Lost in the Jason Day, Brian Harman noise over the weekend was a bit of golf history: Harold Varner III became the first African-American player to earn his PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour.
To earn promotion, the top 25 players on the Web.com’s regular-season money list are granted full-time status to the next PGA Tour season. After opening the campaign with a second-place showing in January, Varner’s game struggled with consistency. Worse, heading into the regular-season finale at Pumpkin Ridge outside Portland, Varner had missed the cut in three of the prior six events.
Luckily for the 25-year-old who played college golf at East Carolina, his game held up, finishing T-47 at the WinCo Foods Portland Open, which was just good enough to hold on to the 25th spot on the money list.
“It’s been a roller coaster, but it’s something I’m going to benefit from in the …