Why this professional’s first senior-tour winner’s verify could possibly be value a lot extra

Final week, Padraig Harrington described the PGA Tour Champions as “the toughest tour to maintain your card on the earth.”

Simply days later, Tim O’Neal, a longtime journeyman professional, earned enjoying privileges on the PGA Tour Champions subsequent season the old style manner, with a hard-earned victory on the Dominion Power Charity Traditional — O’Neal’s first-ever senior title.

The win was a very long time coming for the 52-year-old, who, earlier than becoming a member of the senior tour, had spent his profession competing everywhere in the world. O’Neal notched three wins on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica between 2013 and 2016, however had beforehand come up agonizingly brief not as soon as however twice in his makes an attempt to get via PGA Tour Q-College.

After turning 50 in 2022, O’Neal no less than earned a card, on the senior tour, when he completed T3 at PGA Tour Champions Q-College. He had a strong season in 2023, ending forty fourth within the Charles Schwab Cup factors listing — however that end wasn’t excessive sufficient to grant him the fully-exempt standing awarded to the highest 36 gamers annually.

Nonetheless, since O’Neal was within the high 54, incomes him sufficient standing to tee it up in 24 occasions to date in 2024. Final week, he entered the Champions tour’s first Charles Schwab Cup playoff occasion, the Dominion Power Charity Traditional, ranked fifty fifth — one spot shy of the cutoff to make it into the next week’s playoff occasion.

A powerful end would go a great distance. A win would go a actually great distance.

And that’s precisely what occurred.

O’Neal fired rounds of 71-67-65 on the Nation Membership of Virginia to assert the title by two over Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez.

With the win and its double factors, O’Neal launched himself from No. 55 to No. 13 on the Schwab Cup factors rating, not solely guaranteeing his entry into this week’s Simmons Financial institution Championship but in addition the PGA Tour Champions’ season finale, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, which is open to solely the highest 36 gamers every season and affords a $1 million bonus to the winner.

The chance to play for that form of cash — plus the exemption for everything of the 2025 season and its main championships — is big. Most regular-season, non-major PGA Tour Champions tournaments are 54-hole, no-cut occasions, that means merely gaining entry into the sphere and ending the rounds will end in a verify. To Harrington’s level: getting in — and sticking round — is the actual problem.

For O’Neal, mission achieved.

“I don’t know what to suppose. It’s been a protracted season,” an emotional O’Neal mentioned in his post-round interview with Golf Channel’s John Cook dinner. “For me to get it carried out after I needed to, meaning loads.”

O’Neal gained $350,000 on Sunday. However relying on what occurs over the following a number of weeks — and subsequent 12 months — that title might transform value a complete lot extra.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She will be able to out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily accountable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular initiatives, corresponding to GOLF’s inaugural Fashion Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview collection, “A Spherical With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video kind on GOLF.com.