The top-20 finishes by New Zealand golfers Frank Nobilo and Craig Perks in the Southern Farm Classic yesterday earned them some much-wanted Christmas spending money, but were not enough to guarantee their places on the 2001 United States PGA Tour.
Nobilo, who began yesterday's final round in Mississippi ina tie for fifth, closed with a par 72 to finish in a tie for 13th on 272, six shots behind Steve Lowery, who beat fellow American Skip Kendall in a sudden-death playoff.
The $US40,040 won by Nobilo took his season's earnings from 28 tournaments this year to $US236,476, up from the $191,734 he won a year earlier, but left him in only 152nd place on the money-list.
Perks, who slipped from a tie for ninth to a share of 20th yesterday, also with a par 72, collected $US21,535 for a total of $297,912 and 136th on the money-list.
Although 11 places outside the top 125, and with it a guaranteed place on the 2001 tour, Perks will be entitled, as a top-150 player, to at least a partial exemption.
Grant Waite, with a 70, slipped from a tie for fifth to a tie for sixth yesterday but still pocketed $US68,860 and took his season earnings to $1,142,789 and 37th place, well ahead of last season's 148th and $253,209.
