Mission accomplished for James Nitties
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2008 USPGA Tour Q-School - Final Stage | Round Six | 09 Dec 2008
Newcastle golfer James Nitties has confirmed his right to play the USPGA Tour in 2009 following an outstanding six days at the USPGA Tour School.
Nitties finished in a share of second place behind the runaway winner Harrison Frazar and having secured such a high finish he is guaranteed plenty of early season starts in 2009.
Three years ago Nitties was at a point where he was forced to contemplate the possibility of never playing again after being diagnosed with reactive arthritis while competing in the US.
With several significant amateur achievements to his name including the 2003 New Zealand Amateur Championship and Australian Eisenhower representation in 2004, Nitties was always been considered a significant talent but he has been plagued with bad luck until now as he sought to find a significant tour on which to play.
On turning professional Nitties finished runner up to Peter Lonard at the 2004 Australian PGA Championship in just his 4th event playing for money, providing further evidence of his promise. Following his illness he has played Gateway and Hooters Tour events in the US and although he has played the occasional Nationwide Tour event, he has never had status on that Tour.
The manner in which he held on over the marathon that is PGA Tour Final stage qualifying suggests the 26-year-old is back to James Nitties of old and the future looks bright.
Other Australians were not quite so fortunate. Gavin Coles was 40th and missed out on the one of the 28 cards (originally 25) handed out at the completion of 108 holes, Jason Day finished 53rd, Steve Allan was 70th, Won Joon Lee and Andrew Bonhomme were 80th, Scott Gardiner 87th, Adam Bland 97th, Matt Jones 107th, Andrew Buckle 145th and Stuart Deane 148th.
All those missing out at the Final Stage will have some level of status on the Nationwide Tour in 2009 although Allan and Day will have the opportunity of playing as many as 20 USPGA Tour events due to their current status inside the 125 – 150 category on the 2008 PGA Tour money list.
