Tarren’s totally on the money
Callum Tarren on Sunday clinched the PGA Tour SeriesChina order of merit title by a razor-thin margin in the final tournament of the season.
The Englishman’s finalround 62 in the Clearwater Bay Open in Hong Kong did the trick as he overtook Charlie Saxon of the US at the top of the money list by a mere 2,376 yuan ($343).
Tarren needed no worse than a solo-second finish and for Saxon to tie for 24th or worse — as it turned out, both happened.
Saxon tied for 25th, earning Tarren full playing privileges on next year’s Web.com Tour.
Tarren, a native of Darlington in England’s northeast, finished with 1,094,600 yuan to knock Saxon off his perch.
New Zealander Nick Voke, Japan’s Yuwa Kosaihira and South Korea’s Todd Baek finished third, fourth and fifth respectively on the list to also earn Web.com cards.
Tarren started the year almost exactly how he finished it — with a tie for second at the Chengdu Championship, and that ended up being one of his four runner-up finishes.
Combined with the two second-place performances he had in 2016, Tarren has tied China’s Zhang Xinjun for most the runner-up spots in tour history.
“I’m ecstatic and over the moon. I honestly didn’t have one clue what I needed to do to pip Charlie today. I just thought I would try to win the golf tournament,” said Tarren.
“For me to go out and shoot 8-under 62 in the final round at Clearwater Bay is just very special.
“It sounds crazy, but if you perform like that at any level and keep coming second, you’re going to do well.
“Obviously, it would be nice to win. Hopefully there’s a win around the corner on the Web.com Tour.”
Greg Carlson, PGA Tour Series-China executive director, saluted the winner.
“Callum has really made an impact in his two years on this tour, and it’s been a pleasure to watch him play so well,” said Carlson.
“I think what impresses me most is his calmness on the course and just how consistent he is.
“I have always admired how he continuously puts himself in position to contend for championships. To me, that’s a sign of a great player. We wish him nothing but the best on the Web.com Tour.”
Players who finished sixth through 10th on the order of merit — Joseph Winslow, Motin Yeung, Jeffrey Kang, Trevor Sluman and William Harrold — are exempt into the finals of the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament in Chandler, Arizona, from Dec 6-9.
The 2019 Web.com Tour season, the 30th in its history, tees off in mid-January at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay (Jan 13-16), followed by The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club (Jan 20-23).
Since 2013, the Web.com Tour has been known as “the path to the PGA Tour”, with 50 cards up for grabs.
Players can initially qualify for the Web.com Tour through a qualifying tournament or by securing top-five order of merit finishes on the PGA Tour Series-China, the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour–PGA Tour Canada.
Hopefully there’s a win around the corner on the Web.com Tour.”
Callum Tarren, after his sixth runner-up finish on the PGA Tour Series-China