Former Auburn Golfers Jason Dufner And Roland Thatcher Earn A Pair Of Top-20 Finishes At The St. Jude Classic - AuburnTigers.com

Former Auburn Golfers Jason Dufner And Roland Thatcher Earn A Pair Of Top-20 Finishes At The St. Jude Classic Dufner jumped seven spots in Sunday's final round, firing a 5-under 65 to tie for 7th.

Jason Dufner

June 14, 2009

AUBURN - Former Auburn golfer Jason Dufner (-11) tied for seventh at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., after jumping seven spots on Sunday, closing out the event with final round 65. The Cleveland, Ohio native earned his fourth top-10 finish of the 2009 PGA Tour and advanced to 42nd in the FedEx Cup standings. College teammate Roland Thatcher (-6) earned his second top-20 finish of the season, tying for 19th with a final round 68.

Having his best season to date, Dufner tied for fifth at the Quail Hollow Championship and ninth at the Zurich and Honda Classics, making 13-of-16 cuts for $1,015,979 in earnings. The class of 2000 Auburn economics major holds the ninth-lowest career scoring average in school history (73.34) and was a an All-American and three-time All-SEC selection for the Tigers.

Dufner earned his 2009 PGA Tour Card after an 11th place finish in the final stage of the PGA Qualifying School at the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament and TPC Stadium Courses in La Quinta, Calif. On the PGA Tour, Dufner has accumulated $2,222,337 since his first conditional appearance in 2001. In all, the former Tiger has made the cut in 51-of-95 PGA Tour events including six top-10 and 14 top-25 finishes. Dufner earned tour cards in 2004 and 2007 following top-10 finishes on the Nationwide Tour Money list in the preceding seasons.

After leaving the 2008 PGA Tour after only 15 appearences for wrist surgery, Thatcher was granted a medical extension for competition on the 2009 schedule. The Hampton, Va., native made two-of-six cuts this season, both resulting in a top-20 finish. The class of 2000 political science/criminal justice major holds the 15th lowest career scoring average on the Auburn books (73.54) and was an All-SEC and All-American selection in 2000. Thatcher earned his 2008 PGA Tour Card in November of 2007, finishing second on the Nationwide Tour Money List with $415,124 in earnings.