Denver native Clark lands spot in second PGA Tour playoff event; Hubbard officially earns 2019-20 PGA Tour card
By Gary Baines – 08/11/2019
Sunday proved to be a very noteworthy day for a couple of tour players who grew up in Colorado.
To wit:
— Denver native Wyndham Clark, who qualified for the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs as a tour rookie, snuck inside the top 70 in the points standings, which earned him a spot in the second playoff event, the BMW Championship.
— And — though this was a foregone conclusion, it became official on Sunday — by finishing ninth on the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2019 regular-season points list, Denver native Mark Hubbard regained his PGA Tour card after a two-year absence from golf’s top circuit. Hubbard, a winner at a KF event in February, placed 18th in the KF regular-season finale, the WinCo Foods Portland Open, on Sunday.
Clark (pictured) seemed a long shot to advance to the BMW Championship as he came into the week 90th in the FedExCup points standings and needed to get inside the top 70. But an 18th-place showing at The Northern Trust in Jersey City, N.J., did the trick as it moved the Valor Christian High School graduate up to No. 68.
“This is one of the biggest events I’ve played in as a pro other than the Players (Championship), so for me to get to the next stage is huge,” Clark said during CBS’ telecast on Sunday. “Especially as a rookie it’s tough to do. It’s a great year to do that.”
In New Jersey, Clark shot a 2-under-par 69 on Sunday to finish at 9-under 275 overall, seven strokes behind winner Patrick Reed.
The BMW Championship, which benefits the Evans Scholarship for caddies, is scheduled for Thursday through next Sunday in Medinah, Ill.
At the BMW, Clark will need to make a huge leap — into the top 30 on the points list — in order to earn a spot in the season-ending Tour Championship Aug. 22-25 in Atlanta.
Clark, of course, enjoyed considerable success growing up in Colorado, including winning the 2010 CGA Amateur as a 16-year-old and the Pac-12 Conference individual title at Boulder County Club as a college senior.
As for Hubbard, he’ll now compete in the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals in the coming weeks in an attempt to improve his position for getting into fall events on the PGA Tour. Hubbard competed regularly on the PGA Tour from 2015-17.
Just missing out on the top 25 in the Korn Ferry regular-season points list — which automatically earned players their 2019-2020 PGA Tour cards — was Cheyenne native and former University of Colorado golfer Josh Creel, who finished 29th on that list. He missed the cut in Portland.
Elsewhere for players with strong Colorado connections competing on major professional tours:
— Former University of Colorado golfer Jeremy Paul tied for fifth on Sunday in PGA Tour Canada’s ATB Financial Classic in Calgary. Paul posted rounds of 68-68-69-66 for a 13-under-par total of 271, which left him five strokes behind champion Hayden Buckley. Also placing in the top 15 on Sunday were Denver resident James Love (272) and Jeremy Paul’s twin brother Yannik (273).