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LA QUINTA—With plenty of drama centered around the top-25 cut line at PGA Tour Qualifying School, not even a closing double-bogey made Harrison Frazar flinch.

Frazar, who has played in 300 Tour events without a win, earned medalist honors Monday after posting a 5-under 67 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West. A 59 in the fourth round on the same track put the Texan in the most comfortable position on the leaderboard, and he cruised over the final 36 holes. Even with a pair of dropped shots on the last of his 108 holes, Frazar managed to post 32-under par, eight shots clear of second-place finishers James Nitties and Derek Fathauer.

The top-25 golfers and ties earned full-time status on the PGA Tour for 2009, and the next wave of players nearest 50 secured exempt privileges on the Nationwide Tour next season. All told, 28 played their way onto the Big Show, while 51 established Nationwide status.

Plenty of competitors that began the sixth round on the bubble for the PGA Tour went low to ease any doubts. Sylmar resident David Berganio Jr., who went bogey-free in his fourth and fifth frames to post a combined total of 7-under, kept the blemishes off his card on the final day and equaled the 7-under mark to vault into a tie for seventh.

“I knew I had to go out and play under par. I didn’t make a bogey in three rounds – I delivered once again,” said Berganio.

Matt Borchert (65), Brian Vranesh (65), and Y.E. Yang (66) started the day on the outside looking in, but gained Tour cards with blistering rounds.

San Diego’s Chris Riley admitted Monday’s last round was one of the most pressure-packed days of golf he’d ever experienced, and a front nine that included three bogeys and four birdies left him on thin ice during the back nine.

Needing a par on the difficult par-4 18^th on the Nicklaus course to post 19-under and qualify on the number, Riley hit his approach into the front greenside bunker. One of the fastest players in the professional ranks, he didn’t break stride with the heat on, splashing out to about three feet and getting up-and-down for par.

A 2009 PGA Tour card is a step back in the right direction for the former Tour winner and U.S. Ryder Cup member, and for now, it was quite a birthday present – Riley turned 35 on the final round and was able to share the special moment with his brother, Kevin, who was on his bag the whole week.

“I was nervous all day. Usually you’re nervous the first couple of holes, but it never went away,” Riley said.

Lakewood’s James Oh and La Quinta’s Troy Kelly were paired together on the Nicklaus layout, and each posted a sub-70 round to make it onto the Tour for the first time. Oh has seen success in Southern California before, winning the 2003 Mark Christopher Charity Classic at Empire Lakes Golf Course in Rancho Cucamonga, and his solid play on the Golden State Tour this season told him greener pastures weren’t far away.

“I played as well as I expected,” said Oh, a Los Angeles native. “My goal is to win on the PGA Tour. I’d like to take the next step.”

Kelly, on the other hand, struggled for much of the 2008 season while on the Canadian Tour. But with lots of friends and family in the galleries – and the hometown knowledge of dozens of rounds on both the Stadium and Nicklaus courses throughout this year – he strung together six sub-par rounds and will be on the PGA Tour in 2009.

“Today was definitely nerve-wracking, but it was fun. It was nice to have some support out there,” Kelly said.

Valencia’s Jason Gore played in one of the first groups out and seemed to position himself nicely for a return to the Tour with a 6-under 66 on the Nicklaus track. But his cumulative 17-under score didn’t hold up.

Torrance native Chris Tidland, making his ninth-straight appearance at the final stage, will have to make it 10 in 2009 unless he earns PGA Tour status via the Nationwide Tour. He finished 40^th, along with former Occidental College player Olin Browne.

Coronado’s Brian Smock failed to capitalize on the momentum of a 67 in the fifth round, shooting a 73 and finishing one shot out of earning fully exempt status for the Nationwide Tour.