Steve Allan and Oliver Goss both need good performances at this week’s final event of the Web.com Tour season but for very different reasons.
Steve Allan and Oliver Goss both need good performances at this week’s final event of the Web.com Tour season but for very different reasons.
Allan is under the pump because he is on the cusp of gaining automatic promotion to the PGA TOUR if he can move up four places on the money list while for Goss, the pressure is on because he risks falling out of the top 75 and not being eligible to play for a PGA TOUR card next year.
At the conclusion of this week’s Winco Foods Portland Open the top-25 money earners will be awarded their PGA TOUR cards for 2016 while the top-75 will get to play for another 25 cards at the four tournament
Web.com Tour finals series.
Players between 75 and 100 on the money list retain their Web.com cards while those outside 100 will have to return to Q-School to gain playing rights on the secondary circuit for 2016.
With so much at stake there are always stories of both heartbreak and triumph at this time of year and there are several Australians likely to be part of both story lines this week.
In the potential triumph category Allan leads a group of Australians who, with four days of good play, can earn themselves a ticket to the world’s premiere golf Tour.
Allan presently sits a little over $12,000 shy of 25th placed Harold Varner on the money list and will likely need at least a top-10 finish to push into the 25.
Rhein Gibson and Mathew Goggin sit 31st and 32nd respectively but at more than $30,000 out of 25th place likely need a win or top-3 finish to advance.
At the other end of the equation lies Oliver Goss who is presently 72nd on the money list and in danger of falling outside the 75.
While a fabulously gifted player Goss has failed to produce consistent results in his first year on the Tour and with 14 missed cuts in 20 starts, including his last six consecutively, he needs to find some confidence fast.
Another missed cut this week would likely see him miss the Finals Series, ensuring another year on the secondary Tour before the opportunity to showcase his talent at the top level.
For the rest of the Australians playing the Web.com Tour this year it will take something special to earn a place in the top 75, Bronson La’Cassie at 85th the best chance followed by Brett Drewitt at 95, Aron Price at 99 and James Nitties in 100th position.
For these players the first priority is to ensure they stay in the top-100 and have playing rights for next season though all could make it to the Finals Series with a top two finish in Portland.
Outside the 100 and facing the unpalatable prospect of a return to Q-School are Ash Hall (111), Adam Crawford (117), Alistair Presnell (124), Bryden Macpherson (126) and Nick Flanagan (161).