Sim shreds Nationwide Tour in '09, turns sights to TOUR

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Michael Sim had no need to sweat out the pressure of "THE 25" -- he clinched his 2010 TOUR card in August.

What will you remember about the 2009 season? That was the simple question we asked PGATOUR.COM staffers and writers, who responded with a series of short essays. As we finish up November, we'll post several each day. Click here for next essay

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What will you remember?

Three victories in four months. Two runner-up finishes and three other top-fives, to boot. A stranglehold on the money list. And all this in just 14 starts.

Sounds an awful lot like a Tiger Woods season, doesn't it? Well, maybe a few wins short.

But it's not Tiger Woods' 2009 record. Those results belong to the man who awakened, electrified and just plain owned the Nationwide Tour this season: Michael Sim.

The just-turned-25-year-old Aussie might be the most promising talent headed to the PGA TOUR in 2010. And he is certainly the best the Nationwide Tour has ever seen.

By the middle of May, he became the first player in the Tour's history to break into the top 100 in the world, and he kept on climbing. He's currently 57th in the Official World Golf Ranking. That's better than his countryman, Adam Scott. Better than 20-time TOUR winner Davis Love III. Better than the real-life Happy Gilmore, Boo Weekley.

So what's next for Sim? There's no way for to predict what lies ahead, but we can take a look at the roads other outstanding Nationwide Tour players have traveled.

• Stewart Cink: In 1996, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket won three times on the Nationwide Tour and earned $251,699. Now? He's the reigning British Open champ.

• Zach Johnson: In 2003, he won twice, earned $494,882 and was named the Nationwide Tour Player of the Year. Four years later, he won the Masters.

• Chad Campbell: In 2001, Campbell won three times and earned an instant promotion to the PGA TOUR. This year, he was one-third of an emotional three-way playoff for a Green Jacket. But he wasn't the last man standing at Augusta National -- this time.

Sim's keeping some pretty heady company, but the confident, Scottish-born Australian isn't intimidated by that.

Carrying a TOUR card in his wallet is nothing new. He played a full season with the big boys in 2007, but despite a strong start -- a top-20 at his first event of the year -- injuries derailed Sim, and his rookie season quickly turned sour.

But that was then, and this is now. Sim plans to keep his card this time around, and we certainly won't question his determination.

Healthy, on top of his game and on everybody's radar, the guy who played with Tiger Woods in the final round of the 2009 U.S. Open shouldn't have anything to worry about next season.

Sure, he won't be the No. 1 player in the field anymore, but don't expect him to remain No. 57 either.

Ceri Mobley, a former associate producer at PGATOUR.COM, is now a coordinator for the TOUR's Marketing Services. Hopefully now she won't have to eat at her desk five days a week.