Pride Wins web.com Regular Season Finale; Herron Saves Season with Runner-up Finish

August 30, 2015 | 5 min.


NORTH PLAINS, Oregon -- Dicky Pride earned the chance to spend another year on the PGA Tour on Sunday. Tim Herron kept his chances of doing the same thing alive. 

The 46-year-old Pride is what you would call a journeyman. He won once on the Big Tour, 21 years ago at the St. Jude Classic, and he's made more than $5 million in 12 full seasons and nine partial seasons. But he played in only five events this year, having spent most of the year on the web.com Tour, golf's No. 1 minor league. 

After 14 web.com tournaments, he was No. 40 on the that money list, and he needed to get into the top 25 to regain his PGA Tour Card. That he did by winning the WinCo Portland Open, the final regular-season event on the 2015 web.com schedule. 

Pride began Sunday's final round with a four-stroke lead, and he added a closing 67 (4 under par) on the Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. The result was a 72-hole aggregate of 264, a three-stroke victory over Herron -- and a first-place check of $144,000.

That lifted Pride all the way up to No. 5 on the money list ($253,057).

The 2015-16 PGA Tour season will begin in October.

There was pressure on Pride, obviously, but not as much as there was on Herron. Pride could have shot 80 on Sunday, and he still would have been fully exempt on the web.com next year, by virtue of finishing in the top 75 on the money list, and he would have had one more chance to get back to the Big Show. Those top 75 players on the web.com money list will go into the web.com Finals, a series of four tournaments, and 25 players will earn PGA Tour Cards that way. 

Herron, on the other hand, was No. 97 on the web.com money list at the start of the day. If he didn't finish in the top five or higher, he wouldn't have made the top 75, and he would have been exiled to the wilderness of the mini-tours, something the 45-year-old former Minnesota State Amateur champion hasn't experienced for more than two decades.

So he was playing to keep his job on Sunday, and he responded with a virtually flawless round, as he shot 66 to finish the week at 267.  

He got off the a great start, with birdies at No. 1 (401 yards, par 4) and No. 2 (168, par 3), thereby cutting Pride's advantage to two strokes.. Pride expanded that to four, once again, with birdies at 4 (533, par 5) and 5 (211, par 3).

Herron birdied the 446-yard, par-4 sixth hole, and the spread remained at three -- Minus 18 for Pride to Minus 15 for Herron -- for the rest of the front nine, and through the 10th hole. 

For Pride, the clincher was probably the 11th hole, a 553-yard par-5. Herron, who even in his mid-40's is still a long hitter, failed to make a birdie, but Pride made an eagle, which put him at Minus 20. Herron birdied the 410-yard, par-4 13th, and Pride bogeyed the 16th (412, par 4), but he still led by three, and he matched Herron's birdie at the 17th (422, par 4).

The second-place finish was worth $86,400 for Herron, who has won four times and made nearly $19 million on the PGA Tour. It moved him up 65 places on the web.com money list, all the way to No. 32 -- just in time -- with $131,165. 

Tommy Gainey, the former Big Break star on the Golf Channel, shot 65 on Sunday to finish alone in third at 269. He made $54,400 and moved up from No. 71 to 35.

There was a three-way tie for fourth at 271, including Shane Bertsch, who stayed in the No. 9 position on the money list with the $33,067 that he made. He had a 69. Ryan Blaum shot 65 to be part of the fourth-place tie, which moved him up 22 spots to 43rd. Curtis Thompson, who shot 68, made a similar move, from 68th to 45th. 

Brett Stegmaier was another guy who, like Herron, saved himself from a year on the mini-tours. He had a final-round 67, which gave him a 272 and bumped him up to seventh. So he made $26,000 and jumped from No. 81 to No. 69 on the money list. 

The web.com Finals will begin Sept. 10 with the Hotel Fitness Championship in Fort Wayne. First place there will be $180,000.  


web.com TOUR

WinCo Foods Portland Open

At Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club -- Witch Hollow

Par 71, 7,015 yards

North Plains, Oregon

Final results


1. Dicky Pride                 $144,000     65-66-66-67--264

2. Tim Herron                  $86,400     68-65-68-66--267

3. Tommy Gainey             $54,400     69-65-70-65--269

T4. Curtis Thompson        $33,067     62-70-71-68--271

T4. Shane Bertsch            $33,067     69-66-67-69--271

T4. Ryan Blaum                $33,067     65-70-71-65--271

7. Brett Stegmaier             $26,800     68-66-71-67--272

8. Michael Kim                   $24,800     65-68-71-69--273

T9. Kelly Kraft                    $20,800     66-68-75-65--274

T9. Cody Gribble               $20,800      67-69-73-65--274

T9. Matt Fast                     $20,800      71-66-66-71--274

T9. Kyle Stanley                $20,800      66-72-67-69--274

MIssed cut (140)

Bronson La'Cassie             73-69--142

Brady Schnell                     72-71--143


 

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