The five players who earned their way onto the Web.com Tour in 2014 after finishing atop the PGA Tour Canada Order of Merit
Five PGA Tour Canada players earned Web.com Tour cards for 2014 on Sunday, with Mackenzie Hughes, Riley Wheeldon, Mark Hubbard, Hugo Leon and Wil Collins all finishing in The Five.
Hughes, a native of Dundas, Ontario finished atop the Order of Merit with $52,114.29 and earned fully exempt status, while Wheeldon, Hubbard, Leon and Collins will have highly placed status on the path to the PGA TOUR next season.
"I'm delighted to see Mackenzie Hughes and the rest of The Five get rewarded for their excellent play this inaugural season," said PGA Tour Canada President Jeff Monday. "We look forward to seeing these players follow the footsteps of the many PGA TOUR Canada alumni who have made their way to the Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR."
Hughes was the leading money winner in PGA Tour Canada's inaugural season and was named PGA Tour Canada Player of the Year thanks to a win at the Cape Breton Celtic Classic as well as two other top three finishes. Hughes finished with a $6,791.79 lead over Wheeldon.
"It's been an incredible season and it's a huge honour to be moving on to the Web.com Tour next year," said Hughes, who started the season with no status on PGA Tour Canada but played all nine events thanks to some solid finishes while playing on sponsor's exemptions. "At the start of the season I was just hoping to retain my card for this Tour next year, so this is like a dream come true."
Joe Panzeri, Nick Taylor, Chris Epperson, Carlos Sainz, Jr. and Kyle Stough finished in spots 6-10 on the Order of Merit and earned an exemption into the final stage of Web.com Tour Qualifying School, set for December 12-17 in LaQuinta, California. Players finishing 11th through 20th – Stephen Gangluff, Nathan Tyler, Max Gilbert, John Ellis, Cory Renfrew, Lucas Lee, David Skinns, Tyler Aldridge, Brady Schnell and Trevor Murphy – earned an exemption into second stage of Qualifying School.