Axley emerges victorious after marathon Sunday May 8, 2005 By John Bush PGA TOUR staff RALEIGH, NC -- Monday qualifier and lefthander Eric Axley outlasted the field Sunday to claim the title at The Rex Hospital Open, his first career victory on the Nationwide Tour. Making just his sixth career start on Tour, Axley recorded a final-round 4-under-par 67 and was the only player in the field to fire four sub-70 rounds (69-67-67-67). At 14-under-par 270, Axley finished two strokes ahead of Troy Matteson (69) and three clear of Ryan Armour (67). “This feels awesome,” said the 31-year-old Axley and two-time Hooters Tour winner. “It is hard to put into words what this does for my career. It means everything.” The victory makes Axley just the third lefthander to win a Nationwide Tour event, joining 1994 Knoxville Open winner Vic Wilk and 1997 Tour Championship winner Steve Flesch. He also becomes the 18th Monday qualifier to win on Tour and the first since Chris Nallen at the 2004 Gila River Golf Classic. “Monday qualifying makes for a long week,” said Axley, who tallied his only made cut on Tour at the 2004 Henrico County Open with a tie for 63rd place. “You play practice rounds on Sunday, then qualifying on Monday just to get in the tournament.” Sunday was a marathon for the 71 players who made the cut, with inclement weather on Friday forcing a 36-hole finish on the final day at the par-71 Tournament Players Club at Wakefield Plantation. Axley entered the day four shots behind second-round leader Craig Bowden. When Bowden faltered in the morning round, Axley moved into a three-way tie for the lead with Matteson and Charley Hoffman with one round remaining. “It was a long day and a hard day,” said Axley. “Troy pushed me all day. I’m mentally and physically tired.” After a bogey on the opening hole, Axley rolled in birdie putts on Nos. 4, 6, 7 and 8 to take the lead by two strokes over Matteson at the turn. Birdies on Nos. 13 and 15 countered a bogey on No. 17, giving enough of a cushion to hold off his challengers to claim his first Tour win. “I felt if you could get on a roll today you could keep it going over 36 holes,” said Axley, who played for two seasons at East Tennessee State from 1992-94 and turned professional in 1997. With the victory, Axley collects a career-best $81,000 and moves up to No. 11 on the Tour’s money list with that same amount. He also earns membership on the Nationwide Tour for the remainder of the 2005 season and all of 2006. “Just to be able to play golf each week without worrying about qualifying on Monday is a huge burden lifted off my shoulders,” said Axley. “It gives me a place to play for the next two years.” Third and Fourth Round News & Notes: By making the cut this week, Bubba Watson extended his Tour-leading streak of consecutive cuts made to 19 … Matt Weibring seems to have hit his stride. He has three straight top-15 finishes (tied for 13th at the Virginia Beach Open, tied for ninth at the BMW Charity Pro-Am and solo fourth this week) … Speaking of Weibring, he was one of three former Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to finish inside the top-20, joining Matteson (second) and Tripp Isenhour (tie for 17th) … Donnie Hammond had back-to-back eagles at the par-3 12th hole and the par-5 13th hole during the third round, marking the 24th time the feat has happened on Tour … Weibring managed the only bogey-free round during the third round, while Armour did so during the final round. For the week there were 12 such rounds at the TPC at Wakefield Plantation … Garrett Willis withdrew prior to the start of the fourth round … The Nationwide Tour heads to Fort Smith, Arkansas this week for the Rheem Classic, the eighth of 31 official events of the season.