Chad Ramey wins inaugural Live and Work in Maine Open

FALMOUTH, Maine – More than eight years after his last win, which came as a junior in college at Mississippi State, Chad Ramey broke through with his first professional win at the inaugural Live and Work in Maine Open. Ramey fired a final-round 68 at Falmouth Country Club to finish at 16-under 268, one shot clear of good friend Joshua Creel.

“It’s amazing, it’s kind of like getting the monkey off the back,” said Ramey. “My first win as a professional. It’s been a long time coming…I’ve been so close for so many years and on so many different occasions. For me to get it done coming down the stretch, it’s awesome.”

Teeing off more than an hour and a half before Ramey, Creel birdied six of his first seven holes on his way to a 64 to post a 15-under total and put the pressure on Ramey. But Ramey avoided any setbacks with 15 pars and three birdies to hang on for the win. While he was unable to make many birdie putts, Ramey credited a par save from the bunker on No. 3 as the catalyst for his round.

“On No. 3, right out of the gate, I hit the drive left into the edge of the woods,” reflected Ramey. “I somehow got a club on it and got it up to the front bunker and I made a really good up and down from about 35 yards in the front bunker. That seemed like it kickstarted me. I just kept giving myself a lot of looks. I didn’t roll a lot of them in today, but that was my philosophy.”

The win was made more impactful for Ramey with his father, Stanley, caddying for him this week for the first time all year. His fiancée, Kelly, and mom, Trish, were also in attendance.

“Had my dad on the bag,” said Ramey. “The blood, sweat and tears over the years that I’ve put in, I wouldn’t have anyone else here. He’s the one that got me started, we still work on my swing together. It’s just kind of cherry on top for the first win for them to be here.”

Ramey, who locked up his 2021-22 PGA TOUR card with his finish last week, adds to the professional golf success of his hometown of Fulton, Mississippi. Two-time LPGA Tour winner Ally Ewing also hails from the small town of Fulton, which has a population of under 4,000.

With the win, Ramey moves from eighth to third in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings. Creel advances from 103rd to 69th in the standings. The top-25 players at the end of the regular season earn their PGA TOUR card, while the top-75 retain their Korn Ferry Tour membership for next season and gain entry into the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

Seth Reeves and Steve Lewton finished two strokes back at 14-under. The top-10 finish was Lewton’s first of his career on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Final-Round Notes

• Sunday’s weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 91 degrees and wind S/SW at 8-15 mph
• The Live and Work in Maine Open was the 15th event of 2021 and the 38th (of 43) of the 2020-21 combined season; Chad Ramey projects to move to third in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings with the win; he becomes the 21st of 38 third-round leaders/co-leaders that have gone on to win this season
• Joshua Creel (64) and Steve Lewton (65) carded the two lowest rounds of the day while paired together in the 10:50 a.m. tee time
• The top-10 was the first of the season for Joshua Creel (2nd) and first top-10 for Spencer Levin (T5) on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2014
• With the win and new total of 2,251 points, Ramey is within striking distance of points leader Stephan Jaeger (2,614)
• Steve Lewton (-14, T3) earned his first career top-10 finish on the Korn Ferry Tour in his 21st career finish; the 38-year-old Englishman has now set career-highs in back-to-back weeks after a T13 last week in Wichita
• This week’s purse was $600,000 with $108,000 going to the champion, Chad Ramey; Ramey also received 500 Korn Ferry Tour points
• The combined 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour schedule will conclude with 25 PGA TOUR cards awarded in August at the 2021 Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna, with an additional 25 cards awarded at the conclusion of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals

Final-Round Course Statistics

• Toughest Hole – Par-3 second (3.545)
• Easiest Hole – Par-5 sixth (4.348)
• Scoring Average (Front 9) – 35.182
• Scoring Average (Back 9) – 35.818
• Scoring Average (Total) – 71.000
• Scoring Average (Cumulative) – 70.738