His fifth-place finish Sunday in the Military Tribute at The Greenbrier tournament in White Sulphur Springs. W.Va., was his best showing in a PGA Tour event since also tying for fifth in the Puerto Rico Open in March 2017. The last time he placed better than fifth was a runner-up at the 2015 Puerto Rico Open.

Saunders — who was using a putter once used by his grandfather, Arnold Palmer — shot rounds of 68-63-67-70 for a 12-under-par 268 total at The Greenbrier. That left him seven strokes behind champion Kevin Na.

The performance was a welcome change for Saunders, who had missed cuts in six of his previous eight official PGA Tour events. It also put him in good position to regain his PGA Tour card for next season by finishing this one in the top 125 in the FedExCup standings (he’s currently 113th).

As for the not-so-good news:

A less-than-stellar stretch run on Sunday not only cost Saunders (pictured) a higher finisher at The Greenbriar, but also a spot in the British Open July 19-22 in Scotland.

Saunders bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes on Sunday to drop spots on the leaderboard. He three-putted for bogey on No. 16, missing a 4-foot par putt. Then on the par-5 17th, Saunders was just in front of the green with his second shot. But he thinned his third over the green and failed to get up and down from there, posting a disappointing bogey.

As it turned out, that last bogey made the difference in not getting into the British Open. The top four finishers at The Greenbrier who didn’t already have a spot at the British Open earned ones on Sunday via the Open qualifying series. Those Open berths went to Kelly Kraft (266), Brandt Snedeker (267), Jason Kokrak (267) and Austin Cook (268). Cook shared fifth place with Saunders — and others — but had the highest world ranking among those who tied for fifth, so he had the tiebreaker to land the final berth.
 

On Monday, Whitney earned one of four available spots out of a field of 67 into the AT&T Byron Nelson, which begins Thursday in Dallas. In a Monday qualifier in Prosper, Texas, Whitney shot a 5-under-par 67 and birdied the second playoff hole to land the fourth and final qualifying spot.

Whitney finished with seven birdies and a double bogey in regulation.

The 28-year-old former Air Force officer, who recently moved from Colorado to Little Elm, Texas, will be making the third PGA Tour start of his career. He missed the cut in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in November and made his first PGA Tour check in January by finishing 67th in the CareerBuilder Challenge, where the 2006 graduate of La Quinta High School was given a sponsor exemption.

Whitney (pictured) spent 2017 on the Web.com Tour, competing in 15 events, with a best showing of fifth place in the Lincoln Land Charity Championship in June. He finished 89th on the Web.com season-long money list.

Also among those in the field for the Byron Nelson is Colorado resident David Duval, the former world No. 1 who will be making just his third PGA Tour start of the season. He missed the cut in both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

(May 18 Update: Both Whitney and Duval missed the 36-hole cut. Whitney posted rounds of 72-74 for a 4-over-par 146 total, while Duval went 80-73–153. A 138 total was necessary to advance to the weekend.)

Sam Saunders, who moved from Fort Collins to Atlantic Beach, Fla., in 2016, posted the low score in Sunday’s final round, shooting an 8-under-par 64 en route to an eighth-place finish at 18-under-par 270. Jon Rahm won with a 266 total after a playoff.

Saunders (pictured), grandson of Arnold Palmer, made nine birdies at the Stadium Course on Sunday in moving up 34 places on the scoreboard and earning $171,100. The top-10 showing was Saunders’ first on the PGA Tour since early August and sixth overall in his career. He has yet to record a win on golf’s premier circuit.

Meanwhile, Tom Whitney made the cut for the first time in a PGA Tour event, finishing 67th in La Quinta, where he went to high school. The Fort Collins resident went 68-68-71-74 for a 7-under 281 total and received $12,095 for his first PGA Tour check.

Whitney, a former Air Force Academy golfer, was playing in just his second PGA Tour event after being awarded a sponsor exemption. He missed the cut earlier this season in the Children Open in Las Vegas in October after winning a Monday qualifier. He missed the 36-hole cut in that tournament.

Whitney spent 2017 on the Web.com Tour, competing in 15 events, with a best showing of fifth place in the Lincoln Land Charity Championship in June. He finished 89th on the Web.com season-long money list.

Elsewhere, former Coloradan Wyndham Clark fired a 6-under-par 66 and shares the lead after Sunday’s first-round action at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.

Clark made an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys, and was one of five players who was 6 under par after Sunday. The tournament will continue through Wednesday.
 

The former Air Force Academy golfer, a 2006 graduate of La Quinta High School, learned a couple of days ago about getting his spot in the CareerBuilder Challenge, which starts Thursday in La Quinta.

“Excited to be back in my hometown and to tee it with some of the best golfers in the world! Thank you for the opportunity!” the 28-year-old said via Twitter.

Whitney (pictured) formerly served as a missile operator at a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile site near F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo.

“We’re excited to be able to offer Tom a sponsor exemption into the tournament,” said Jeff Sanders, executive director of the CareerBuilder Challenge. “We all owe a debt of gratitude to our service members, and we’re happy to be able to help a local guy like Tom launch his golf career.”

The CareerBuilder will be the second PGA Tour start for Whitney, who won a Monday qualifier for the Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas in October. He missed the 36-hole cut there.

Whitney spent 2017 on the Web.com Tour, competing in 15 events, with a best showing of fifth place in the Lincoln Land Charity Championship in June. He finished 89th on the Web.com season-long money list.
 

