Win brings Baryla step closer to PGA Tour
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/10/2009 (6143 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
VANCOUVER — Now that he has almost reached his ultimate destination, Chris Baryla can better appreciate the challenges he faced the past few years in a sometimes bumpy professional golf journey.
Like the pain he suffered while trying to play with a bad back, the countless hours spent in therapy recovering from his injury and the loss of his full-time status on the Nationwide Tour.
Suddenly, they all feel like challenges overcome and distant memories. The golfer from Vernon, B.C., is now focusing on his future, one that became much brighter this past weekend when he won the Nationwide Tour’s Chattanooga Classic in Tennessee.
That win — his first as a pro — and the $90,000 US that came with it moved Baryla inside the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour money list and put him in great position to earn his PGA Tour card for 2010. The 26-year-old two-time B.C. junior champion can’t begin to tell you how good that feels.
“It feels fantastic, that’s for sure,” Baryla said over the phone. “It’s nice to get the validation for the hard work, especially not knowing where I was going to be at the beginning of this year with my injury and not having full status and what not. This is very satisfying.”
Five months ago, Baryla was just another pro golfer with a bad back and no place to play. He was emerging in late May from a yearlong hiatus forced by his injury. He had lost his full-time status on the Nationwide Tour and didn’t know if his back would hold up.
Now with just two events remaining on the Nationwide Tour schedule, Baryla is 20th on the money list with earnings of $184,055. He has done it while playing just 12 events. Many on Tour have played double that number.
Baryla shot a 2-under 70 on Sunday to finish at 19-under par, one stroke ahead of American Troy Kelly.
“I was a little shaky out of the blocks, but it was good through the middle of the round, for sure,” he said.
— Canwest News Service
