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| October 4, 2008 - The Legacy
GC, Norwalk (IA) |
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| After earning $21,148.25 on
The Gateway Tour Beach Summer
Series through 13 events this
year, 33 year-old Richland, WA
native, Clint Jensen, shot rounds
of 70/70/68/70-278 (10-under par)
to win The Gateway Tour Championship
Presented by Mercy Medical Center
with a 1-stroke victory over Edward
Loar (72/68/66/73-279), Brady
Stockton (72/70/70/67-279), &
Clark Dennis (71/70/69/69-279),
worth $65,000 & an exemption
into the 2009 AT&T Pebble
Beach National Pro-Am. |
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| He now finishes the season with
the crown of the Tour’s highest
honor, $86,148.25 in earnings,
and perhaps most importantly,
a great send-off and confidence-builder
heading into the upcoming PGA
TOUR Qualifying. |
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| “This means a lot, obviously,”
said Jensen. “But I think it means
a lot more than it even would have just
a couple of years ago because I had
actually quit playing at the end of
’06 and had the intention of never
playing again. The game had just gotten
me down, which this game can do, but
after I had a couple of daughters with
my wife in these past couple of years
and had taken a job at a course in Florida,
I realized I really wanted to get back
to the game…So at the end of May
I started hitting balls again, got some
money together and had a month to prepare.
I guess it was a good decision,”
he joked. |
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| Ed Loar began the final round with
a slim 1-stroke lead over Ben Kern and
a 2-stroke advantage over Jensen, with
14 players total starting the day within
five strokes of his lead – a bunched-up
leaderboard for sure, but after 9 holes,
the same amount of players stood within
just three strokes from the pace. |
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| “I knew when I started the day
there were so many guys just one shot
behind me that you have to figure some
of them are going to make a run,”
said Jensen. “I didn’t actually
look at a leaderboard until after the
16th hole, but I knew the wind was up
today, so it would be hard for anyone
to do anything spectacular. I just had
a number that I was trying to shoot,
so I was really just trying to focus
on my own game and not worry about anyone
else too much.” |
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| As the final results stand, Ryan Garrity
(69/73/69/69-280), Jaxon Brigman (70/70/70/70-280),
Adam Rubinson (69/69/71/71-280), Ben
Kern (69/69/69/73-280), & Jesse
Mueller (74/67/68/71-280) tied for 5th,
and Daniel Fox (68/69/72/72-281) &
Rob Rashell (69/69/71/72-281) tied for
10th to round out the top 10. |
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| In all, 17 players finished the week
at The Legacy within just five strokes
of Jensen - an exciting and dramatic
way to finish The Gateway Tour year.
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| “Every tournament we run throughout
the year creates a lot of drama and
pressure for our players coming down
the stretch,” said The Gateway
Tour’s VP of Tour Operations, Ryan
Pray. “But, when you put all of
the best players from each of our Series
on a good golf course playing with the
most pressure they’ve had all year,
that creates a pretty amazing atmosphere.
In that respect, we know we’re
doing our job the way we should, and
in the end, our players will become
better for having experiences like they
did this week at The Legacy.” |
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| “We’ve been extremely fortunate
to host our biggest event of the year
again at The Legacy. We realize what
a special situation we have and we owe
our thanks to everyone from the Manning
family - who did a great job in preparing
the golf course and making our players
feel welcome, to Mercy Medical Center
and the other area businesses - who
were gracious enough to sponsor us,
and to the media and people of Des Moines
- who embraced us and made us feel so
at home…There’s no doubt the
city of Des Moines loves the game of
golf and we’re looking forward
to continuing this great partnership
for years to come.” |
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| Along with the padded $400,000 purse
and $65,000 winner’s share that
accompanied this Championship, Jensen
will fulfill The Gateway Tour’s
second-ever exemption into a PGA TOUR
event – The 2009 AT&T Pebble
Beach National Pro-Am, as last year’s
Tour Championship winner, Ryan Dillon,
fulfilled earlier this year. |
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| “(The Legacy) reminds me of my
home course back in Washington with
the severe and fast greens, and really
even just basic look of the whole place,”
said Jensen. “I felt comfortable
from the start of the week out here
and basically just played solid all
four rounds. There’s no doubt this
will be something I’ll remember
for a long time to come.” |
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| So, congratulations & thank you
to all players, staff, and the rest
of The Gateway Tour family for a great
2008, and we’ll see you in ’09. |
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