Claxton Smooth Down the Stretch

Melwood Win Puts Nationwide Veteran Closer to PGA Tour

Veteran Paul Claxton celebrates his first Nationwide Tour victory since 2001. (Preston Keres - The Post)

Paul Claxton didn't miss a fairway all day and didn't miss a green in regulation over his final 13 holes. Most important, he didn't miss a nerve-racking three-footer for one final par at the 18th green yesterday, and his 30th putt of this sweat-soaked day at the Country Club at Woodmore finally assured a tense one-shot victory in the inaugural Melwood Prince George's County Open and his first triumph on the Nationwide Tour since 2001.

A 39-year-old native of Georgia playing his 10th Nationwide season, Claxton earned a winner's check of $108,000 and became the first player to win $1 million on a tour that began in 1990 as a proving ground for players to develop their games and eventually advance to the PGA Tour. He also moved into third on the 2007 Nationwide money list with $197,000, virtually assuring a spot in the top 25 at the end of the season and an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour in 2008.

Claxton has been to that level three times over the years, each time failing to earn enough to keep his card. His victory yesterday with a final-round 67 and 18-under total of 270 left playing partner Jaco Van Zyl of South Africa (68) and former University of Virginia standout James Driscoll (66) in a tie for second at 271. Nick Flanagan, trying to win his third straight event and earn an immediate move up to the PGA Tour, fired a final-round 66 but ended in a five-way tie for fifth place at 274.

Asked if he thought his $1.1 million in earnings was something of a dubious distinction for a Nationwide lifer, Claxton said: "I just look at it in a positive light. A lot of guys would love to play on the Nationwide Tour, thousands of guys would love to trade places with me. They can call it the minor leagues, a developmental league. But when you come out here, you'll find out there's nothing minor league out there."

Starting his day in a three-way tie for the lead at the start of play, Claxton had five birdies on his bogey-free final round, and took the lead for good when his second-shot sand wedge at the 386-yard 17th hole soared over a towering tree in his path to the flag and stopped 15 feet from the hole.

Van Zyl, also at 17 under and tied for the lead at the time, hit his own second-shot wedge to within 14 feet, just in front of Claxton's ball.

Claxton gave him a perfect read on the putt when he knocked his own birdie effort into the cup, but Van Zyl was unable to take advantage, missing by a foot to the left to fall a shot behind going to the 18th.

"Anytime you had an uphill putt here, you had to have speed on it, and I had a good feel for the speed," Claxton said of his putt at 17. "I just told myself hit it firm and you'll have a chance. I did. I knew he was going to go to school on it."

Claxton put his drive on the 564-yard finishing hole straight down the middle of the fairway. Van Zyl knew he had to make a birdie or better at the final hole to force a sudden-death playoff, and tried to bomb a big drive down the left side of the dogleg-left hole for a better chance to reach the green with his second shot.

"I wanted to try to get a little extra off the tee, but it turned over on me too much and left me with a bad lie in the [fairway] bunker," Van Zyl said. With one foot in the sand and one foot out of the bunker, Van Zyl managed to blast his ball about 60 yards out to the first cut of grass, then hit a brilliant 5-iron to within 25 feet of the cup, still leaving himself a decent chance to make a birdie.

Claxton laid up his second shot, nearly causing himself palpitations when his ball flirted with a pond down the left side before it found the fairway 10 yards from the water's edge. His third shot was perfectly struck, straight over the flag, and left him with his own 20-footer for birdie.

Van Zyl thought his birdie putt had a chance and actually raised his putter at the last second for a possible celebration, just before it veered slightly off to the right. Claxton needed two putts to win, but gunned his first effort three feet past the hole.

"I never could get a read on that 18th green all week," Claxton said. "I was very surprised when I knocked it three feet past. But I don't think I missed a single [short putt] all week. I told myself I hadn't missed any short ones, so just roll it in. I feel very fortunate I was able to knock it in."

Van Zyl, who has limited status on the PGA Tour after finishing tied for 29th in Qualifying School last year, said he enjoyed his back-nine duel with Claxton.

Claxton, he said "was very solid tee to green. The way he was able to compose himself was very impressive, and I learned a lot from that. He shows very little emotion. He makes it look like it's Friday afternoon playing with his three friends."

Notes: Driscoll made a 12-footer for birdie at the 18th hole to get to 17 under and was on the driving range preparing for a possible playoff when Claxton sank his winning putt. He and Van Zyl earned $52,000 tying for second. . . . Former Navy all-American Billy Hurley III, a Leesburg native who is still completing his five-year military obligation, had his third sub-par round of the week, a 71 that left him tied for 52nd at 3-under 285.