With Tourney Record-Tying 63, Seiffert Earns PGA Tour Card
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FINDLEY LAKE -- Chase Seiffert walked off the 18th green midway through the afternoon Sunday trailing co-leaders Ryan Brehm and Tim Wilkinson by two strokes.
And he couldn't have been happier.
Seiffert matched a LECOM Health Challenge record with a final-round 63 to tie for third place and in the process earned his PGA Tour card for the 2020 season by recording a top-12 finish at Peek'n Peak Resort's Upper Course.
"To be able to play well and really lock it up … you just think back to all the practice sessions when it was almost dark," Seiffert said when asked about the emotions of reaching the PGA Tour. " … Holing out putts like I did on No. 17, it just means so much. It will be a nice reflection later on today."
The Florida State University product recorded birdies at Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 9 on the front nine to make the turn at 4-under.
"I love this golf course. I hadn't really played a good round yet. I'd been close. I just felt good from the start today," Seiffert said. "I got off to a good start … and just kept the foot down, hitting good shots and making putts."
On the back nine, birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 put Seiffert at 6-under on the day before his momentum was broken momentarily by a bogey at the par-4 14th hole.
"I was finally able to hit it close," he said. "I'd been hitting it to 20 feet all week … finally today I hit a lot of shots to 5 or 6 feet and was able to convert."
The Panama City, Florida native did not let that misstep deter him as he closed out his round with four consecutive birdies to match Rick Lamb's final-round 63 during the 2016 tournament.
"Every time I made a bogey this week, except for one, I bounced back on the next hole with a birdie," Seiffert said. "I said that walking off that green. I had some pins there coming in. I was able to hit it close on 15, 16 and 17, and then was able to two-putt on 18."
When he finished, Seiffert was two shots back of the leaders, but was fairly confident that his 19-under would not stand up to be enough for a playoff.
"Brehm is playing some great golf out there," he said at the time. "He has some easy holes coming in."
Seiffert was nearly summoned back almost two hours later when Brehm, the eventual tournament champion, found a hazard on the 18th hole and ended up tying Wilkinson at 20-under.
Those two needed one playoff hole to decide the title as Wilkinson's birdie putt on the extra hole rimmed out and Brehm's circled around the cup and fell in.
En route to his 269 for the weekend, Seiffert played some of the most consistent golf in the field. He fired a 67 with an eagle, four birdies and a bogey in the first round before a 70 that included five birdies and three bogeys in his second round.
Five more birdies put him in contention Saturday, but a double-bogey at the par-3 fifth hole ended up putting him just enough behind that he couldn't catch up Sunday.
"I wish I would've played that hole a little differently, but there were a lot of holes this week I could've played a little better, besides that one," Seiffert said of No. 5 on Saturday. "I'm just excited with where I'm sitting."
It will be easy for Seiffert to forget that disappointment when he's playing alongside Koepka, Thomas, Woods and McIlroy on the PGA Tour next year.
"To get the card and keep it forever," Seiffert said, " … that's the goal."