Sao Paulo, Brazil – Four-year eGolf Gateway Tour member Peter Malnati continued his march back to the PGA TOUR over the weekend at the Web.com Tour’s Brasil Champions presented by HSBC. The former Missouri Tiger, who won the tour’s Championship at Wintergreen in 2012, posted rounds of 66-62-68-66—262 (22-under) for a four-shot win and the event’s $153,000 first-place prize.

Malnati, who competed on the eGolf Gateway Tour as recently as last December, opened his week at host Sao Paulo Golf Club with a 17-under-par tally through three rounds to sit tied for the 54-hole lead alongside Tyler Duncan entering Sunday’s final round.

After a less-than-ideal opening tee shot gave way to a bogey on the narrow par-4 first, Malnati settled down quickly with birdies on Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 to vault to 3-under on the day and 20-under overall.

“It’s not the most nerve-wracking tee shot ever. You should be able to bump a 3-iron up there but that was ugly,” he said. “Obviously I was a little rattled but I knew if I could stay calm I’d be okay.”

The 27-year-old bogeyed the par-3 seventh, but immediately made up for the lost shot with a birdie on the ninth to turn in 3-under par.

Malnati hits his approach to 18

In solo-first with nine to play, and in complete control of the tournament, the affable Tennessean posted a roller coaster stretch on Nos. 13 through 17 that read birdie-bogey-bogey-birdie-birdie to jump to 21-under par.

Up three shots with just the par-4 18th to play, Malnati closed out career win No. 2 in style with a birdie at the last to finish the day with a 5-under 66 in front of an exuberant Brazilian crowd.

“This is a big win. This is a big event. That’s the best kind of stress ever,” said Malnati. “That’s so much fun but it really is stressful. I don’t know the math but this is one of our biggest purses and it doesn’t guarantee me of anything, it does help a lot to get me back to the PGA TOUR and that’s been my goal from the start.”

The win pushed Malnati from No. 88 to No. 2 on the Web.com Tour money list with $156,891 in earnings, trailing only Patrick Rodgers. The tally all but assures him of a return trip to the PGA TOUR, where he competed full-time last year.

The 27-year-old opened his eGolf Gateway Tour career in 2010 with four missed cuts in a row, but settled into life as a professional golfer by year’s end with five top-20 finishes in his final seven starts.

Malnati continued to play well in 2011, posting four top-10 finishes (including a solo-third-place effort at The Grand Harbor Open), but it was 2012 where his game began to soar to new heights.

Timothy Madigan

Three top-5 finishes in his first 10 starts of the year gave way to a breakthrough win in June at the Championship at Wintergreen Resort, where a 21-under-par score left him one shot clear of PGA TOUR winner Chesson Hadley. Malnati earned $66,740 that year to finish at No. 4 on the tour’s money list.

In 2013, a torrid stretch of top-25s on the Web.com Tour through the summer months resulted in a win at the News-Sentinel Open in his adopted hometown of Knoxville, Tenn. That win put Malnati on to the PGA TOUR for the 2013-14 season.

A Web.com Tour record seven players finished tied for second at 16-under par, including past eGolf Gateway Tour winners Henrik Norlander, Matt Davidson and Tim Madigan. The seven players each earned $44,260 for the week.

Norlander, who dueled with Malnati en route to winning the eGolf Gateway Tour’s Olde Sycamore Open in 2012, jumped 20 spots up the Sunday leaderboard thanks to a bogey-free 64.

The former Augusta State star now has two top-5 finishes on the year, dating back to a solo-fifth-place finish at the season-opening Panama Claro Championship. Norlander is currently 10th on the tour’s money list with $69,261 in earnings.

Davidson, who won back-to-back eGolf Tour Championship titles in 2008 and 2009, birdied 13 and 14 in the final round to reach 18-under par, but failed to get further into the red on his way to a final-round 68.

The career-best T2 finish marked the 14th top-10 of Davidson’s Web.com Tour career, dating back to the 2010 season. The former Furman University standout has finished inside the top 70 on the tour’s money list in four of the last five seasons. He is currently 17th on the 2015 money list.

Madigan, who earned his Web.com Tour card via PGA TOUR Canada last year, birdied four of his first five holes in the final round to race out to 17-under par for the week. The 26-year-old bogeyed the par-4 sixth, but added late birdies on 13 and 16 to finish off a career-best week.

Madigan moved from Rio Rancho, N.M. to Charlotte, N.C. to compete on the eGolf Gateway Tour full-time in 2012. The former New Mexico State golfer found instant success in the Queen City, posting eight top-25s during his rookie season – including a win at the NorthStone Open.

For complete results from the Brasil Championships presented by HSBC on PGATOUR.com, please click here.