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Zac Blair completed his remarkable rise as a first-year pro, finishing second in the Web.Com Tour Championship on Sunday and qualifying for the 2014-15 PGA Tour season that begins next month.
The former BYU golfer came through at just the right time, earning $108,000 in the last of four tournaments in the Web.Com Tour Finals, staged at TPC Sawgrass (Dye's Valley course) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Blair had missed the 36-hole cuts in the first three events, with an additional 25 PGA Tour cards awarded through that series.
West High alumnus Tony Finau already had clinched his 2014-15 access with a top-25 finish on the season money list and was playing for priority position in the Finals. Blair was among about 100 golfers competing for the remaining cards.
As it turns out, Blair initially will have better access to PGA Tour events than Finau, because he finished so high on the Finals money list. Orem native Scott Pinckney, a former Arizona State golfer, also qualified via that process. Among the 50 newcomers, Blair is ranked No. 11, Finau is No. 13 and Pinckney is No. 27. The golfers will be subject to periodic reordering, based on PGA Tour performance, but those starting positions should give them decent playing opportunities all season.
Blair and Finau will join Daniel Summerhays as former State Amateur champions with PGA Tour membership in 2014-15.
Blair, 24, started the year by playing the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, because of his limited access to Web.com Tour events via last December's qualifying process. But during that tour's summer break, he took advantage of an opportunity to play in the Nova Scotia Open in early July and tied for seventh place. He followed that with a tie for 11th in the Utah Championship in Sandy and eventually earned access to the remaining schedule.
He wore down late in the season and struggled in the Finals, only to produce a 7-under-par 63 in Thursday's opening round in Florida. Blair then shot 65-71-68, overcoming a triple bogey in the third round and a poor front nine Sunday. He needed a top-five finish to earn his card and fell to a tie for third with nine holes left.
Blair responded with birdies on Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 17, finishing one stroke behind the winner, Derek Fathauer.
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