Greensboro, NC – T.J. Howe of Osceola, PA overcame strong winds, demanding conditions, and his own final-hole nerves to win the eGolf Tour’s Forest Oaks Classic on Friday, posting an 11-under 205 total to wrap up his first tour title, and the $17,000 first-place prize.

The Forest Oaks Classic was the seventh of 24 scheduled events on the 2013 eGolf Tour schedule, and was contested this week at Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro, NC – 30-year host of the PGA TOUR’s annual Wyndham Championship.

Howe, a former standout at Penn State University, entered the final round in a tie for the lead with red-hot Jack Fields of Southern Pines, NC, as both players had reached 10-under 134 with just 18 holes to play in the 54-hole event.

Common thought was that it was Fields – currently second on the tour money list and a winner at last year’s Columbia Open – who was the prohibitive favorite, as Howe had admittedly not put himself in the final-pairing scenario as much as he had hoped.

Early on, it looked as though Fields’ consistency would pace him towards a second career win, as two birdies in his first seven holes pushed the former UNC Tar Heel star to 12-under par for the week.

Howe, who birdied the par-4 first, gave back two shots with back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 3 and 4 to drop to 1-over for the day, eventually moving to even par with a birdie at the par-5 sixth.

“I mis-clubbed on No. 3 which led to a bogey, then missed a short putt on No. 4 to fall back again,” said Howe, 25. “It was tough out there with the wind early on, and it never really let up.”

Wind gusts over 30 mph greeted players throughout the day – a weather feature made that much more difficult given the heavy pollen saturation that settled in over the greater Greensboro area throughout the past month.

A birdie at the tough par-4 ninth helped to get Howe back on track, who turned at 1-under 35, just one shot back of Fields, who managed to card a 34 on his outward nine.

“I birdied No. 9 for the third straight day, so that kind of settled me down a bit,” Howe said. “It began to feel like a match play situation after that, and with the wind, I knew there weren’t going to be a lot of low scores.”

Howe dropped a shot at the docile par-4 10th, but Fields dropped one 20 minutes later with an untimely bogey at the reachable par-5 11th, as the players fell to 10-under and 11-under, respectively.

At the par-3 13th, Howe delivered with a clutch birdie to reach 11-under par, tying Fields for the lead with just five holes to play.

The pivotal point in the final round came at the par-4 16th, where the tees had been moved up to 285 yards to tempt players to go for the green, with water lining the entire left side of the hole.

Howe, up first, laid back with a 6-iron tee shot to leave himself a fuller approach into the tricky green.

Fields, trying to be aggressive, hit a driver off the tee and watched helplessly as it soared right, hit a cart path, and bounced out-of-bounds.

“We saw the official signal that it went O.B.,” said Howe. “At that point, I knew I just needed to stick to my plan as he was going to lose at least a shot.”

A poor second shot left Howe with an up-and-down for par, which he converted; while Fields, who hit a provisional from the tee, hit his fourth shot over a tree to 10 feet, but failed to convert the bogey putt.

Two-shot swing.

“Jack and I went shot for shot throughout the day. He played well all day long, just got that bad break on 16,” said Howe after the round, acknowledging that the two-shot lead with two to go freed him up ever so slightly.

Both players got up and down for par on the par-3 17th, which took the day’s final pairing to the par-5 18th, where Howe (11-under) needed just a par to seal his first eGolf Tour title – trying to better the 10-under 206 tally posted by three-time winner Chris Thompson of Lawrence, KS just an hour prior.

Howe’s second shot wound up just short of the green, setting up a lengthy chip to a back-left hole location. His pitch came up roughly 20 feet short of the hole, setting up the awkward situation where two putts can win – just don’t three putt.

“I hit a lackluster chip on 18, but didn’t want to hit it long,” Howe said. “The putt, I just didn’t want to lag it too much, and I wound up running it by about 3 to 4 feet. I had to tell myself, ‘Hey, this is what you work for and practice for. Just calm down and hit the putt.’”

