Volume 28 · Number 3 · Spring 2011
Sports: Great Scott! Gordon Makes PGA Tour
Scott Gordon, 2000–04, is the first player in UC Davis men's golf history to earn his PGA Tour card.
Scott Gordon
Though he failed to make the cut at the Farmer's Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in January, Gordon will be able to compete in all PGA events for a year.
Two other UC Davis alumni, Bill Keller '95 and Dave Wilcox '97, have competed in a PGA Tour event — but without cards. Certain tournaments put a couple of spots aside for special qualifiers; Keller played at the Reno Tahoe Open in 2002, and Wilcox participated in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am in 2000.
Gordon, who started playing golf at age 6, earned his PGA Tour card after he finished in a tie for 27th with a 9-under, 420 after the final round of tour qualifying at the Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge on Dec. 6. The top 25 and ties were guaranteed full PGA Tour status, but two players already had their cards due to their standing on the Nationwide Tour money list and were solely competing to improve their position. That extended the cut line to include Gordon.
To keep their PGA cards, players like Gordon usually have tofinish higher than a certain spot on the PGA money list. If he loses his card, then he'll have to go through qualifying all over again.
'Babe' Slater Award winner
An economics major while at UC Davis, Gordon won the campus' Colby E. "Babe" Slater Award for top male athlete in 2004 after a school-record 71.54 average. He tied a then-school record with a 65 in the final round of The Nelson Invitational and was in the top 10 in four Division I tournaments.