It hasn’t been an easy journey, but Curtis Luck will play in the upcoming Web.Com Tour finals.
A tied sixth finish in the final tour event of the season in Portland today was enough for the former US Amateur champion to secure an all-important top-75 finish in the standings.
Starting the week ranked 83rd, Luck needed plenty to go his way to squeeze into four-week finals series; what followed was his best week of the year.
Rounds of 71, 67, 66 and 69 catapulted the West Aussie 23 places and into the finals, with the added bonus of a full Web.Com Tour card for the 2019 season should things not go as he hopes.
The nervy final round had plenty of ups and downs for the Cottesloe ace, opening with two birdies before three bogeys in five holes had the Sandgroper out in one over par.
But then an eagle on 11 and birdie on 13 all but secured Luck a top-75 position, with five-straight pars ensuring the 22-year-old a crack at a PGA Tour card.
The 150-strong field for the finals will feature most of the top 75 from the Web.Com Tour along with the players ranked from 126-200 from this year’s PGA Tour.
The finals end with the Tour Championship in Florida on September 20 with the top 25 from that month earning status on the PGA Tour.
Luck will be joined by fellow Aussies Cam Davis (34th), Brett Drewitt (63rd) and Rhein Gibson (44th) in the final month of competition.
They’ll likely be joined by Aaron Baddeley (132nd on the PGA Tour), Matt Jones (151st), Cameron Percy (168th), Stuart Appleby (197th).
But the hard-luck story belongs to Sydney’s Jamie Arnold, who fell from 73rd to 81st on the Web.Com standings after missing the cut in Portland.
