This is turning into quite a week for Sam Saunders, both on and off the course.
The Fort Collins resident — and grandson of Arnold Palmer — regained full status on the Web.com Tour by finishing 11th Tuesday in the 108-hole final stage of qualifying in La Quinta, Calif.
If that weren’t enough to celebrate, Saunders’ wife, Kelly, has a due date of Wednesday (Dec. 18) for the couple’s baby son.
As Saunders told PGA Tour.com on Monday as he looked forward to what awaited him, “It sure would be nice if everything went as planned and I take care of business (Tuesday) and she can hold off having that baby for just one more day.”
Saunders (pictured above) and Kelly got married just over a year ago and he moved to Colorado. On Tuesday, Saunders made nine birdies, shot a 7-under-par 65 at the PGA West Jack Nicklaus Course and posted a 19-under 413 total. If he had been one stroke better, a top-10 showing would have given him even better status for next year.
Also easily finishing among the top 45 and ties — and thereby earning preferred status on the 2014 Web.com Tour — was former Denver resident Mark Hubbard. The 2007 CGA Junior Stroke Play and Junior Match Play champion placed 15th in La Quinta as he went bogey-free the final two days (68-66) en route to a 17-under 415 total. Hubbard closed with a 6-under 30 back nine on Tuesday.
Zack Fischer overtook Scott Pinckney and won the six-day event — and $25,000 — with a 401 total.
Hubbard, 24 (pictured at left), already had landed a spot on the Web.com Tour by virtue of placing in the top five on the 2013 PGA Tour Canada money list, but he was competing in the final stage of Q-school to improve his status.
The former San Jose State golfer has had quite a memorable run over the last five months. During that time, he’s:
— Finished eighth in the HealthOne Colorado Open in late July.
— Played in his first PGA Tour event, the Reno-Tahoe Open, where he missed the cut on Aug. 1.
— Won a tournament, the Wildfire Invitational, on PGA Tour Canada in early September.
— Earned his Web.com Tour card by finishing third on the PGA Tour Canada money list in mid-September.
— Made his first cut ever on the PGA Tour by placing 69th in the Frys.com Open in October.
— Capped the year with his top-15 performance in the final stage of Web.com qualifying, which was worth $10,000 — the same total Saunders received.
As Hubbard noted in September, “You just try to play well and whatever happens happens. (In August), I was just worrying about keeping my (PGA Tour Canada) card, and then I got that win. Anything from here on out is just icing on the cake.”
Saunders, 26, is no stranger to big-time tour golf, having competed in 21 events on the PGA Tour and 53 on the Web.com circuit. He finished as high as second in a Web.com Tour tournament last year, but a back injury and poor putting led to major struggles in 2013. He posted just one top-30 finish in Web.com events and ended up 150th on the money list, which is why he was left going through two stages of Q-school to regain his status.
“It was frustrating, but I think it was really good for me,” Saunders told PGA Tour.com. “It made me work on some things I needed to work on and made me appreciate how nice it is to have a job. I’m putting well now, which is the biggest difference.”
Meanwhile, Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch had to settle for conditional status on the Web.com Tour after finishing 105th Tuesday in La Quinta. The two-time HealthOne Colorado Open champion closed with a 3-under-par 69 at the PGA West Stadium Course to post a 3-under 429 total.
Tolan will have Web.com Tour status for the first time in his career, but will likely receive less starts in 2014 than Saunders and Hubbard.
Here are the scores for all the players with strong Colorado ties who competed in the final stage:
La Quinta, Calif. (top 45 and ties receive preferential Web.com Tour status; others receive conditional status) — 11. Sam Saunders of Fort Collins 68-75-70-64-71-65–413; 15. former Denver resident Mark Hubbard 73-70-70-68-68-66–415; 105. Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch 73-74-68-74-71-69–429.
