Crack the beers as ‘Beef’ earns his tour card

FILE this under “things you can’t make up”: Andrew “Beef” Johnston earned his PGA Tour card on National Cheeseburger Day. No, seriously, this actually happened.

The affable Englishman shot a final-round 68 at Hillcrest Country Club to finish solo fourth at the Albertsons Boise Open, the second event of the Web.com Tour Finals. That finish, coupled with a T-28 in the first of the fourevent series, moved Johnston to sixth on the Finals money list, and guaranteed him a spot on the PGA Tour for the 201617 season that starts at next month’s Safeway Open.

“I’m very happy,” Johnston said. “To come over and get what I was trying to do is big.”

Michael Thompson shot a final-round 64 to win the event by three shots over Miguel Angel Carballo. Both will make their return to the PGA Tour next season. Thompson won the 2013 Honda Classic and is most known for finishing T-2 at the 2012 US Open at the Olympic Club.

Grayson Murray, who had already got his PGA Tour card for the first time through the Web.com Tour regular-season money list, also shot a Sunday 64 to finish third.

Beef burst on to the world scene earlier this year when he won the Spanish Open on the European Tour and said he couldn’t wait “to get hammered”. Johnston’s popularity grew with an eighth-place finish at the Open Championship, and he drew some of the largest crowds at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol. After earning his PGA Tour card, he was asked how he planned to celebrate.

“A few, um, sodas,” Johnston said bursting into laughter. “Maybe a Coke and a Fanta or something like that. No, no, there’s going to be a few beers.”

Drink up, Beef. You deserve it. – Golf Digest