Michael Sim Michael Sim displays the trophy and his PGA Tour card after winning the Nationwide Tour Christmas in October Classic (Photo: Getty Images)
Q: We’re happy that Michael has joined us from California. Michael is the newest member of the PGA TOUR having won his third Nationwide Tour event of 2009 at the Christmas In October Classic in Kansas City on Sunday. He’s now the 57th ranked player in the world. Welcome and congratulations, Michael. Michael Sim: It was nice to get that third win. I was obviously in position to do that in Omaha and Raleigh but didn’t get it done there. It was nice to finally do it in Kansas. Michael Sim: It was my second season on the Nationwide Tour. I played in ’06 and got my (PGA TOUR) card that year. I played a little bit in ’07 and ’08. It’s been a fantastic year this year. It started with conditional status. I played Panama and got off to a good start. I played well down in Australia and New Zealand. Pretty much hit America running (in April). I had a win, a runner-up and a win in three starts, and I’ve played well in just about every start I’ve had this year. I’m not sure what the reason is for that. Obviously my preparation and the people around me are top level. Q: Please give your thoughts on the Nationwide Tour in general, the competition, what you’ve gotten out of it.
Michael Sim: I think the Nationwide Tour is a great tour. It’s a great development tour. There are a lot of great players out there. Past PGA TOUR winners, PGA TOUR players, a lot of college players coming through. The turnover on that tour is very large. You have a lot of people coming through Q-School, they have the top 25 (finishers) go on to next week. It feels like each week you’re out there the fields are really strong and on form. It’s a great place to play. It’s a tour where you have to win to get on the PGA TOUR, pretty much. It’s hard to go through that tour without winning. I think it’s a great tour for your game and to see where you’re at.