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Monday, June 17, 2013

Parel Notches Victory On Web.com Tour

Scott Parel, a UGA graduate, won the Web.com Tour's Air Capital Classic on Sunday.
University of Georgia graduate Scott Parel won the Air Capital Classic in Wichita, Kansas, on Sunday to become the fourth-oldest winner in Web.com Tour history, closing with a 7-under 64 for a three-stroke victory.

Parel didn't play while in school at the University of Georgia and worked as a computer programmer for 10 years before becoming a professional golfer.

The 48-year-old Parel finished at 18-under 266 at Crestview Country Club after opening with rounds of 69, 66 and 67. Kirk Triplett is the oldest Web.com Tour champion, winning the 2011 News Sentinel Open at 49.

Parel earned $117,000 to jump from 153rd to 14th on the money list with $124,808.

"Obviously, I'm playing well now," he said. "My goal now is to climb up there as high as I can and a win is a good start toward it."

Parel won for the first time in 171 starts on the tour. He made a 45-foot putt to eagle the par-4 14th for the second straight day and had six birdies and a bogey.

"All week, looking over longer putts, I felt like I could make them," he said. "From 20 feet and out, I felt like I really had the speed and could really see the line."

• The Augusta paper did a follow-up interview with Parel and it can be found here.

• The Web.com Tour stop this week is the Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C. Paul Claxton, Ryuji Imada, Kevin Kisner, Parel, Richard Scott, Hudson Swafford and Brendon Todd are in the field.

• In the U.S. Open in Ardmore, Pa., Bubba Watson came in 32nd at 13-over, while Russell Henley missed the cut.

• The PGA TOUR will be in Cromwell, Conn., for the Travelers Championship this week. Justin Bolli, Erik Compton, Harris English, Brian Harman, Chris Kirk and Watson are in the field.

• Rivals Cup update: Georgia is still ranked No. 1 with 4,216 FedEx Cup points, followed by Georgia Tech with 4,052 and Oklahoma State with 3,389. The Rivals Cup promotes collegiate affiliations of pro athletes by ranking the schools that are having the greatest impact on pro sports.  To date, the Bulldogs have had nine former players earn FedEx Cup points -- Russell Henley, Harris English, Chris Kirk, Bubba Watson, Erik Compton, Brian Harman, Justin Bolli, Brendon Todd and Ryuji Imada. The standings will be highly contested this week at the Travelers as Georgia Tech has a field-high seven entries, followed by Georgia's six and Oklahoma State's six.