Matt NeSmith finished in the top-25 at the Web.com Q-School. NeSmith is now guaranteed 8 starts on the Tour when the season begins in January.

After the second round of the Web.com Qualifying school in Arizona USC grad Matt NeSmith was looking at a pretty high hill to climb.

NeSmith started the third round outside the top 40 finishers who would earn guaranteed playing privileges on the Tour in 2019.

NeSmith shot a third round 9-under par 63 to move up into the top-25. His final round on Sunday locked him in to the Tour after shooting a 5-under par 67 to finish 23rd at 20-under par.

Former Virginia golfer Danny Walker won the qualifying tournament and earned fully exempt status for next year on the Web.com Tour. Walker shot a four-round total of 261 ti finish at 27-under par.

Norman Xiong, last year’s college player of the year from Oregon finished second one shot behind Walker.

The 2015 SEC individual champion is guaranteed at a minimum of 8 starts on the Web.com Tour to begin the season. How long he can maintain those playing privileges depends on how well he does in those eight events.

After the start of the season the Web.com Tour will “reshuffle” the qualified players to rank them again. The ranking is based on the Web.com Money List for each reshuffle.

Last year NeSmith played in three Web.com events. He earned Top-25 finishes in the BMW Charity Pro-Am and the WinCo Portland Open.

Wofford grad Andrew Novak will have some playing privileges on the Web.com Tour next year. Novak finished tied for 50th  and will be in a pool with the golfers who finished lower on the Web.com money list last year.

Novak shot rounds of 68-65-68 -70 for a 271 total to miss making the top 25 by 2 shots.

The field was so competitive that when Novak carded a final round 2-under par 70 he lost 27 places in the standings.

The Web.com Tour begins the 2019 season in the Bahamas at the Great Exuma Classic. The Tour returns to the Upstate on a new date for the BMW Charity Pro-Am. The local stop on the Tour is scheduled to be played starting on June 6th.