Sim wins delayed PalmettoPride in playoff

BY Bruce Young | Nationwide Tour | 2006 PalmettoPride Classic | Wrap | 23 Oct 2006

Michael Sim today won his first event as a professional and has set himself up with the possibility of USPGA Tour status in 2007 by winning the PalmettoPride Classic in a playoff over the new Nationwide Tour money list leader Ken Dukes.

Forced to return to the Ralston Creek course at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, South Carolina to complete his final two holes today, Sim parred the 17th and 18th and then went on to beat Dukes with a seven foot birdie putt at the first extra hole after Dukes had missed from nine feet.

The victory moves Sim to 18th place on the money list and while it is likely he will need another few thousand dollars to assure himself of security, he is on the verge of graduation.

For Dukes he has moved into the lead on the 2006 Nationwide Tour money list, just US$6,000 ahead of long time leader Johnson Wagner.

Jarrod Lyle’s third place in the event, which had been established the day before has him in 14th place on the money list and, it would seem, guaranteed of USPGA Tour status.

Paul Gow finished 11th in the tournament but slipped one place to 23rd on the money list after Sim’s victory swept him past Gow.

Currently Australians Gavin Coles, Jarrod Lyle and Paul Sheehan seem all but assured of their PGA Tour cards while for the likes of Andrew Buckle and Sim they likely need another few thousand and for Gow perhaps as much as US$35,000 in the remaining two events.

Others like Nick Flanagan, Bradley Hughes, Stephen Allan and Matthew Jones still have the chance to emulate Sim and win in the remaining two weeks and leapfrog their way to the PGA Tour.

The last two weeks of the Nationwide Tour will once again create sleepless nights for many.