24-Year-Old is 94th-Ranked Player in the World
One Win Away From PGA TOUR Promotion As He Overcomes Serious Back Injury

With two wins and a playoff loss in his last three starts and strong performances all year, it’s hard to find a golfer anywhere in the world who is hotter than the Nationwide Tour’s Michael Sim. Had the playoff (in Athens, Ga.) gone the other way, the 24-year-old from Perth, Australia would be headed to the PGA TOUR today via a three-win promotion in only seven starts.
Jason Gore was the quickest to earn a three-win promotion having done so in his 11th start in August, 2005.

Sims’ story of the last four years is one of great highs and lows. In 2005 the young man who owns a textbook golf swing was the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world. In 2006, he won on the Nationwide Tour, which helped propel him to the PGA TOUR. A stress fracture in his spine derailed his PGA TOUR career the next two years. Playing through the injury in 2007, he managed 17 PGA TOUR starts, making nine cuts and earnings of $399,900 (162nd). In 2008, he played in just seven TOUR events and was sidelined most of the summer and fall.

Signs of encouraging play came, however, in October 2008 when Sim produced a T7 and T18 in the final two PGA TOUR events of the year.

His comeback has continued in dramatic fashion. In November, Sim shared the 54-hole lead with Robert Allenby at the Australian Masters, only to fall back on Sunday to 11th.

In February he had a strong finish (T7) in the European Tour/PGA Tour of Australasia’s Johnnie Walker Classic.
Since March 1st, Sim has finished 3rd and 4th in Australia and New Zealand, respectively, won the Stonebrae Classic in California and lost in a playoff to Patrick Sheehan at the Athens Regional Foundation Classic. His only blemish during this stretch was a missed cut at the Michael Hill New Zealand Open in mid-March.

After Athens, Sim went home to Australia for two-and-a-half weeks but showed little evidence of rust upon his return. On Sunday, he captured his second Nationwide Tour win of the year at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, defeating Fabian Gomez in a one-hole playoff despite battling the flu throughout the week.

On March 29th, Sim was 229th in the Official World Golf Ranking. His torrid pace in April and May have vaulted him to 94th. This is believed to be the first time a full-time Nationwide Tour player has cracked the top 100.

2009 Tournament Recap

In eight starts this year (including one European Tour / PGA Tour of Australasia event), Sim has finished outside the top seven only twice:
Feb. 8th T23 +1 Panama Digicel Championship (Panama City, Panama)
Feb. 22nd T7 -14 * Johnnie Walker Classic (Perth, Australia)
March 1st 3 -6 Moonah Classic (Victoria, Australia)
March 8th T4 -12 HSBC PGA Championship (Christchurch, New Zealand)
March 15th MC +7 Michael Hill New Zealand Open (Queenstown, New Zealand)
April 5th Win -18 Stonebrae Classic (Hayward, Calif.)
April 19th 2nd * * -14 Athens Regional Foundation Classic (Athens, Ga.)
May 17th Win * * -22 BMW Charity Pro-Am (Greenville, S.C.)
* European Tour / PGA Tour of Australasia event * * Playoff

Dominating Stats
· In his 30 rounds this year (eight starts, including the Johnnie Walker Classic), Sim is a cumulative 78-under par.
· Of those 30 rounds, 19 have been in the 60s, which includes a 62, a 63 and a pair of 64s.
· He is 54-under par in his last three starts and has not shot over par in any of the 12 rounds.
· His $367,417 in earnings is $211,136 ahead of No. 2, Garth Mulroy. The largest one-week difference between No. 1 and No. 2 was Troy Matteson’s $138,430 lead over Jason Gore at the end of the 2005 season.
· His year-to-date earnings already rank 16th best in Tour history for a single season (Matteson holds the record for most money won in one year – $495,009 in 2005).
· He is averaging $52,488 per start, well ahead of Brendan Jones’ mark of $36,589 in his eight starts in 2004.
· Of the Nationwide Tour’s 10 stat categories, he is in the top five in all but three (Driving Distance, Eagles and Sand Save Percentage). He leads in four – Scoring Average, All-Around Ranking, Total Driving and Putting Average.

Quotes
On his 2009 goals -- “I had a great off-season and I sat down with my coaches and set some goals for the year. I hadn’t really been doing that lately. My biggest goal was to try and win three times. I also wanted to finish number one on the money list.”
On getting a third win – “I think a third win will be harder than the second because you’ll be thinking about it more. Coming down the stretch on 18 your mind may be racing. Hopefully, I’ll get to experience that in the next few months.”
On treating his back – “Every day when I get up I do about 20 minutes of stretching and posture work, another five minutes when I get to the golf course, 15 more minutes after the round, and when I get back to the hotel, another 20-30 minutes. So I do about an hour a day to maintain my posture, strength and flexibility. My physio told me if I don’t do it, I might not play golf ever again. I don’t want to go back there so I’ll just do the work.”
On the Nationwide Tour experience – “The Nationwide Tour is a great tour. At Panama, I took a look around and saw a number of PGA TOUR winners and realized how deep the tour is. It’s done a lot for me. I feel very confident and my results in the six or seven events this year have been really good. I feel I can compete out on the PGA TOUR when I get my body right and it is right. It’s just a matter of finishing off this year, whether it’s a third win or not. I’m going to be ready for next year.”

Next Monday (May 25th) Sim will attempt to qualify for the British Open for the first time in Dallas. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland before moving to Australia at a young age.
Sim also won the Pro-Am portion of the BMW Charity Pro-Am with R&B singer/songwriter Javier Colon. “I like playing with the amateurs. They kept me calm.
Javier is a great guy to play with. He made a hole-in-one on Thursday. That was cool!”

ABOUT THE NATIONWIDE TOUR
Founded (1990), owned and operated by the PGA TOUR, the Nationwide Tour identifies those players who are ready to compete and win on golf's biggest stage. As the “official proving ground of the PGA TOUR”, two out of three PGA TOUR members are Nationwide Tour alumni. As of May 18th, Tour alumni have won 246 PGA TOUR titles, including 11 majors and three PLAYERS Championships. Twenty-five PGA TOUR cards and approximately $19 million will be at stake over the course of 29 events in 2009. Recognizing the Tour’s growing stature, Nationwide Insurance has renewed its umbrella sponsorship of the Nationwide Tour through 2012. The PGA TOUR, through the efforts of its three tours and their tournaments, sponsors, players and volunteers, supports over 2,000 local charities and has surpassed $1 billion in charitable giving. To learn more about the PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour and to follow the season-long quest for a PGA TOUR card, visit PGATOUR.COM.