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Peter Tomasulo knows what it takes to win a Nationwide Tour event in Canada, and part of the equation is shooting 61. That’s what the Long Beach native posted in the final round of the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic over the weekend at the Georgian Bay Club in Clarksburg, Ontario. The closing 10-under-par tally propelled him to a 24-under total and a one-stroke victory over Keegan Bradley. This marks the 28-year-old Tomasulo’s first Nationwide triumph since the 2005 Alberta Classic — another Canadian event — when he also posted a 10-under-par 61 in the second round. A lot has happened since that initial win, which came in only the Long Beach native’s third start on the circuit. A strong 2008 season on the Nationwide Tour merited Tomasulo a 2009 PGA Tour card, but his struggles there brought him back to Nationwide events this season. Now standing ninth on the 2010 money list, he has a great chance of returning to the PGA Tour next year. Tomasulo began the final round of the Wayne Gretzky Classic in a tie for fifth, eight strokes behind leader Kevin Chappell. After posting a 3-under 32 on the front nine, Tomasulo was still well off the pace, but then birdied seven of nine holes on the back nine to post the clubhouse lead that proved to be out of reach for Bradley and Chappell. “To be honest, I thought [Chappell] was uncatchable because of the way he played the first three rounds. I thought we might be able to get something going and think about second place,” said Tomasulo. “I wasn’t expecting to shoot 10-under.” The key for the former University of California-Berkeley All-American was putting. For the week, Tomasulo ranked first in total number of putts and putts per green in regulation. “I just tried to stay patient. All of a sudden I started making putts and hitting it close,” he said. Tomasulo took home a winner’s check of $144,017.82, the largest single-tournament prize of his career. With $165,690 in Nationwide Tour earnings for the year, he is not a lock to finish inside the top 25 on the money list and become fully exempt for the 2011 PGA Tour season but is certainly in prime position to do so with a few more top finishes. Chappell, a UCLA graduate who celebrated his 24th birthday during Thursday’s first round, finished in third place after an even-par 71 to close. Although he failed to capture his second Nationwide Tour win of 2010, the Fresno, Calif., native did earn nearly $55,000 and regained the No. 2 spot on the money list. Brendan Steele, an Idyllwild native now residing in Irvine, posted four sub-70 rounds to post 15-under and tie for 14th place, his best showing since a tie for 11th at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in March. The effort enabled Steele to jump from 68th to 55th on the money list. Visit PGATour.com for a complete leaderboard from the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. |
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