Two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton earned a PGA Tour card when he finished in the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour money list, while Ken Duke won the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship on Sunday to also secure a spot on the big tour.
Duke shot a 4-under 68 to finish at 10 under on Daniel Island Club’s Ralston Creek Course near Charleston, S.C. Duke, 42, earned $180,000 and went from 36th to seventh on the money list.
The 31-year-old Compton wasn’t sure he’d ever play pro golf, let alone be a member of the PGA Tour.
Yet he finished off his dream Sunday. Compton mostly secured his spot in June when he won the Nationwide Tour’s Mexico Open. He ended at 13th on the Nationwide money list with $239,737 to advance.
Tacoma resident Troy Kelly was 11th with $248,064 after being runner-up twice this year.
Compton took up golf at age 12 after his first transplant as a way to exercise. It’s turned into much, much more.
“This game has been such a rehab for life for me, where I could go out and not think about the issues I have,” said Compton, who had his second transplant in 2008.
MCILROY’S MILLIONS
U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy won $2 million in the Shanghai Masters, beating Anthony Kim with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
McIlroy holed a 2-foot putt for the victory after Kim missed a 3-footer.
McIlroy had a chance to win in regulation, but the 22-year-old star from Northern Ireland missed an 8-foot birdie putt. He closed with an even-par 72 to match Kim (69) at 18 under on Lake Malaren’s Jack Nicklaus-designed Masters course.
The $2 million first prize is the richest in golf.
Most of the 30 invited players, among the world’s best, will stay in Shanghai another week for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International.
All received appearance money and last place paid $25,000. Kim earned $750,000.
Because the event isn’t sanctioned by a major tour, there were no ranking points at stake.
GARCIA WINS AGAIN
Sergio Garcia held off fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez by a stroke in the Andalucia Masters for his second straight European Tour victory.
Garcia shook off two early bogeys with two birdies on a flawless back nine for an even-par 71 and a 6-under 278 total at Valderrama in Sotogrande, Spain. He won the Castello Masters the previous week for his first title in almost three years, dominating on his home course at Club de Campo del Meditarraneo for an 11-stroke victory.
Jimenez finished with a 71.
BIG WIN IN MALAYSIA
Bo Van Pelt ran away with the Asia Pacific Classic in hot and humid conditions, birdieing five of the last eight holes for a 7-under 64 and a six-stroke victory in Selangor, Malaysia.
The winner of the PGA Tour’s 2009 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, Van Pelt finished at 23 under at The Mines and earned $1.3 million in the second-year event sanctioned by the PGA and Asian tours.
Fellow Indiana player Jeff Overton was second after a 69.
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