Justin Bolli wins by one in Springfield

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Justin Bolli collected his third career Nationwide Tour victory on Sunday in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Justin Bolli rallied to win by one shot at the 2009 Price Cutter Charity Championship Presented by Dr Pepper over Chad Collins and Derek Lamely. The former University of Georgia Bulldog fired a 6-under-par 66 in the final round to finish at 21 under.

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Round 1 recap

Bolli started the day tied for fourth and three shots behind third-round co-leaders Collins and Dave Schultz. He made up only one shot on the front nine with a 1-under-par 35 and was still two back at 16 under. The leaders were treading water with Collins parring the first eight holes and Schultz working his way back from a double-bogey on the third.

Then Bolli made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 and another on No. 15 before play was suspended for nearly 90 minutes due to a passing thunderstorm.

"It's hard to keep your feel," he said about the interruption of play. "It's hard to get back into the flow of the round. I did hit a few putts, but spent most of the time in the clubhouse trying to relax with friends and family before getting out on the course."

But the wait apparently did not bother Bolli today.

He was assessing a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th green when the course was evacuated. He drained it moments after the horns blew to signal the resumption of play. That got him to 20 under and ahead of the pack by a shot.

Three groups in front of him, Lamely finished off the low round of the day with a birdie on No. 18 for a 7-under-par 65 and pulled into a tie for the lead. But Bolli answered with a birdie of his own on the 17th and went into the final hole with a one-shot lead.

After his drive found the center of the fairway on the reachable par 5, the two-time Nationwide Tour champion chose the conservative route after his drive found the center of the fairway.

"I hit it in the water there yesterday and had that in my head," he said. "I knew that if I made par I'd be the leader in the clubhouse and there were only a couple of players behind that could catch me."

After a layup to just inside 100 yards, his third shot landed just past the pin and spun back to 25 feet below the hole. A routine two-putt for par gave him the clubhouse lead he was after.

Garrett Osborn and Collins were the only players left on the course who were within reach, but needed an eagle and double-eagle respectively to match his 21-under par total. Osborn bogeyed and Collins made an eagle to come up one stroke short.

The win for Bolli and accompanying $112,500 paycheck moves him from 16th to seventh on the money list. His new total of $246,900 all but guarantees him a spot in "The 25" players who will earn their PGA TOUR cards at the end of the year. This would be his third such promotion via the Nationwide Tour. He finished ninth on the money list in his rookie season in 2004 and eighth in 2007, but was unable to earn enough to keep his card the succeeding seasons on TOUR.

"I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to the big tour," he said. "But it doesn't change my mindset for this season -- I need to keep playing events and keep playing well. It's very important how high you finish for your priority and status."

Collins earns his second runner-up finish in as many weeks and for Schultz (tied for fifth), it's his third consecutive top-10.

The Nationwide Tour travels to Overland Park, Mo. (Kansas City) next week for the inaugural Christmas in October Classic from August 17-23.