From P.G. County Open to PGA Tour winner
After years on the Tarheel, Hooters and Dakotas tours, the 2009 Melwood Prince George’s County Open was just the break Derek Lamely needed.
His tie for 42nd last year at Woodmore Country Club might not sound like a breakthrough, but it was enough to earn other opportunities on the Nationwide Tour, which Lamely didn’t waste. A year later, the 29-year-old is a PGA Tour winner, fully exempt through 2012 and has earned $898,975.
“There’s lots of good little perks,” said Lamely. “It’s almost like Christmas every week.”
The 29-year-old Lamely is living so large on the PGA Tour that he had to scrap plans to play in the Melwood this week. Instead, Lamely has a 12:33 p.m. tee time Thursday in the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial.
“I planned to play here, but I threw a little monkey wrench in that when I won,” said Lamely. “I couldn’t say no to Mr. Nicklaus.”
Lamely’s victory came in March at the Puerto Rico Open, where he shot 19-under-par, the best score ever in the three-year event, to win by two strokes.
It’s staggering to consider how far Lamely has risen in a year.
His previous attempts to qualify for the PGA Tour were so futile that he failed to even reach the final stage of Qualifying School four of five times. When he finally got there in 2008, Lamely finished 145th in a field of 152.
But that wasn’t enough to convince Lamely to pursue another line of work, so he wrote letters, lobbying tournament directors on the Nationwide Tour for sponsor exemptions. One who listened was Melwood director Teo Sodeman, who remembered Lamely from the previous year.
“He learned a lot, made a lot of friends, sadly he missed the cut,” said Sodeman.
But Lamely used his experience at Woodmore to improve in 2009.
“I just needed help getting into an event,” said Lamely. “Teo’s a big reason I’m at where I’m at.”
After finishing in the money twice in July, Lamely’s big breakthrough came in the Nationwide Children’s Invitational, where he beat Rickie Fowler in a playoff. Lamely continued his strong play with two runner-ups and finished the year No. 4 on the Nationwide money list, winning $374,998, easily earning promotion to the PGA Tour.
This year Lamely has made the cut in half of the 16 events, including the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial last week.
“You’re playing the best courses. You’ve got brand new range balls every week,” said Lamely. “It would be hard ever to go backwards. Everything’s so perfect.”
Lamely’s ascent is testament to the competition on the Nationwide Tour and the fine line between success and failure.
“It really shows how many good players there are,” said Lamely. “I was struggling to get into Nationwide events less than a year ago. Now here I am. There’s a lot of guys like me who just need their break.”
