West Florida Golf Tour's "Race to the Ritz" begins

Logo provided by WFGT.

The West Florida Golf Tour's "Race to the Ritz" match play tournament began Saturday.

The competition pits the top 12 players on the tour's money list in a winner-take-all event. The prize is the winning player gets their PGA Tour Q-School entry fees paid for this year.

No. 9-seeded Sam Osborne, who lives in Palmetto, defeated two opponents - including top-seeded Joey Lamielle - during Saturday's first two rounds.

Nick Jones, seeded fourth, received an opening-round bye and then bested Travis Perkins 1-up.

Those two will meet in Sunday's first semifinal, slated for 9:30 a.m. at the Founders Club, where Saturday's rounds took place.

Daniel Stone earned a berth in the other semifinal as the tournament's 10th seed. He dispatched former Lakewood Ranch High and Florida State University standout Seath Lauer 5-and-4 before downing No. 2-seeded Matthew Galloway 4-and-3.

He'll face three-time PGA Tour winner Robert Gamez, who had a hard-fought 21-hole match against Sarasota's Brian Ward.

Gamez received an opening-round bye due to his No. 3 standing on the WFGT's Order of Merit.

Sunday morning's winners will then travel to the Ritz-Carlton Members Golf Club for the final in the afternoon, with the Q-School payment awaiting as the grand prize.

For more information on Saturday's matches, including the long battle between Gamez and Ward, check out Sunday's edition of the Bradenton Herald.