. The 25-year-old finished No. 10 on the final money list.

"I've always felt I'm talented enough to win," said the champion. "I couldn't have waited any longer to do it though, I'll tell you that. I'm going to enjoy it."

"I'm relieved," Every said. "The practice I put in this year hasn't been paying off and I dreaded the thought of having to go back to q-school."

Every entered the final round one shot in front of his Australian counterpart. A native of Daytona Beach, Fla., Every posted a 3-under 33 on the front nine with the aid of an eagle and a birdie to increase his lead to two at the turn. Birdies at Nos. 11 and 15 padded the lead to three. Pars on the final three holes secured a three-shot win, his first in 56 starts since joining the Nationwide Tour last year. Over the final two days, Every had 10 birdies and an eagle, with his lone blemish a double-bogey in Saturday's third round.

"I'm looking forward to playing on the PGA TOUR next year. It's hard to watch your college buddies play on TOUR and in the Presidents Cup," said Every. "You start to think 'are these guys really that much better than me' and I know the answer to that question. Deep down I do."

Sim concluded the most dominating year in the 20-year history of the Nationwide Tour. In addition to three wins this year, today's runner-up finish was his second of the season. He had eight top-5 finishes in 2009. His Tour earnings of $644,142 smashed the previous single-season best of $495,009 set by Troy Matteson in 2005.

The Scottish-born Sim, who has lived in Perth, Australia since age five, turned 25 on Friday. By topping this year's money list, Sim earns an invitation in next May's PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

"I played great today, Matt just played better," Sim said after a 3-under 69. "He didn't hit any loose shots out there to give me many opportunities."

"I'm excited about my year out here," Sim continued. "Having three wins and two second-place finishes says a lot about where my game is. I really feel like I am ready for the PGA TOUR and that I can compete at a high enough level to win out there. That's my goal for next year and hopefully bring my World Golf Ranking high enough to get me into the Masters."

The drama to determine which players would remain inside "THE 25" and which would fall out continued to the very end of the day, as is almost always the case in the Tour Championship. When all was said and done, Fran Quinn was the last player to earn his card, finishing No. 25 on the money list.

The Massachusetts native began the week No. 20 on the list and was cruising along until he got sick on Friday. Quinn battled through a urinary tract infection and spent Saturday night in the hospital. His weekend scores of 75-74 were just good enough to send him back to the PGA TOUR for the first time since 1992.

Steve Wheatcroft of Jacksonville, Fla. joined Every in crashing the party this week. Wheatcroft posted a 1-over 73 Sunday at the Ralston Creek course but managed his best finish of the year, a tie for third. The Indiana University grad began the week No. 31 on the money list and collected enough today to jump up to No. 18.

Two players who started the week on the right side of the bubble wound up getting bounced. Brian Stuard of Jackson, Mich., and Alistair Presnell of Melbourne, Australia began the week No. 23 and 25, respectively and wound up falling to No. 26 and No. 28.

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Fourth-Round Notes:

• Chad Collins finishes the year No. 2 on the money list with $415,114, the seventh-highest single season total in Tour history. Collins, winner of the Miccosukee Championship and a three-time runner-up this year, becomes only the ninth player in Tour history to top the $400,000 mark in a single season.

• Blake Adams finishes the season No. 3 on the money list with $399,749 to set a Nationwide Tour record for the most money won in a single season without a victory. Adams eclipsed the mark of $324,627 set by Darron Stiles in 2008.

• Jeff Gove finished No. 17 on the money list to earn his PGA TOUR card for 2010. He becomes the first player in Nationwide Tour history to graduate four times (1999, 2001, 2005, 2009).

• Matt Every becomes the 14th of 16 third-round leaders who have gone on to win the Nationwide Tour Championship.

• Every becomes only the third player in tournament history to make the Nationwide Tour Championship their first career win—Steve Flesch (1997) and Nick Watney (2004).

• As part of a new partnership with the Nationwide Tour, Tiffany & Co. was on site today to hand engrave the winner's name on the Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island trophy. Each player who finished in "THE 25" received a personalized hand-engraved money clip with his 2010 PGA TOUR member card enclosed. Michael Sim received a Tiffany crystal award in recognition of his "Battlefield Promotion" to the PGA TOUR which he achieved in August.

• The "Bubble Boy," the last player qualified to get his TOUR card coming into the Tour Championship, has gone on to improve/hold his position only 5 of 17 times during Tour Championship history.

• Scoring averages for the week: