Local golf: Bryan Bigley works to keep Web.com status

Looking back, after falling $4,195 short of retaining full Web.com Tour status for next season, Bryan Bigley understands the thin line between success and near-success in pro golf.

Bigley, a Schenectady native and Siena College graduate, missed the cut over the weekend in the final Web.com stop of the season, the Portland Open.

A top 30 finish likely would have given him enough to finish in the top 75 of the season money list, needed to guarantee his exempt status for 2017.

There were two guys that shot 2 and 4 under the final day (in Portland), and if they shot even par, I would have held on to the 75th spot.

A guy made bogey on 18, a par 5, and he was on the front in two, and lost a chance to go to the PGA Tour just because of one shot.

On the positive side, the players 76th through 85th on the money list gain exemption into the final stage of Web.com qualifying school, scheduled for Dec. 8-11 in Winter Garden, Fla.

With a year's experience on the PGA's top development tour, Bigley is still hoping to return to the Web.com.

First alternate in the Aug. 2 local qualifier on his home course, Russo was added to the championship field when Garren Poirier of Killington, Vt., withdrew.