ELMSFORD, N.Y. (April 3, 2006) - Three players with Met Area ties posted strong showings on the PGA and Nationwide Tours yesterday, resulting in big payouts and broad leaps up the money lists. At the PGA Tour’s BellSouth Classic in Duluth, Georgia, Fairfield, Connecticut native J.J. Henry shot a final-round 68 to finish tied with Retief Goosen for fourth place. Were it not for the sparkling play of Phil Mickelson, who won by 13 strokes over second-place finishers Zach Johnson and Jose Maria Olazabal, Henry would have had a good chance to contend for his first PGA Tour victory. Henry, who also turned 31 yesterday, won $233,200 and jumped from 52nd to 36th place on the PGA Tour money list with $634,505. This is Henry’s second top-five finish in 2006, as he placed second at the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Arizona back in February. In just the first three months of the 2006 season, he has already earned more than half the total money he won in all of 2005. 

Across the country in Livermore, California, two of only four players to hold the Met Open and Met Amateur titles at the same time provided a dose of Met Area magic on the Nationwide Tour. At the inaugural Livermore Valley Wine Country Open, 41-year-old Jim McGovern, of Oradell, N.J. and Hackensack Golf Club, shot a final-round 69 to finish tied for fourth, six strokes behind winner Tripp Isenhour. It was McGovern’s best showing in five tournaments this year, and the $24,800 in prize money vaulted him from 75th to 21st on the Nationwide Tour money list.

Hudson National Golf Club’s Johnson Wagner also finished tied for fourth in California, solidifying his position on the Nationwide Tour money list. Fresh off his first Nationwide Tour win last week in Louisiana, Wagner remained in fourth place on the earnings tally, and is only $4,200 behind third-place money winner Jim Rutledge.