HOWEY IN THE HILLS, Fla. – Largely behind a final-round 68 (-4), Illinois State senior David Perkins has earned conditional status for PGA Tour Canada after his tournament at the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada Q-School-USA East 2 Tournament at Mission Inn Resort & Club.
"Canadian Q school was a great experience, and I continued to learn a lot about myself throughout the week," said Perkins. "I felt comfortable and felt like I belonged out there. It was great to gain conditional status, and it is a good start for what is next to come after school. Now I back to settle unfinished business at Illinois State."
Perkins opened the tournament with back-to-back even-par rounds of 72 before finishing a stroke over par with a 73 in the third round. In the tournament's final round, he broke out with a 68, raising his standing 11 places and finishing in a tie of 17th overall through 72 holes.
Perkins started to heat up the leaderboard over the back nine of his third round, as he made the turn at three strokes over par, before birdying three of his first six holes of his back nine to get back to even par. A double-bogey thwarted the stay at even par; however, a birdie on his 17th hole of the day dropped him to one stroke over par for the round, and sent him into the clubhouse with momentum heading into the final round.
In that last round, starting on the back nine Perkins had a monster first nine holes, as he opened with a birdie on the par-five 10th hole, before adding another birdie on the par-four 13th hole. A bogey followed on the 14th hole; however, he responded extremely well with birdies on three of his last four holes of his front nine, carding a four-under 33 up to the turn. He was steady through his back nine, recording pars on every hole on the back half of his round. In all, over his final 27 holes, Perkins went six strokes under par.
"This is a big step forward for Perk as he sets up the next chapter after college golf," said Illinois State head coach Ray Kralis. "It helps if you have some opportunities when you turn professional, and he played some big-time golf down the stretch to create those for himself. That was clutch golf over the last 27 holes when the pressure was the highest!"
While conditional status does not guarantee players starts in the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada events, it does provide membership incentives such as: TPC facility access, reduced Open Qualifying fees, exempt through following year's pre-qualifying for Korn Ferry Tour Q-School, access to re-shuffles, etc.
The Redbirds are back in action as a team on Monday, March 15 and Tuesday, March 16 as the team competes in the Louisiana Classics Invitational, hosted by the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, Louisiana.
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