Former Met Open and Met Amateur champions Jim McGovern of Hackensack and Johnson Wagner of Garrison will make their final bid for a spot on the 2006 PGA Tour when the Final Stage of qualifying commences on Wednesday, November 30th at Panther Lake and Crooked Cat Golf Courses in Winter Garden, FL.  McGovern and Wagner, who finished 42nd and 36th, respectively, on the 2005 Nationwide Tour’s Money List this past season will face the grueling six round finale that will determine the final 30 players who gain exempt status on the 2006 PGA Tour.

McGovern, who has played regularly on and off the Tour since 1993 when he won the Shell  Houston Open, played his way into the Final Stage after finishing t-17th at the Bayonet GC in Seaside, CA, on  November 19th. He was exempt from the first round which was held in October, as was Wagner who got a free ride all the way to the final stage by virtue of his 2005 standings on the Nationwide Tour.   It will be Wagner’s third consecutive year in the final stage of what has been called “the toughest golf tournament in the world.”

Wagner and McGovern are the only Met Area players to have made it to the deciding tournament with first stage survivors Andrew Svoboda and Nick Cook bowing out in the second round. 

Qualifying for Champions Tour has also concluded with hopefuls Bill Britton, Pete Busch and Darrell Kestner all failing to earn their cards.  The final spots on the Nationwide Tour will be decided after the PGA Tour qualifying is concluded.