Canada's Brad Fritsch earns PGA Tour card for 2013 | CBC Sports - Action News
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Golf

Canada's Brad Fritsch earns PGA Tour card for 2013

Justin Bolli closed with a 6-under 65 to win the Web.com Tour Championship on Sunday, earning his 2013 PGA Tour card. Ottawa's Brad Fritsch also earned his PGA Tour card after finishing in the top-25 on the 2012 Web.com Tour overall money list.

Abbotsford, B.C.'s Adam Hadwin misses securing his PGA Tour card by a single shot

Canadian Brad Fritsch has earned his PGA Tour card for 2013 after finishing in the top 25 on the Web.com Tour money list in 2012. (Dave Chidley/Canadian Press)

One Canadian earned his PGA Tour card for next season, while another came agonizingly close.

Ottawa's Brad Fritsch will play with the big boys in 2013 after firing a 69 in Sunday's final round of the Web.com Tour Championship to finish eight shots back of winner Justin Bolli, who closed with a 6-under 65.

The top 25 players on the overall money list earned PGA Tour cards.

The win put Fritsch into the top-25 along with Bolli, who earned $180,000 US to move from No. 44 to No. 9 with his two-shot victory over James Hahn. Fritsch moved to No. 18 overall, with his total earnings for the year at $186,168.

Hadwin just misses out

Adam Hadwin wasn't as fortunate. The Abbotsford, B.C., golfer closed with a 65, getting up-and-down from behind the green on the par-5 18th at the TPC Craig Ranchin McKinney, Texasfor one last birdie.

He was projected to go from No. 48 to No. 25 on the money list and earn his Tour card if he stayed in a three-way tie for second with Hahn and Morgan Hoffman, who closed with a 64.

It didn't happen.

Hahn's second shot into the 18th went well right of the green and onto a cart path. He took a free drop, and then lofted a chip that stopped just inside three feet from the pin. Hahn knocked in the short birdie putt to finish alone in second place.

Hadwin, who would have made $74,667 for a three-way tie for second, earned $58,000 for his two-way tie for third. The difference was enough to allow Jim Herman to finish 25th on the money list.

Hoffman, who started the year with no status on the Web.com Tour, was No. 31 on the money list and easily cracked the top-25 to graduate to the PGA Tour. Doug LaBelle was at No. 26 and tied for 13th to also move into the top-25.

"I attacked very well today," Hoffman said after posting the lowest score Sunday. "It worked out great. I'm sitting here happy now. I feel like I have to go to a Monday qualifier, it's so ingrained what I've been doing the last year-and-a-half. It just feels great."

Hudson Swafford (23), Joseph Bramlett (24) and Camilo Benedetti (25) fell out of the top-25. Their next stop will be Q-school for PGA Tour cards. Benedetti wound at No. 26, $940 behind Herman.

Bolli finished the tournament at 16-under 268.

Casey Wittenberg won the Web.com Tour money list, meaning he is eligible for The Players Championship and has guaranteed status all year.

This is the final year of the top 60 players from the Web.com Tour money list meeting in a Tour Championship to decide the 25 cards.

Next year, the top-25 on the Web.com Tour money list will be assured their PGA Tour cards, but they will join the next 50 players from the Web.com Tour money list and 75 players from the PGA who fail to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Those players will compete in four tournaments called "The Finals," where 25 additional PGA Tour cards will be awarded. Those who already finished in the top-25 on the Web.com Tour money list will be playing the four-event series to determine only their ranking for the 2013-14 season that will start next October.

The final event of that series will be played on the Valley Course at the TPC Sawgrass.