Utah’s Zac Blair capped off a wondrous three months by finishing second at the Web.com Tour Championship Sunday and earning his PGA Tour card for next year.
The 24-year-old Blair, who took the first-round lead at 7-under-par 63,held steady the rest of the week and finished off with a final-round 68 and a 267 total, one shot behind winner Derek Fathauer at the Dye’s Valley Course at TPS Sawgrass in Ponte Vedre, Florida.
Blair earned $108,000 for his second-place finish, which moved him to No. 11 on the priority list among the 50 PGA Tour qualifiers.
The former BYU golfer had started the day in second place behind Fathauer, but fell back on the front nine with a double bogey at No. 2 and a bogey at No. 9 along with a birdie at No. 4. Blair needed to finish in at least fifth place to earn PGA Tour status and was just a stroke ahead of fifth place at the turn.
However on the back nine, Blair got down to business, running off three straight birdies at 10, 11 and 12 and before adding another birdie at 17. Fathauer needed to par the final hole to avoid a playoff with Blair.
Blair grew up in the Ogden area and won the Utah State Amateur at age 18 before going to BYU. He played four years at BYU, graduating in 2013. He earned conditional status on the Web.com Tour, but opted to play on the Latinoamerica Tour in the spring. He qualified for the U.S. Open in June and made the cut, launching him to his successful Web.com run.
Blair didn’t even play in his first Web.com Tour event until July at the Nova Scotia Open, where he finished in seventh place. He went on to make seven of eight cuts, including five top 25 finishes and earned nearly $100,000 to qualify for the four-event Web.com Finals.
After qualifying for the Finals, Blair missed the cut in his first three tournaments before his outstanding week at Ponte Vedre.
The 2015 PGA Tour season begins this fall, but Blair will miss some time as he is scheduled to be married in Park City next month during the week of the McGladrey Classic in Georgia.
Another Utah golfer, Lehi's Tony Finau, finished in 14th place Sunday at 276 and he ended up No. 12 on the Finals Priority Ranking list for next season.