WEB.COM TOUR STORYLINES – Week of July 2Nd
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WEB.COM TOUR STORYLINES – Week of July 2nd The Web.com Tour is off this week, then heads to the Salt Lake City area next week for the Utah Championship presented by Utah Sports Commission (July 12-15). PETER TOMASULO BECOMES FIRST TO WIN ON “WEB.COM TOUR” – The first tournament played under the tour’s new name, the Web.com Tour, was clearly a memorable one. Peter Tomasulo outlasted David Lingmerth of Sweden in a four-hole playoff to capture the inaugural United Leasing Championship at Victoria National Golf Club near Evansville, Ind. It was the third Web.com Tour win for the 30-year-old Californian and caps a 21-month long comeback from a litany of injuries that includes a broken bone in his foot and a stress fracture in his rib. The latter led to his current PGA TOUR Medical Extension. Tomasulo was playing in only his second Web.com Tour event of 2012. He made one PGA TOUR start in late January. Last Wednesday, Web.com, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based provider of internet services and marketing solutions to small- to medium-sized businesses, replaced Nationwide Insurance as the tour’s umbrella sponsor, effective immediately. There were 280 events played since 2003 with Nationwide as the sponsor. Since the Tour’s inception in 1990, 663 events have been played. One thing everyone in Evansville will want to forget is the record-setting temperatures that reached at least 103 degrees every day. LATE-SEASON BLOOMER !? – As a rookie last year on the Web.com Tour, David Lingmerth missed the cut in eight of his first 11 starts, a period in which he did not have a top-15 finish, and was well outside the top-100 money leaders. From July on, the former University of Arkansas player who was born in Sweden recorded five top 10s, including thirds in the last two tournaments. In October, he nearly played his way into a 2012 PGA TOUR card at the Web.com Tour Championship, missing his card by two spots. The slow-start pattern has repeated itself to some degree this year. Lingmerth had missed six of 11 cuts and was 63 rd in earnings heading to Victoria National. His runner-up in the playoff there jumped him into “The 25” picture at No. 23. Perhaps it will trigger another strong second-half performance. OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES – Canada native and Tour rookie Richard Scott finished third in Evansville, his best in nine starts. It was the third top 10 for the 2006 University of Georgia grad and pushed him to 27 th on the money list. Former Oklahoma State University All-American Morgan Hoffmann will have a spot in next week’s Utah Championship following his T4 at Victoria National. The New Jersey native was a Monday qualifier at the United Leasing Championship. JOE DALEY’S SURPRISE WIN – Winner Joe Daley was not exactly the betting favorite at last week’s Constellation Senior Players. Playing in only his 11 th Champions Tour event, the Pennsylvania native had just one previous top 10. Daley spent the bulk of his TOUR career on the newly named Web.com Tour, collecting two wins (1997 and 2005) and $1,004,571 in 272 starts spread over 11 seasons. His best year was 1997 when he finished 11 th on the money list. Twice he played his way onto the PGA TOUR (1996 via Q-School and 1998 via Web.com Tour) only to return to the Web.com Tour the following year. With the win, Daley is now fully exempt on the Champions Tour for one year (through 7/1/13). Congratulations, Joe! “MUSTACHE WEEK” RETURNS IN UTAH – “Mustache Week” at the Utah Championship returns next week for the sixth year in a row. Facial growth among participating Web.com Tour players, caddies, equipment reps and staff is well underway. Tour rookie Hudson Swafford has been blogging about the competition for PGATOUR.com for the past two weeks. Bryan DeCorso (2011) and Joe Affrunti (2010) won the last two competitions. SOLID HOMETOWN PERFORMANCE FOR BILLY HURLEY III – It was great to see 2011 Nationwide Tour grad Billy Hurley III play so well in front of his hometown fans last week at the AT&T National. His first PGA TOUR top-10 finish (T4) was worth $255,938 and moved him to 149 th in FedExCup points. The 2004 U.S. Naval Academy grad has struggled this year after securing the 25 th and final TOUR card via the Web.com Tour last October. Hurley grew up in northern Virginia (Loudoun County) and resides in Annapolis, Md., home to the Academy. NEXT WEEK – Utah Championship presented by Utah Sports Commission (July 12-15) Tour at Willow Creek Country Club in Sandy, Utah. The Championship is the 14 th of 27 events this year, thus effectively marking the halfway point in the 2012 season. # # # James Cramer Jeff Adams Joe Chemycz Royce Thompson 904-273-3293 904-273-3397 904-273-3305 904-543-7419 For the latest information, scores and updates on the Nationwide Tour visit www.pgatourmedia.com Media and fans can also follow the Tour on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/webdotcomtour) and Facebook (www.Facebook.com/WebDotComTour ) .