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Middle grad qualifies for PGA Tour event

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

A Middle Township High School graduate will be playing in a PGA Tour event this weekend.

Alex Hicks, a 2011 graduate of Middle, has been invited to play in this weekend’s Puerto Rico Open after winning a qualifier held earlier today.

Hicks shot 4-under-par 68 during the 18-hole Monday qualifier held at TPC Dorado Beach’s Sugarcane Course in Puerto Rico. He won the qualifier by two strokes. Hicks recorded six birdies, 10 pars and two bogeys during the course of his round.

ALEX HICKS

Hicks is a 2015 graduate of the College of William & Mary, where he was named a three-time Colonial Athletic Association all-star and three-time Virginia Sports Information Directors all-state selection. He is third all-time at William & Mary in scoring average.

Hicks has pursued a professional career since graduating from William & Mary. He has been playing on the Mackenzie Tour, the Canadian version of the PGA Tour, for the past couple of years. Last summer, he tied for sixth place at the Bayview Place DC Bank Open in Victoria, British Columbia, in mid June.

According to his online PGA Tour player profile, Hicks earned $8,270 on the Mackenzie Tour last year.

The Puerto Rico Open is scheduled for Thursday through Sunday at Coco Beach Golf and Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. The event is scheduled to be televised by the Golf Channel. D.A. Points was last year’s Puerto Rico Open winner, taking home $540,000.

The Puerto Rico is one of the smaller PGA Tour events, featuring mostly up-and-coming PGA Tour players according to Golf News Net, a website that covers the PGA Tour and other professional golf. Some of the bigger names in this year’s Puerto Rico Open include two-time major winner Angel Cabrera, two-time U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen, 2010 U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell, Trevor Immelman, Daniel Berger and Denny McCarthy.

Hicks is considered to be one of the best high school golfers in Cape-Atlantic League history. He was a three-time South-Central Group II champion and won the state Group II championship as a senior. He was also a two-time CAL Tournament winner and averaged 34.6 strokes per nine holes as a senior, a program record.