Sam Saunders has earned his PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour Finals in the past, and he’s in good shape to do it again.
With the top 25 money winners in the four-tournament Web Finals earning PGA Tour cards for the 2017-18 season, the former Fort Collins resident finished 11th on Sunday in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio, the first event of the Finals.
Saunders shot rounds of 67-71-73-67 for a 6-under-par 278 total. That left him eight strokes behind champion Peter Uihlein, a former U.S. Amateur champion who earned his PGA Tour card with the victory. Saunders went bogey-free on Sunday.
Meanwhile, another player with strong Colorado ties, Denver native Mark Hubbard, tied for 55th in Columbus. He went 69-75-70-73 for a 3-over 287 total.
Both Hubbard and Saunders were regulars on the PGA Tour in the 2016-17 season, but lost their fully-exempt status.
— Elsewhere in tour golf on Sunday, former University of Colorado golfer Emily Childs tied for eighth in the Symetra Tour’s Sioux Falls (S.D.) Greatlife Challenge.
Childs carded scores of 68-67-69-77 for a 3-under-par 281 total. She ended up eight strokes behind winner Celine Boutier.
