Fathauer wins Web.com Tour Championship

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Derek Fathauer closed with a 2- under 68 on Sunday and it was enough for him to win the Web.com Tour Championship by one stroke.

Fathauer finished at 14-under-par 266 for his first win on the Web.com Tour.

"That was unbelievable, and to have Adam Hadwin finish up top too is almost a dream come true. We're both going to the PGA Tour and making our school proud," said Fathauer, who was teammates with Hadwin for two years at Louisville.

Zac Blair, who led after the first two rounds, also shot 68 in the final round on the Dye's Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass. Blair ended alone in second at minus-13.

Jason Gore, the tour's all-time wins leader, double-bogeyed the final hole to fall back into third place at 11-under 269 after a closing 69.

Heath Slocum (68) and Jim Herman (70) shared fourth place at minus-8, while David Lingmerth (65) was one stroke back at 7-under 273.

At the conclusion of the event, the top 25 from the regular season money and the next 25 available from the finals series money list all earned their PGA Tour cards for next season.

Hadwin finished atop the overall money list, while Fathauer topped the finals series money list. They are both fully exempt for the 2014-15 PGA Tour season, and have earned invites to the Players Championship.

The 50 are in order of their priority ranking - Hadwin, Fathauer, Carlos Ortiz, Bud Cauley, Justin Thomas, Colt Knost, John Peterson, Andrew Putnam, Richard Sterne, Gore, Blair, Tony Finau, Sam Saunders, Zack Sucher, Herman, Blayne Barber, Lingmerth, Alex Cejka, Tom Hoge, Steven Alker, Greg Owen, Andres Gonzales, Tom Gillis, Jon Curran, Whee Kim, Cameron Percy, Scott Pinckney, Daniel Berger, Tyrone Van Aswegen, Jonathan Randolph, Sean O'Hair, Max Homa, Slocum, Mark Hubbard, J.J. Henry, Steve Wheatcroft, Nick Taylor, Kyle Reifers, Hudson Swafford, Ryan Armour, Alex Prugh, Byron Smith, Oscar Fraustro, Bill Lunde, Sung Joon Park, Roger Sloan, Chad Collins, Fabian Gomez, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Eric Axley.

Fathauer got off to a quick start with birdies on the second and third to push his lead to four strokes. However, he dropped a shot on the fifth and followed that with four pars in a row.

Gore, who had birdied the third, converted back-to-back birdie chances at six and seven to move to 13-under. That gave Gore a share of the lead.

However, Gore dropped shots at the ninth and 11th. Fathauer then rolled in a 12-footer for birdie on No. 10 and he was suddenly three clear. A 10-foot birdie putt on the 13th pushed Fathauer to minus-15.

As Fathauer parred three in a row from the 14th, his lead was dwindling. Gore rallied with birdies at 12 and 16 to reach 13-under.

Blair, who played the front nine in 2-over par with a birdie, a bogey and a double-bogey, birdied three in a row from the 10th to get to 12-under.

At the 17th, things got even closer as Fathauer stumbled to a bogey to dip to minus-14. Blair, who was in the final group with Fathauer, birdied the same hole.

Blair and Gore were within one with one hole to play. Gore fell back as he faltered to a double-bogey on the 18th.

After Blair failed to make a long birdie putt at the last, Fathauer rolled his birdie effort within a foot of the hole, and he kicked that in for the win.

"Just staying extremely patient (was key). Zach put a little pressure on me the last couple of holes and I just stuck to my game plan," Fathauer said. "I hit it in the middle of the green here on the last hole and. I just 2-putted and got out of there."

NOTES: Fathauer earned $180,000 for the win ... In the four finals events, Fathauer shot par or better in 13 of the 16 rounds ... After 10 bogey-free rounds through three days, there were none in the final round ... Eric Axley grabbed the final PGA Tour card by just $31.66 over Roberto Castro ... This was the final event for the Web.com Tour ... Web.com Tour Q School will take place December 11-16.