From University of Rochester Athletics
When Nick Palladino entered the Lexus Peru Open, he had one consuming thought: He wanted to make enough money to secure his PGA TOUR Latinoamerica playing card for 2018.
Saturday, the former University of Rochester player did just that—and more.
Palladino tied for second at the tournament at Los Inkas Golf Club, shortened to 54 holes because of a forced curfew for all residents and visitors due to a national census the government held Sunday.
In the abbreviated tournament, Palladino opened 68-65 and held a share of the 36-hole lead with Charlie Saxon. In the final round, things look promising for Palladino, whose career-best finish on this circuit, one of three international developmental tours the PGA TOUR operates (China and Canada), was a tie for fourth in September in Nicaragua at the Flor de Cana Open. This certainly surpassed that, and his $15,400 payday secured what was concerning him when the week began. He's now 23rd on the Order of Merit (money list) and can entertain bigger goals with four tournaments remaining on the 2017 schedule.
"I've put myself in this position a few times this year, and this is the first time I was in the final group in the last round. Knowing that I was around the lead at the beginning of the day, able to shoot a decent score and pushing at the end trying to catch up to Charlie gives me a lot of confidence," Palladino said. "I know that my game can hang with anybody. It's just a matter of time before it's my time."
Palladino's final round began great as he made three birdies on his first five holes. He even recovered from a bogey on No. 7 with a comeback birdie on the eighth. He held the lead as he made the turn to the back nine. But five pars on holes 10 through 14 and bogeys on 15 and 17 doomed his chances. All the while, Saxon, a University of Oklahoma graduate and a PGA TOUR China and Web.com Tour veteran, was stepping on the gas. Saxon took control of the tournament with a four-birdies-in-five-hole stretch, beginning at No. 12. He made no-sweat pars at Nos. 17 and 18 for the four-shot triumph, his first on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica after winning twice in China in 2016.
"I'm going to take away the positives," added Palladino, thinking back on the week. "But I'm definitely going to look at the mistakes I made and try to learn from them.
"My iron play was really good," he continued. My long irons and short irons were pretty good this week. If I can keep striking it, I like my chances coming up."
Coming up will have to wait a day, though, since Palladino can't leave for Uruguay until Sunday night. While a lot of players were quick to get to the airport following the round so they could leave Saturday and avoid the census, Palladino remained. "Yeah, we're stuck here. But I'm excited for a day to just kind of relax. The travel is pretty rigorous. So we're staying in the middle of downtown on Sunday. We're just going to get some food and take it easy."