Monday, October 17, 2011
Warren JFK graduate won his second Nationwide event to earn card
By BILL VAN SMITH
Miami Herald
MIAMI
Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 225 pounds, Jason Kokrak’s opponents can easily see him — they just can’t catch him.
The Warren JFK High graduate shot a 5-under par 66 Sunday for a four-round total of minus-20 and a more-than-comfortable seven-shot victory over Mark Anderson in the rain-soaked Nationwide Tour’s Miccousukee Championship at the Miccosukee Golf & Country Club.
“The paycheck isn’t bad,” Kokrak said of the $108,000 he took home. “I really don’t know how to explain it. I planned on getting out here and made goals for myself to Monday qualify as much as I could to just get myself onto this tour.”
Scrap that plan. Kokrak is headed for the Big Show, the PGA Tour. His second Nationwide victory in a month’s span guarantees him his Tour Card.
At the awards presentation, Kokrak was presented with a Miccosukee tribal shirt. Asked how big it was, he laughed and said, “Probably it’s a 9-X. Heck, it’s like a nightgown.”
He quickly added, “It feels just fantastic.”
Of the victory, Kokrak said, “I don’t know what to say. In a month’s span I’ve gotten two wins [the other was the Boise Albertsons Open in
Idaho]. I wouldn’t have ever dreamed that I would have been in this position. You set goals for yourself, ones that you want to meet and ones that are sort of out of reach. I’ve exceeded my goals for this year.
The rain came pelting down Sunday throughout much of he round, creating an 83-minute delay, but that didn’t prevent Kokrak from pelting his opponents with a run of birdies as he dominated the tournament from start to finish.
Kokrak, 26, finished as co-leader the first day before steadily holding — and increasing — his advantage through the final three rounds.
Kokrak had six birdies and one bogey Sunday, giving him 25 birdies and five bogeys for the tournament.
And Sunday’s birdie barrage came under miserable conditions, with
course workers squeegeeing the greens to clear water in front of players just before they would putt.
“I have to set new goals for myself,” Kokrak said. “This is not the end of my career.”
More than likely, it’s just the beginning.