• Purse: $725,000
• Yardage: 7,165
• Par: 71
Top Ten
Martin Piller, $130,500, 69-66-62-64--261
Dicky Pride, $78,300, 66-66-65-66--263
Alistair Presnell, $42,050, 69-64-67-64--264
James Hahn, $42,050, 69-63-64-68--264
Bob May, $27,550, 67-63-67-68 265
Kevin Chappell, $27,550, 64-64-68-69--265
Scott Stallings, $21,841, 68-64-67-67--266
Jon Mills, $21,841, 68-65-64-69--266
Paul Claxton, $21,841, 69-66-62-69--266
Scott Gutschewski, $21,841, 67-68-62-69--266
• Complete Results: 2010 Cox Classic
• Photo Showcase: 2010 Cox Classic
• Complete Results: 2010 Cox Classic
* * *
The best scoring weekend ever for a Cox Classic champion has Martin Piller a shoo-in for a spot on next year’s PGA Tour.
But after breaking out of the pack midway through Sunday’s final round for a two-stroke victory, the Texas A&M graduate isn’t looking that far ahead.
“I just have to keep making birdies, go shot by shot, until I putt out at the Tour Championship at the end of the year,’’ Piller said. “That’s all I care about.
“I’m not going to rest. I’m going to get as high as I can on the money list and keep going. The moment I let off the pedal, I know bad habits are going to creep in.’’
Piller followed up his career-low 62 on Saturday with a 64 on Sunday, topping the 64-63 ending for 2006 winner Johnson Wagner at Champions Run, to finish at 23 under for his second win of the season.
“I don’t want to be back here next year, in the good kind of way,’’ he said.
Runner-up Dicky Pride (21 under) had his best finish on either the Nationwide or PGA Tours since winning his only PGA Tour title in 1994 in Memphis.
Piller became the third $300,000 winner of the season after collecting the $130,500 winner’s check from the $725,000 purse. He improved from 10th to fourth on the money list at $318,621.
“He’s a very good player and probably a better person,’’ Scott Gutschewski said.
Gutschewski, the local favorite who was with Piller and Pride in the pack one stroke out of the 54-hole lead, bogeyed the first hole Sunday and shot 69 to tie for seventh. The former Nebraska golfer returned to the top 25 on the money list, making $21,841, at No. 19 with $118,090 on the season.
Piller led for the first time all week when he made eagle on the ninth hole by sinking an 6-foot putt. He then made a drinking motion to the gallery on the hole that rewards eagles with discounted beer prices.
“The eagle pumped me up. I was shaking after that,’’ he said. “I was hitting it well and had made three birdies in a row, then I came to that hole and smashed that tee shot.
“I had the easiest putt in the world for eagle. I wanted to make it for the fans. After that hole, it was game on.’’
His birdie on 10 had him 6 under in a five-hole stretch, matching the best birdie-eagle streak in tournament history. It snapped on the next hole, with a bogey on the par-4 11th.
It left him tied with Australian Alistair Presnell at 21 under. Presnell bogeyed the 16th, but third-round co-leader James Hahn birdied the 11th after an eagle on 10 to create another tie for Piller.
Presnell’s birdie on 17 forged a momentary three-way tie. Hahn bogeyed the 12th, then double-bogeyed the 13th to fall back. He tied Presnell for third.
Piller gained the outright lead with a birdie on 14, then his birdie on 15 combined with a bogey on 16 by Pride staked the Aggie to a three-stroke lead with three holes to play. He parred all three, and no one made a late charge.
The other third-round co-leader, Kevin Chappell, the only one on the course mathematically alive when Piller tapped in for par on 18, bogeyed the par-5 17th.
“I didn’t watch the scoreboard,’’ Piller said. “I did the same thing as when I won in Georgia, especially on this course where you have to make birdies. I didn’t want to see myself, and I didn’t want to let myself off the hook. Stay aggressive and stay focused.
“I didn’t look at a board until I came up 18. I hit that second shot and now OK, now I want to see it, and I was two up.’’
The Dallas-born champion, 24, has Nebraska roots. His father, Dan, and brother Nathan are Nebraska graduates. The family once lived in Lincoln before moving to Texas. Dan Piller, who wore a Husker cap and A&M shirt Sunday, is the farm writer for the Des Moines Register.
Piller was a teammate at A&M, and remains in contact, with John Hurley, an Aggie senior from O’Neill, Neb. Hurley texted him after Saturday’s round.
“Every win is special,’’ Piller said, “but to have it happen here in a place like Omaha, with the fans and the gallery and the town, I can’t say enough.’’
Contact the writer:
444-1041, stu.pospisil@owh.com
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