De Jonge earns first Nationwide Tour win

Rochester, NY (Sports Network) - Brendon De Jonge overcame a shaky start on Sunday to comfortably earn his first victory on the Nationwide Tour at the Xerox Classic.

De Jonge posted a one-under 69 and established a new tournament record en route to the win. He finished at 13-under 267, which bested Rick Price's previous mark from 2005 by two shots.

"It was as hard as I thought it was going to be," said De Jonge, who pocketed $108,000 for the win and moved to second on the tour's money list.

"But obviously, very satisfying right now." Nationwide Tour money leader Jarrod Lyle took the lead at the turn on Sunday, but faded late.

He posted a one-under 69 and took second place a nine-under 271.

De Jonge struggled badly out of the gate on Sunday. He missed a 10-footer for par at No. 1, then came right back and missed a four-footer for par at the second.

Lyle birdied the third and seventh holes to match De Jonge in the lead. At the par-five ninth, Lyle drained a 20-foot eagle putt to briefly take a two-shot lead.

De Jonge, playing in the final group one behind Lyle, blasted a bunker shot to a foot at the same hole and tapped in for birdie to get within one.

De Jonge joined Lyle in first with a 12-foot birdie putt at the 11th. De Jonge moved into the lead at the short, par-four 12th when his drive landed in a bunker.

He tried to play a little pitch, but his ball never made it to the putting surface.

It didn't matter for De Jonge. He chipped in for birdie to grab the top spot on the leaderboard.

"It was a tough day with the swirling winds," acknowledged De Jonge.

"I figured we were going to have to chip and putt well to get a good score in there today." Lyle folded from there.

His bunker shot at the par-four 13th ran through the green and he duffed his par chip barely on to the putting surface. Lyle did well to hole the bogey putt, but he was two back and never got closer.

De Jonge kept making pars and Lyle made a mess of 17. His approach spun back off the green and his birdie putt from the fairway barely reached the top of the ridge in the green. Lyle had 20 feet for par and missed, then bogeyed 18 from the middle of the fairway.

That meant De Jonge had a four-shot lead on the last. He routinely two-putted for the win, which essentially guaranteed a return to the PGA Tour next season.

"Starting out the year, definitely, winning was a goal," said De Jonge. "Just keep on going, keep on playing solid." For Lyle, it was a missed opportunity.

With two wins already this year, a victory on Sunday would have given him an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour as soon as the FedEx Cup Playoffs end in a month.

"I sorted wandered off to going back to Australia tomorrow," said Lyle, who admitted he started thinking about getting on the PGA Tour and returning home to Australia. "It looks like I'm hanging around for another week." Ricky Barnes (66), Greg Owen (71) and Jonathan Fricke (71) shared third place at minus-eight.

Hunter Haas (66), Garrett Osborn (68), last week's Wichita Open winner Scott Piercy (68), Dave Schultz (69) and David Hearn (70) tied for sixth at seven- under 273.

08/17 16:20:21 ET