Rookie Haley
And Hearty
SANTIAGO, CHILE | Last April, Paul Haley
closed out his college career with a flourish,
winning the individual competition at the ACC
Championship and leading his Georgia Tech
Yellow Jackets to a team title.
Now three events into his pro career, Haley
has reached the winner’s circle again, this time
with a paycheck attached.
Haley won the Nationwide Tour’s Chile Classic, using a 1-under-par 71 on Sunday to wrap
up a score of 22-under 266 for the weekend.
Haley closed out a three-stroke victory ahead
of late-charging Joseph Bramlett. He earned
$108,000 for the victory.
The tournament – at Prince of Wales CC in
Santiago – was the last of three in Central and
South America to start the Nationwide Tour
season.
Haley registered a T33 in February’s season-opener in Bogota, Colombia – his first professional event – then missed the cut last week in
Panama.
The 24-year-old from Dallas took control of
things with back-to-back 64s on the tournament’s second and third days. The first gave him
a two-stroke lead heading into Saturday, and the
second left him six ahead with a day to play.
Three times during the middle two days,
Haley had runs of three birdies in a row.
“I’ve never done that before. I’ve never been
somebody who shot a bunch of low rounds,”
Haley said. “It doesn’t matter what the course
is like, if you’re not making putts, you can’t
shoot a score like that.”
On Sunday, Haley’s two bogeys matched the
