DULUTH, GA. (June 21, 2022) – Rising pro golfer Toks Pedro captured his first APGA Tour victory with clutch birdies on the third and fourth extra holes to win an exciting, four-man playoff at TPC Sugarloaf Tuesday afternoon. The four-man playoff also included Joe Hooks of Farmington Hills, Michigan, Jarred Garcia of Jacksonville and Wyatt Worthington, the PGA of America teaching pro from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, who played in the PGA Championship last month at Southern Hills.
A native of Lagos, Nigeria, now living in Orlando, Pedro played PGA Tour China in 2019 as part of a journey that now has him competing regularly on the growing APGA Tour, which offers some 15 full-field events annually for minorities working to achieve their dreams of playing at the next level.
The foursome finished 36 holes at two-under 142 with Garcia fashioning a three-under 69 as the best round of the day on the par 72, 7,058-yard layout. The entire group parred the first two playoff holes, 10 and 11, but Pedro and Hooks holed birdie putts on the 400-yard, par 4 12th hole, setting up the two-man drama at the driveable, 312-yard 13th.
Both ended up with quality tee shots to the right side of the green and when Hooks played first, his pitch got caught up in the fringe and left him 35 feet away. Pedro then seized the moment with a pitch to eight feet and he calmly dropped the putt and celebrated the biggest tournament win of his career. He collected the $7,500 first prize from the $25,000 purse.
“My focus overtook the nerves and I hit the perfect putt,” stated Pedro, 26, who has six mini-tour wins in Florida in recent years. He had a one-stroke lead with six holes to play in the recent APGA Tour at TPC Scottsdale, but faltered down the stretch. “I was able to apply that experience today and play better to close it out,” he added. “My improvement has been consistent and I’m looking forward to playing the APGA Tour the rest of the year.”
The win lifted Pedro into the top ten of the Lexus Cup Point Standings with 722 points for eighth place. Tim O’Neal, the APGA Tour veteran from Savannah, Georgia, finished in a tie for seventh place to maintain the top spot with 1,568 points and three regular-season events remaining. The APGA Tour now moves to Silvis, Illinois, for APGA Tour at TPC Deere Run July 11-12.
The APGA Tour is launching the World Wide Technology (WWT) APGA Player Development Bonus Program this week, providing top performers from the APGA’s player development program plus other selected tour regulars with financial assistance, access to PGA TOUR qualifying and additional promotional opportunities, along with prize money and other benefits. The grouping’s top five players in the season-long Lexus Cup Point Standings will be exempted into Monday qualifying for the PGA TOUR’S World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, November 4-7, at El Camaleon Golf Club in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
The APGA Tour was established in 2010 with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs, and introducing the game to inner-city young people. The tour has grown from seven events with $200,000 in prize money in 2020 and 14 events with over $400,000 in prize money in 2021, to 18 events with over $800,000 in prize and bonus money in 2022.
