BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Sangmoon Bae won the Albertsons Boise Open on Sunday to regain his PGA Tour card, birdieing the final hole for a one-stroke victory in the Web.com Tour Finals event.
Bae finished at 19-under 265, closing with a 5-under 66 at Hillcrest Country Club to edge Anders Albertson (62), Roger Sloan (63) and Adam Schenk (64).
The 32-year-old Bae returned to the PGA Tour this season after two years of mandatory military service in South Korea, but lost his card with a 202nd-place finish in the FedEx Cup standings. The two-time PGA Tour winner entered the week needing a few thousand dollars to wrap up a card and ended up making $180,000.
“I thought it would not take that long (to get my game back), but I have struggled for almost a year,” Bae said. “My game is not that much different, but maybe a little mentally. It’s a little different in my mind because I feel like I’m back to being a rookie. More humbled and more patient.”
Bae made a 6-footer on the par-4 18th.
“I talked to my caddy, Matt, and we needed a birdie on the last,” Bae said. “I had a perfect number for my second with 110 yards to the hole and I perfectly hit a 56-degree wedge. I feel just so successful this week, and after the military service it means a lot. I feel like I’m back.”
Albertson had already earned a PGA Tour card with a top-25 finish on the Web.com Tour regular-season money list, and Sloan, Schenk, Roberto Diaz and Dylan Frittelli all earned enough money to get four of the 25 cards available in the four-event series.
The series features the top 75 players from the Web.com regular-season money list and Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings. Albertson and the other top-25 finishers on the Web.com money list are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for 25 cards based on series earnings.
The Web.com Tour Championship is next week at Atlantic Beach Country Club in Florida.
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