Three tournaments into the 2018 Web.com Tour season, there is already one winner with ties to Georgia along with eight others ranked among the top 50 on the money list.
Scott Langley, who plays out of St. Simons Island, won last week’s tournament in Panama, which should help him return to the PGA Tour later this year. Langley played on the PGA Tour from 2013-16, but lost his status and played the Web.co m Tour last year. He narrowly retained his playing privileges for 2018, slipping into the top 75 on the final money list at 73. His victory moved him up to third on the 2018 money list and places him in an excellent position to earn his PGA Tour card for 2018-19.
Langley shot 71-68-69-65 for a 7-under 273 total, coming from six shots back after 54 holes to win by two. Langley was tied for 10th after 54 holes, but all nine players ahead of him were over par the final day, with the tournament leader closing with a 76.
After making just eight birdies over the first three rounds, Langley carded seven birdies over the first 15 holes Sunday, and was able to survive a double bogey on the 16th hole. He broke away from the field with four birdies in a 5-hole stretch earlier on the back nine.
Langley was a three-time All-American at the U. of Illinois and was the NCAA individual champion in 2010. After graduating in 2011, he qualified for the PGA Tour in late 2012, but finished higher than 120th in the FedExCup standings just once in four seasons, placing 73rd in 2013. He recorded a pair of third-place finishes in his first two PGA Tour seasons and his best showing last year on the Web.com Tour was a third.
Former Clayton State golfer Willy Wilcox is also off to a strong start in an attempt to return to the PGA Tour after playing there for four seasons. Wilcox, currently 13th in earnings, was 75th in the FedExCup standings in 2015, but lost his status after the 2016-17 season. He is back on the Web.com Tour full time for the first time since 2013, when he won the now defunct tour stop in Valdosta. Wilcox tied for 13th in the 2018 Web.com opener in the Bahamas and tied for fourth the next week in another event in the Bahamas. He withdrew after one round in last week’s tournament in Panama.
Samuel Del Val, who played his college golf at Berry and is living in Atlanta, is 19th on the money list after tying for ninth and 16th in the two events in the Bahamas. Del Val, who won the 2010 Georgia Open at Savannah Harbor and won three times on the Peach State Tour, enjoyed four successful seasons on the LatinoAmerica Tour, winning in his final season there in 2016. He played the Web.com Tour last year, missing by $126 of placing among the top 75 to retain exempt status. After his finishes in the Bahamas, the Spanish native is likely to be able to play a full schedule for the remainder of 2018.
Alpharetta’s Billy Kennerly is just outside the top 25 at 26, placing 21st and 19th in the two tournaments in the Bahamas and 17th in Panama. Kennerly, a 2015 Clemson graduate, tied for 14th in his first Web.com start in 2016, and led the tour in scoring average last year after tying for eighth in his first start of the season in June. He tied for second later in the summer in Kansas City, ending the year 45th on the money list.
Recent UGA standout Lee McCoy is 34th in earnings, making all three cuts and tying for 13th in the season opener. While still in college, McCoy placed fourth in the 2016 PGA Tour event in Tampa at the Innisbrook Resort, the course he grew up playing. He was sixth on the Canadian Tour last year with a season-opening victory and was the medalist in qualifying for the 2018 Web.com Tour.
Recent Georgia Tech golfer Seth Reeves of Suwanee is 38th after tying for 10th in his 2018 opener, the second of the two tournaments in the Bahamas. As a rookie in 2017, Reeves was 60th on the money list, highlighted by a tie for third in the Dominican Republic.
Anders Albertson of Alpharetta, Reeves’ teammate at Georgia Tech, was 56 and 62 on the money list his first two seasons on the Web.com Tour, and is currently 40th, tying for 25th in the second stop in the Bahamas and placing 17th in Panama. His best finish his first two seasons was a third in Brazil as a rookie in 2016, highlighted by a second round 62.
Tour veteran Erik Compton, who played his college golf at Georgia, tied for 13th in the opener in the Bahamas, and is 43rd in earnings in his attempt to return to the PGA Tour. Compton, a double heart transplant recipient, played on the PGA Tour from 2012-16 and did not have a successful season in his return to the Web.com Tour last year. Compton was a Web.com rookie in 2002, winning a tournament in 2005 and earning a spot on the PGA Tour by placing 13th on the money list in 2011.
Michael Hebert, a former Auburn golfer who is living in Atlanta, is in his fourth season on the Web.com Tour and has placed between 84 and 100 in earnings the last three years. He is currently 49th with a tie for 19th in the second event in the Bahamas.
Joey Garber, McCoy’s UGA teammate, tied for 17th in Panama, and is 55th on the money list in his rookie season. Garber, who is living on St. Simons Island, tied for 13th in the 2016 PGA Tour stop at Lake Tahoe after playing his way into the field in a Monday qualifier.
Former Augusta State star Henrik Norlander has gone back and forth between the PGA and Web.com Tours in recent years and is playing the Web.com in 2018. His career highlight was a playoff loss in the 2016 RSM Classic at Sea Island GC, but he was unable to retain his status on the tour in his two full seasons there. Norlander is 61st in earnings through three events, twice finishing among the top 35.
Mini-tour veteran David Skinns of Suwanee is playing his fourth season on the Web.com Tour, and had his best showing in 2017, tying for second in the final regular-season event to retain exempt status for this season. Skinns tied for 25th in Panama and is 70th on the money list.
The most accomplished player among the Georgians on the Web.com Tour is Alpharetta’s Roberto Castro, who has twice qualified for the PGA Tour Championship at East Lake, but struggled the next year both times to lose his exempt status. Castro is playing the Web.com Tour for the first time since 2011, when he was 23rd on the money list to move up to the PGA Tour. He has played there the last six years, but has no status for 2018. Castro entered just one of the first three Web.com events in this season and made the cut in the second tournament in the Bahamas.
Recent UGA golfer Sepp Straka of Valdosta was 71st on the money list last year as a rookie, and made one of his first three cuts this season.
Tour veteran Nicholas Thompson, who played his college golf at Georgia Tech, is also 1-for-3 in cuts made in 2018.
Fellow tour veteran Blake Adams of Eatonton, who has battled injuries during his pro career, missed his first two cuts of the season in his attempt to return to the PGA Tour, where he played well from 2010-12 before being sidelined with a hip injury, He has finished 62 and 70 on the Web.com money list the past two seasons after placing third in 2009.