Gow opens 2004 with top five finish in Panama
BY Bruce Young | Web.com Tour | 2004 BellSouth Panama Championship | Wrap | 09 Feb 2004
The BellSouth Panama Championship, the first event of the 2004 Nationwide Tour, has been run and won with Jimmy Walker victorious for the first time in just his second season on the tour. He was 31st last year on the Nationwide Tour but has won on the Tight Lies and Gateway Tours in 2002 and 2003.
The win assures him of status for 2004 and 2005 on the Nationwide Tour but the bigger carrot of a USPGA Tour card may well come his way after such a good start to the year. The top twenty at year’s end on the Nationwide Tour will advance to the ultimate arena, the USPGA Tour in 2005.
On a golf course with severely contoured greens and difficult conditions only three players would break par for the 72 holes including Walker, the experienced Tom Scherrer and tour rookie, Ryan Armour.
Paul Gow, the only Australasian in the field, finished in a share of fourth and he now heads down under to play the ANZ Championship, co-sanctioned with the European Tour, before teeing it up in two further co-sanctioned Nationwide Tour events, the Jacobs Creek Open and the New Zealand PGA Championship.
