Osprey Valley champ set to swing into Web.com Tour

Written By JAKE COURTEPATTE

When Tyler McCumber tees off to open the Web.com Tour season in the Bahamas, he'll have more eyes on his opening drive than he has in his lifetime.

The 27-year old from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida gained his Web.com Tour card after a whirlwind 2018 season, kicked off with his first PGA Canada win at the Osprey Valley Open in Alton in July.

“It was a good year all and all,” McCumber told the Web.com Tour website. “I only missed one cut, I had the three wins starting at Osprey Valley, and played some really consistent golf. I had a lot of scores in the sixties.

“I've been working hard, I've been healthy for over a year which is nice, so to get the momentum going and working hard, it's good.”

After a trio of minor tour wins dating at least two years back, McCumber made his name known on the major golf stage with the July win, at the “Toot” course at Osprey Valley, one of its three course given the unique moniker of TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley in October.

Since that three-stroke win over fellow American Michael Gellerman, including a course record 61 on day two of the tournament, McCumber has exploded for two more wins at the Syncrude Oil Country Championship in Alberta and August's Players Cup in Manotiba, the pinnacl event of the PGA Canada Tour.

His 2018 success led to a full-exemption tour card with Web.com, the tier between PGA Canada and the PGA, the first of his career.

“It's a new position for me, being in that category,” said McCumber. “And I think that it's allowed me to play my own schedule, to be fresh and take weeks off, and be ready to compete.

And he credits his time in Canada, where he got his start on the PGA Canada schedule's only stop in the GTA, for where he has landed in his career.

“The PGA Canada Tour really helped me get to this level.”

The Osprey Valley Open has already been given a five-year lease after its inaugural event was successful, with the 2019 tournament set to kick off in July.