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Kevin Stadler Earns PGA Tour Card
Kevin Stadler, the son of popular PGA Tour and Champions Tour player Craig Stadler, earned his 2007 PGA Tour card by winning the Boise Open, a Nationwide Tour event. Stadler, 26, closed with a 5-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over Glen Day.
Also a one-stroke winner over Day, a former PGA Tour player, in early August in the Xerox Classic in Rochester, N.Y., Stadler has racked up four career Nationwide Tour wins.
He also won the Argentina Open in December and the Johnnie Walker Classic – sanctioned by the European, Australasian and Asian tours – in February in Australia. “At the beginning of the year I could play everywhere in the world except where I wanted to play,” Stadler said.
Stadler earned $117,000 for the victory. He jumped from 18th to third on the money list with $286,407; the top 20 players on the Nationwide Tour at the end of the season earn PGA Tour cards. One more victory on the Nationwide would give Stadler an immediate promotion to the PGA Tour.
“I honestly don’t know what I’ll do from here on,” Stadler said. “I haven’t had two consecutive weeks off all year. Maybe I’ll take a vacation.”
Stadler closed with a flourish at the Hillcrest Country Club course in Boise. He birdied Nos. 15-17 and ended with a par to set a tournament record of 20-under 264. Day closed with a 65, missing a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 16th that could’ve led to a playoff. “I gave Kevin one on a silver platter,” Day said. “I know it. Kevin knows it. Everyone knows it.”
As for his play down the clutch, Stadler, much like his father, indicated his game goes up another level. “I don’t know if I ever get really nervous, but my concentration definitely peaks when I feel like that,” he said. “The putts I had on 16 and 17, it was almost like a mini-tunnel vision. I think that was a little bit of adrenaline and a little bit of pressure. It’s kind of comforting. It’s strange in a way, but it definitely helps me.”
It’ll be interesting to see if that poise under pressure helps the younger Stadler on the PGA Tour in 2007.
