Fresno State Athletics
Watney Earns First PGA Tour Win
4/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 22, 2007
FRESNO, Calif. - One of the most decorated athletes in Fresno State history has taken his game to a new level. Former Bulldog golfing great Nick Watney won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, earning his first PGA Tour win.
Watney, the 2003 winner of the Joe Kearney Award as the WAC's top athlete, has been putting together a solid professional golf career.
Sunday's win in Louisiana, however, sets Watney up for an outstanding year and should vault him to greater things on the PGA Tour. He is the first Bulldog to win a PGA Tour event since Kevin Sutherland won the 2002 World Golf Accenture Match Play Championship. Sutherland, who made the cut in New Orleans, continues to be ranked in the Top 50 of the Fed Ex Cup standings.
For his effort, Watney will pocket a winners' check of more than $1 million and, more importantly, a win the PGA Tour brings some automatic privileges. He earned significant points (4,500) in the new PGA Tour Fed Ex Cup, moving him up to 12th in the standings. For winning the event, Watney is now eligible for the 2008 Master's tournament, and the PGA Championship. He moved himself into significantly better position for an invitation in the 2007 British Open.
A three-time All-American at Fresno State, Watney was the WAC Freshman of the year in 2000, and then won a string of three consecutive WAC Player of the Year honors (2001, 2002, 2003). He won 10 collegiate tournaments as a Bulldog and posted some of the lowest scoring numbers in Fresno State history during his career.
Sunday's win was Watney's third professional tournament win. He won the 2004 Nationwide Tour Championship, which combined with a Top 5 finish on the money list that year, granted him playing privileges on the PGA Tour in 2005. He's been a member of the PGA Tour since, last season finishing in the Top 75 on the money list.
After holding the 54-hole lead in New Orleans, he made two bogeys in his first four holes of the final round before recording an eagle. He finished the day 3-under par, and after a birdie on the 14th hole never relinquished the lead to win by three strokes. Watney is no stranger to leader boards, with a Top 10 finish earlier this season, and he was tied for the lead after the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, an event that was eventually won by Phil Mickelson.
Watney played at Fresno State for his uncle, Mike Watney, the long-time Fresno State head coach. Mike Watney was inducted into the National Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January.
"That golf course looked so scary, especially when you are trying to hold a lead because there's water all over the place," said Mike Watney. "Nick's been getting better and better, through college, on the Nationwide Tour, and now on the PGA Tour. You never know when an individual is going to plateau. That's never happened with Nick, he just continues to improve. There are a lot of young players out there and over the last four months there have been some young guns who've won their first event. I know Nick knew deep down he was as good as those guys and could play with those guys. When you have that belief, great things can happen. It sure happened today."
