By Jon Levy - Staff Writer
Photo provided by the Associated Press

April 28, 2010

Accomplishing the impressive feat for a third time this year, five former Gateway Tour players finished in the top-10 of a PGA TOUR event. With Jeff Overton’s (2nd), Troy Merritt’s (3rd), Nicholas Thompson’s (T7), Matt Jones’ (T10) and Aaron Price’s (T10) solid efforts at last week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, in fact, former Gateway Tour players have now accounted for 33 top-10s on TOUR this year.

Needless to say, of course, as a developmental circuit whose goal it is to ready its players to accomplish such enviable feats; The Gateway Tour is extremely proud of its alumni and can’t wait to see what unfolds for the remainder of the year.

Starting with Overton, a player who in 119 starts on the PGA TOUR since 2006 has earned over $4.5 million via his second-career runner-up finish -- his two-shot-shy-of-Jason Bohn-effort came as a welcome reprieve this season, as the Indiana native had uncharacteristically made just five cuts in his first ten events, with only $142,133 in earnings. How quickly a year can change, though, as the $691,200 payday -- a payday almost five times more than his previous earnings for the year -- jumps him to $833,333 and to 41st in the FedEx Cup standings.

Not bad for the former Walker Cup player who, with his 12th top-10 on the PGA TOUR, certainly has all signs pointing towards a first TOUR win. Only time will tell about that, of course, as it will it for all five Alumni in the top-10 this week concerning their futures, naturally.

Time being a key component here, though, that’s exactly what the next player on the list, Merritt, needed, as after starting his rookie season with solid finishes at the Sony Open (T20), Bob Hope Classic (T63) and Farmers Insurance Open (T15), he missed his next seven cuts and needed more than two months of it to see a weekend on the PGA TOUR.

Making the most of his cut-made in New Orleans by virtually coming out of nowhere to contend and finish just four shots back of Jason Bohn’s winning effort, however, Merritt’s year-to-date points out how truly strange the game of golf can be. His $435,200 paycheck vaulted him all the way from 133rd on the money list ($594,970) to 53rd, and from 141st to 63rd in FedEx Cup points.

Likewise, for the other three Gateway Alumni securing their top-10 honors -- Thompson, Jones and Price -- each player made great headway with their standings on the money list and in the FedEx Cup race.

Thompson ($328,895) moves to 119th on the FedEx Cup totem pole, Jones ($475,129) to 76th, and perhaps most importantly -- considering what the finish means for his TOUR status -- Price ($160,767) to 164th.

It’s often easy to get caught up in watching the successes of the top players in the game, or in our case, the top-performing Gateway Tour Alumni; but for a player such as Price, (whose start at the Zurich was only his fifth on TOUR this year, after missing his first three cuts, placing 33rd in Puerto Rico and playing two Nationwide Tour events), a tie for 10th accounts for guaranteed place to play this week and a big jump up the status list come reshuffle-time.

Talk about pressure. It’s easy to think a player who is trying to win his first PGA TOUR event -- such as Overton -- has a pressure-packed situation from struggling with the emotional battles of being in contention. But pressure can really show itself when a player is merely looking for a spot in the field each week, which is exactly where Price has found himself this year.

With that said, congratulations to Aussie for his week, the other forenamed alumni for their successes, and all of the former Gateway Tour players on the PGA TOUR who continue to wage and win battles of all shapes and forms each week on the game’s biggest stage.


Click here for full field results of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, from pgatour.com, and stay tuned as The Gateway Tour go back to work again this week at the Quail Hollow Championship…