Texan Turner wins Soboba Classic in only his seventh Nationwide start

SAN JACINTO, Calif. -- Hello, Hollywood, here a script that writes itself. Okay, maybe it's not exactly Cinderella, but the Jerod Turner story is close.

The 34-year-old, self-taught Texan has been chasing his dream and scratching out a living on mini-tours for the past nine years. He'd earned less than $8,000 on the Nationwide Tour and was contemplating a next step that would take him away from golf.

Suddenly, in the span of two weeks, he's inches away from the PGA Tour.

Turner turned his life completely upside down on Sunday, shooting a 2-under 69 to win the Nationwide Tour's $1 million Soboba Classic by two strokes. More importantly, the victory was worth $180,000, equal to the largest in Tour history, and propelled the father of two from No. 150 on the money list to No. 17 with only three events left on the schedule.

The top 25 at the end of the year will earn their PGA Tour cards for next season and it would take a perfect storm to knock Turner out.

"Right now, I still don't know what hit me," said Turner, who finished at 15-under 269. "This week blows everything out of the water."

Two weeks ago Turner was thinking about whether he should take a job in construction or the oil and gas business during the winter to help pay the bills. Then his phone rang and he was told that Kyle Reifers withdrew from last week's WNB Golf Classic. Turner was in, the second-to-last to make it into the field

"I think I owe him a thank-you note," he said with a laugh.

Turner played well on a difficult golf course and tied for seventh in Midland, Texas, giving him an entry into this week's event.

"I was frustrated I wasn't getting the starts out here. I felt if I got the starts and got the right golf course, I could contend," he said. "Win? Who knows? I missed 17 tournaments and never got in a field."

Turner tossed conventional wisdom aside this week, as he has done for much of his life, and hit driver where others feared to go, attacked pins that others wouldn't and rolled in par-saving putts that others struggled to make.

He was one shot off the lead after the first day, led by one after two days and was one down to start the final round.

"I thought I'd have to get to 20 under today to have a chance," said Turner, who started the day at minus-13. "As soon as we got on one and two and I saw how hard and tough the course was playing, I realized there weren't a lot of birdies out there."

Sunday's scoring average of 72.836 was more than three full strokes higher than Saturday's third round, which produced the two lowest scores of the week, a 9-under 62 and a 7-under 64.

"This was the hardest golf course I've ever played on," said Turner, who was making only his seventh start on the Nationwide Tour. "It was like a U.S. Open."

Just like an Open, it was a question of who would inch forward while others backed up.

Turner grabbed a share of the lead with a birdie at No. 2 and then took the lead for good with another birdie at the par-5 fifth.

"I knew that if I could get it in the fairway and get it on the green and make some pars I'd be okay," he said. "Heck, I think I gained ground."

Third-round co-leaders Derek Lamely (72) and Brian Stuard (74) stumbled but did their best to keep pace with Turner, who admitted his only golf lesson came at the age of 14 but "lasted about 30 minutes."

Tyrone van Aswegen, a Monday qualifier, vaulted up the board with a 2-under 69 that put him at 11 under, but was never in serious contention.

Turner ran off nine consecutive pars starting at No. 6 and was ahead by three when he three-putted the 209-yard, 15th, cutting his margin to two over Lamely, who would bogey No. 15 and birdie No. 16 to keep the margin at two.

Turner approached the 521-yard, par-5 18th with the same all-out enthusiasm he displayed all week. After good drive, he hit a hybrid to the green and was just over the back in two.

"I told my caddie this was going to be an up-and-down for a lifetime," said Turner. "I knew he (Lamely) would have to hole it from the fairway. I thought if I could get it up and down, it would change everything. I've practiced and practiced and practiced and hit thousands and thousands of golf balls and spent hours and hours to get to this point."

Just as the script would have it, Turner knocked it to within a foot or two.

"I don't know how far it was," he said trying to estimate the distance. "If it was any further I might have to think about it but whatever it was, I was still pretty confident."

The short birdie put him at 15 under and out of reach. Lamely, in the final group, had run out of holes.

By the time Turner had finished chatting with the media, his phone was buzzing -- 73 text messages and 51 calls.

"I didn't know I knew this many people," he laughed.

He may not know them, but very shortly, they're all going to know him.

Fourth-Round Notes: This week's $1 million purse resulted in several changes to the money list. The list looks much different now, compared to the start of the week, as four new players moved into the top 25: Jerod Turner finished first and moved from No. 150 to No. 17; Brian Stuard tied for third and moved from No. 48 to No. 23; Craig Bowden tied for sixth and moved from No. 31 to No. 21; and Scott Gardiner tied for eighth and moved from No. 38 to No. 24

Derek Lamely's runner-up finish was worth $108,000 and upped his season total to $347,330, jumping him from No. 12 to No. 3 on the money list. ... Rickie Fowler was one of many to struggle on the last day. Fowler, making his second professional start, carded a 6-over 77 to wind up at 2-under 282. Fowler finished tied for 31.

South African Tyrone van Aswegen, a Monday qualifier, tied for third. This is the first start of the year for the 27-year-old from Johannesburg and only the 10th career start for him on the Nationwide Tour since 2006, and his first top-25 finish. Van Aswegen, a 2004 graduate of Oklahoma City University now living in San Diego, has never made a start on the PGA Tour.

Monday qualifier Kevin Chappell earned a spot in next week's Chattanooga Classic. Chappell, the 2008 NCAA Champion from UCLA, finished at 6 under and tied for 14th, which gets him into next week's event. Chappell started the year with no status on any Tour and has now made 5 cuts in 8 starts on the Nationwide Tour, with four top-25 finishes to his credit. He has earned $18,000 and is No. 76 on the money list.

Jeff Hart, a sponsor pick for this event, made the most of his opportunity. The 49-year-old from nearby Solana Beach hung around the top of the leaderboard all week and shot a final-round 75 to finish tied for 11th. ... Michael Sims of Bermuda shot a 3-under 68 to wind up 7-under 277 and tied for 11th. This is his third-best finish of the year, topped by a pair of ties for ninth at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open and the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open.

Veteran Skip Kendall stumbled to a final-round 80. Kendall posted nines of 45-35. The last time that Kendall shot an 80 was the final round of the 2004 PGA Championship, a span of 147 total starts (77 PGA Tour and 72 Nationwide Tour) and 440 total rounds (219 PGA Tour and 221 Nationwide Tour).

Sunday's final-round scoring average was 72.836 (par 71), making it the hardest of the four days. For the week, the course played to a scoring average of 71.338. ... The Nationwide Tour moves to the Black Creek Club next week for the Chattanooga Classic, the second-to-last full field event on the 2009 schedule.

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