But Denver native Mark Hubbard, who like Saunders has played full-time in the PGA Tour the last three seasons, came up short in his bid to get back his PGA Tour card.

Thanks to a second-place finish on Monday in the season-ending Web.com Tour Championhsip at his new home club in Atlantic Beach, Fla., Saunders ended up sixth on the Finals 25 money list. With the top 25 on that list earning PGA Tour cards, he easily made the grade.

Saunders (pictured) used a first-round 59 — just the seventh sub-60 round in the history of the Web.com Tour — to post a 20-under 264 total in the Web.com Tour Championship, finishing four shots behind winner Jonathan Byrd. The final round of the tournament was postponed by a day due to heavy rains.

Though Saunders, the grandson of the late Arnold Palmer, has yet to win on the PGA Tour, he has posted five top-10 finishes over the last three years. He lived in Fort Collins from 2012 to ’16 before moving back to Florida.

Meanwhile, Hubbard missed the cut in the Web.com Tour Championship, which left him in 66th place on the Web Finals 25 money list. The former CJGA Male Player of the Year posted his two best finishes at the end of the 2016-17 PGA Tour wraparound season, going 18th at the Barracuda Championship and 24th in the Wyndham Championship. But he finished 185th on the Tour money list with $267,968, making 14 cuts in 27 starts on the big tour.

Hubbard has competed in a total of 84 PGA Tour events, with all but two of those coming in the past three seasons.
 

Saunders, grandson of the late Arnold Palmer, faces a crucial week as he’s trying to finish in the top 25 on the money list for the four-event Web.com Tour Finals, thereby regaining fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour. The Web.com Tour Championship is the last tournament of the Finals, and Saunders entered the week in the No. 24 spot.

Saunders made 13 birdies in his 12-under-par round at Atlantic Beach Country Club, where he’s a member. He birdied his final six holes to shoot 28 on the front nine as he started on No. 10. To break 60, he drained a 10-foot putt on No. 9.

“This is a golf course you can shoot low scores on,” said Saunders, who led by three after round 1. “… I knew guys would shoot low but I didn’t think anyone would shoot 59 — certainly not myself.”

Saunders’ 59 came just a few days after the one-year anniversary of Palmer’s passing.

Saunders lived in Fort Collins from late 2012 to 2016.

(Sept. 30 Update: Saunders followed up his 59 with rounds of 66-70 and sits in second place, trailing leader Jonathan Byrd by two strokes going into Sunday.)
 

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.
 

A week after serving as unofficial host of the Arnold Palmer Invitational after his seven-time-major-winning grandfather pass away in September, Saunders tied for fifth Sunday in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open.

He has now posted two top-five finishes in his PGA Tour career, and both of them have come at the Puerto Rico Open. He placed second in a playoff on the island in 2015.

In just three appearances at the Puerto Rico Open, Saunders has earned $318,900, which accounts for more than one-fifth of his career earnings on the PGA Tour.

Saunders went bogey-free for his final 26 holes and shot a 7-under-par 65 on Sunday. That gave him a 17-under-par 271 total, which left him three strokes behind champion D.A. Points.

Sunday marked Saunders’ first top-40 finish on the PGA Tour in the 2016-17 wraparound season.
 

The former Air Force Academy golfer teamed with Martin Trainer to win their four-ball match Thursday, 3 and 2 over Paul Barjon and Max Rottluff; paired with former Colorado Open champion and 2016 Latinoamerica Player of the Year Nate Lashley to defeat Taylor Moore and Rottluff 3 and 2 in Friday’s foursomes; then lost 3 and 1 in Saturday’s singles to Barjon.

Each of the 10 players on the winning Latinoamerica squad, including Whitney, earned $8,000.

Whitney finished 11th on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica money list in 2016, posting four top-10 finishes.

For all the results from the Aruba Cup, CLICK HERE.
 

At the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., the opener for the 2016-17 wraparound season, Laird tied for eighth on Sunday. The three-time PGA Tour winner shot rounds of 67-68-68-71 for a 14-under-par 274 total. That left him four strokes behind champion Brendan Steele.

Laird (pictured), a past winner of the Denver Open, recorded three top-10s last season, including a runner-up finish at the RBC Canadian Open in July.

Also at the Safeway Open, Gunner Wiebe of Aurora missed the cut after Monday qualifying for the event with a 9-under-par 63 at the Bayonet Course in Seaside, Calif. It was Wiebe’s second PGA Tour start, but his first as a professional. He competed in the 2010 Farmers Insurance Open while a college golfer at the University of San Diego. Wiebe shot rounds of 75-69 in the Safeway Open, falling three strokes short of advancing to the weekend with an even-par 144 total.

Meanwhile, Tom Whitney of Fort Collins finished second Sunday in the Roberto De Vicenzo PGA Tour Latinoamerica tournament in Uruguay.

The former Air Force Academy golfer shot rounds of 68-65-69-67 for an 11-under-par 269 total. He finished five strokes behind champion Guillermo Pereira of Chile.

Whitney eagled two holes in a four-hole stretch on Sunday — Nos. 10 and 13 — and added 15 birdies on the week. For the year on the Latinoamerica circuit, Whitney has notched four top-10 finishes, with Sunday’s runner-up being his best showing. He’s now eighth on the tour money list for 2016, with $50,970.