HB resident earned it the old-fashioned way: Brad Adamonis qualifies for PGA Tour

Noticed this news last week in The Miami Herald and meant to post it sooner.
Since he's from Rhode Island, if I ever run into him, I'll have to ask him if he knows my old Arlington housemate Jennifer Dugan, since as I was always told by Jen's friends whenever they came down from R.I. to Washington for a weekend visit, "Everyone who's anyone in Rhode Island knows" the adorable and personable Jen.
And that was before she was flying out of Logan Airport for U.S. Airways.

Nice backgrounder on Brad's years of hard work in The Boston Globe from October is below the
Herald excerpt of last week.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/332651.html

SPOTLIGHT ON GOLF: Honda Classic diversifies
Miami Herald

By Jeff Shain jshain@MiamiHerald.com
December 5, 2007

ADAMONIS ARRIVES
Brad Adamonis (Hallandale Beach) is headed to the PGA Tour, capping a breakthrough year by earning one of 26 cards handed out Monday from qualifying finals in Orlando.

Adamonis was one of just four players to break 70 in each of the final three rounds of the six-day marathon at Orange County National. He tied for ninth at 18-under-par 414.A six-year Nationwide Tour veteran, Adamonis broke into the win column last October by surviving an eight-hole playoff in West Texas. He wound up 33rd on the money list.
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Brad's PGATour.com profile page: http://www.pgatour.com/players/02/37/78/
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http://www.boston.com/sports/golf/articles/2007/10/18/the_long_awaited_payoff/

Boston Globe
GOLF NOTES
The long-awaited payoff
Adamonis on cusp after playoff win
By Jim McCabe, Globe Staff
October 18, 2007

It went into the record books as a victory that needed eight playoff holes, but Brad Adamonis knows better. It required years of perseverance.
Now in his fifth year on the Nationwide Tour, the Rhode Island native is 34, married, and the father of two, so how his life has changed since he graduated from Miami of Ohio and began his quest as a professional golfer. There always have been flashes of good play to keep him motivated, but what transpired last Sunday validates the time he has put into his game.
"I've been chasing the dream," said Adamonis. "So it feels good to finally win."
He insists that he surprised himself by being so calm in an eight-hole playoff to win the WNB Golf Classic in Midland, Texas, that he was actually more nervous in the closing holes of a final-round 70 that left him at 10-under-par 278. There had been birdies at the 14th, 15th, and 17th holes, but a bogey at the 72d hole, thanks to a poor drive, had cost him.
Or so he thought.
"Guys closing behind me were in good position, so I figured I'd just have a good finish," said Adamonis. "I felt fortunate to get into a playoff."
Vance Veazey and Ron Whittaker were eliminated on the first two holes, so onward went Adamonis and Tjaart van der Walt. They matched pars on the next five holes, but on the eighth extra hole, van der Walt made bogey, so Adamonis's par earned him $85,500 - though it could be a far greater payoff if things continue on an upward turn the next three weeks.
"I know I need at least one more good tournament the rest of the way," said Adamonis.
He was referring to the fact that he has vaulted to 30th on the money list and the top 25 will earn PGA Tour cards for 2008. With $161,735, Adamonis knows he's just $11,379 behind No. 25. He's in Tennessee for this week's stop, with tournaments in Miami and the Nationwide Tour Championship in Lakeside, Calif., to follow.
There's much to look forward to, yes, but so, too, has he tried to savor a victory that has been a long time coming.
"I've been playing fairly well, but it's always felt like I'm one or two shots away from being really good," said Adamonis, who inherited his passion for the game from his father, Dave, the founder of the US Challenge Cup Tour for junior golfers.


Woe is Wie
What has to rate as the season's saddest story took another disheartening turn when Greg Nared became the second manager within a year to walk away from Michelle Wie. "After careful consideration for my future, I have resigned, effective immediately," said Nared, who worked for the William Morris Agency. Wie just turned 18 and has been a pro for barely two years and already she's gone through two managers, both of whom - Nared and Ross Berlin - had her best interests at heart. Game plans envisioned by first Berlin and then Nared never emphasized high-profile tournaments against the men, nor was it ever considered best for the teenager to get her wrapped up in aggressive endorsement deals. Both managers had paid close attention to the almost flawless way in which Tiger Woods had been brought along slowly, and they felt a similar blueprint was in order for Wie. Somewhere, somehow, it has all gone terribly wrong, and since her parents are so in control of their daughter's life - from picking agents to hiring and firing caddies, which they've done at such a pace that father B.J. Wie was back lugging the bag at last week's Samsung Championship - they are the ones who must share the blame. In 2006, Wie was very much in contention to win three majors. In 2007, she played in eight LPGA Tour events and had a stroke average of 76.7. Yet, the numbers don't explain the half of it. The year has been a public relations nightmare, from the disrespectful way in which she treated LPGA Tour members and organizers at the Ginn Tribute, to the shame of accepting a sponsor's exemption into the Samsung when the dignified thing to do would have been to say, "Thanks, but I'm not worthy of this right now." Wie is enrolled at Stanford, which is a nice place for any 18-year-old to be. It's the perfect opportunity for her to take care of herself and tend to decisions for herself. But with her parents having left Hawaii to rent a house near Stanford, you wonder if that's possible.