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Another player with Southern California ties is poised to finish inside the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour money list. It's Michael Putnam, a former All-American on the Pepperdine University men's golf team. The 27-year-old won the Nationwide Tour’s Utah Championship over the weekend, closing with a 4-under-par 67 in Sunday's final round for an 18-under total and a three-stroke victory at Sandy's Willow Creek Country Club. "I never played on the mini-tours and came right out here after college," said Putnam, who graduated to the PGA Tour from the Nationwide Tour in 2006 but has been back on the Nationwide circuit for the last three years. "This is a tough place to win. I thought it might have come quicker than this but it's special that it came now." Putnam's first professional triumph netted him $99,000. He vaulted from 47th to 15th on the money list with $191,747. There are seven events remaining on the 2010 Nationwide Tour slate, and the top 25 on the money list at season's end earn 2011 PGA Tour cards. Rancho Santa Fe native Jamie Lovemark (No. 2 on the money list), former UCLA men's golf team standout Kevin Chappell (No. 5), and Peter Tomasulo of Long Beach (No. 11) are fellow players with Southland connections who figure to graduate to the PGA Tour. With an amateur résumé that included the 2005 Byron Nelson Award as the nation's best men's collegiate golfer, Putnam saw significant success as an amateur but has struggled to find his groove as a professional. "I just haven't been able to get it done out here," he said said. "I've put myself in contention four or five times this year and I think it really helped me get over the hump. I learned a lot from all those bad rounds I played when I was in contention." Putnam's younger brother, Andrew, is currently a senior on the Waves men's golf team. Michael Putnam figures to be in the field at the Nationwide Tour's Soboba Golf Classic, which comes to the Country Club at Soboba Springs in San Jacinto beginning the week of September 27. Visit PGATour.com for complete results from the Utah Championship. ALSO SEE: Tomasulo, Lovemark and Chappell primed for Soboba Golf Classic |
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