COLUMBUS, Ohio — Andrew Loupe won the Web.com Tour Finals’ Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship on Sunday to earn a PGA Tour card.
Loupe closed with a 1-under 70 for a two-stroke victory. The 26-year-old former LSU player finished at 5-under 279 on Ohio State’s difficult Scarlet Course.
"I knew what I had on the line," Loupe said. "I just kept telling myself to take it on this week."
Loupe birdied the par-4 14th to take the outright lead.
"It’s been a long time since I’ve won," Loupe said. "I guess I’ve got to cherish these moments. It’s hard to win in golf. But I always believed. I’ve been telling myself for a long time that I could do this. To be honest, this course stood out to me. I thought that it was probably my best chance to get one just because you can use length as an advantage a little bit out here."
Loupe earned $180,000 to jump from 30th to third on the series money list with $190,642 with one event left. He finished 198th in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings to drop into the four-event series for the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list, Nos. 126-200 in the FedEx Cup standings and non-members who earned enough money to have placed in the top 200 had they been eligible to receive points.
The top 25 players on Web.com Tour regular-season money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on series earnings.
Third-round leader Roberto Castro, Tom Hoge and Bronson Burgoon tied for second. Castro finished with a 75, Hoge had a 69, and Burgoon shot 70. They also secured PGA Tour cards, earning $74,667 each.
Castro, 188th in the FedEx Cup standings, is fourth on the series money list with $110,979.
"I’m playing the PGA Tour next year," Castro said. "I’m playing good. Next week, I can go try and win a golf tournament. It’s a positive step forward."
Hoge, 132nd in the FedEx Cup, is seventh with $77,384.
"I think we’re all thinking about that the whole time," Hoge said about trying to lock up a tour card. "I knew that I probably had to finish top 10, and so that was the whole focus."
Last year, Eric Axley took the 25th card with $36,312.
Burgoon earned a card with a top-25 finish on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list and has moved up to No. 9 with $263,320.
