Published: October 19, 2009 12:29 am         

Valley native Chad Collins wins Nationwide Tour golf event

Chad Collins braved the wind and the cold — relatively speaking, of course — on Sunday to emerge from a pack of four co-leaders and win the Miccosukee Championship of professional golf’s Nationwide Tour at Miccosukee Golf & Country Club at Miami.

The Cloverdale native shot a 1-under-par 70 on Sunday, a score bettered by only four other players for the day. One of the other co-leaders after Saturday’s round, in fact, had an 80 on Sunday.

“The wind wafs blowing about 20 miles an hour plus,” Collins said by telephone after his round. “It was a tough day. It was a lot cooler too, in the low 70s.”

Obviously Collins hasn’t spent much time in the Wabash Valley lately, where the low 70s would be cause for celebration, and he probably won’t next year either. The $112,500 he won Sunday vaulted him near the top of the Nationwide money standings for the year, so the tournaments he’ll be playing after the first of the year will be on the PGA Tour again.

Collins played the big tour during the 2008 season, but didn’t finish high enough on the money list to retain his card. Finishing higher on the Nationwide list this season than he did in 2007, however, will give him more opportunity.

“I was already going to be a lock [for a PGA Tour card],” he said Sunday. “It was going to take $190,000 to $200,000 [in earnings, which Collins had surpassed prior to the Miami tournament] … but you get in a lot more tournaments early the higher you finish [in the Nationwide standings] … I think I moved to No. 2 [by winning Sunday].”

It was Collins’ second Nationwide victory, the other coming during his rookie season in 2005.

“My chipping and putting is what I attribute [the win] to,” he said Sunday. “I got up and down a lot and saved par when I needed to.”

Collins was on his way to Charleston, S.C., where he’ll finish his season in the Nationwide Tour Championship tournament that begins Thursday. He’ll go with a good feeling.

“My confidence has been pretty high anyway,” said Collins, who has risen rapidly toward the top of his tour’s money list in the last couple of months. “Winning one [tournament] is nice, but to win again makes you feel really good, like that first one wasn’t a fluke.”