After rolling the birdie try 4 feet past the hole, Howe managed to calm his nerves just enough to squeeze in the par putt for a final-round 71 and an 11-under 205 total, in turn securing his first eGolf Tour win and the $17,000 first-place prize.

“I can’t explain the feeling quite yet,” he said. “It was such a grind of a day, but it’s starting to sink in. There’s a lot of relief there to finally get my first big win.”

The win moved Howe up to No. 5 on the eGolf Tour money list with $23,374 in earnings, just over $2,000 shy of the No. 4 spot, held down by good friend and roommate Cam Burke of Ontario, Canada.

Burke, a two-time Canadian Amateur champion, picked up his first career eGolf Tour win just two weeks ago at the Founders Club Classic. The win, and the celebratory days shortly thereafter, lit a fire under Howe, who wanted to add his own “W” to any bragging rights which may exist inside their South Charlotte (NC) house.

“It was definitely a motivator to see him win,” said Howe after his second round. “I play golf with him every day, so to see him do it just told me that I could as well. It was just a matter of getting in that position.”

Howe’s rookie 2012 campaign on the eGolf Tour delivered four top-10 finishes, but he had yet to crack the top-10 through six starts in 2013. A pair of T11 finishes highlighted a consistent start to the year, but the win put Howe in the realm of the tour’s upper echelon of players – a place he feels comfortable with now.

“This is going to do a lot for me. Getting a win, now I know what I have to do to be successful,” he said. I’m thinking a lot clearer on the golf course now, and I think that is helping me to improve. I have some big Monday qualifiers coming up, so hopefully this will be a sign of good things to come.”

Thompson, who turned at 3-under 33 and closed with a final-round 68 to finish in solo-second place, earned $10,000 for his efforts, in turn moving up to No. 2 on the tour’s money list with $29,216 in earnings.

Thompson put pressure on both Howe and Fields when he birdied the 11th to move to 10-under for the tournament, but that was as far into the red as he would dip. A follow-up bogey on the par-4 12th took him back to 9-under par, while a late birdie at 16 moved him back to 10-under – where he eventually finished.

The former Kansas Jayhawk star and Web.com Tour member won the tour’s inaugural Championship at Ballantyne Country Club in March – his third career title dating back to the 2010 season. Prior to the Ballantyne win, Thompson had earned victories at the 2010 HGM Hotels Classic at Rock Barn and the 2011 Columbia Open to solidify himself as one of the tour’s top closers, even though he only plays a handful of events each year.

Fields, who pared the last to close out a 1-over 73, finished in a tie for third alongside Jonas Enander Hedin of Sweden, with both players posting 9-under 207 totals. Both players earned $6,010 for their efforts.

The disappointing finish left Fields two shots shy of Howe, but pushed him to the top of the eGolf Tour money list with $30,407 in season-long earnings. Prior to his T3 at Forest Oaks, Fields had runner-up finishes at the Oldfield Open and Irish Creek Classic this year, all coming on the heels of his breakthrough 2012 season – where he finished 15th on the money list.

For Enander Hedin, the T3 tied a career-best finish, dating back to a solo-third-place effort at the 2012 River Run Classic.

The finish marked the second straight top-10 effort for Enander Hedin, who posted a T6 finish at the Founders Club Classic. It was the first time in the 27-year-old’s eGolf Tour career that he posted back-to-back top-10 finishes.

• Special thanks goes to Forest Oaks General Manager Geoff Dail, Head Golf Professional Anthony Miller and their respective staffs for coordinating this event and hosting the tour and our players for the week. Thank you to Forest Oaks Head Golf Course Superintendent Brian Faulk and his crew for their work in presenting a fantastic golf course for the week. Last but not least, thank you to the members of Forest Oaks for allowing the tour access to the club’s facilities for the week.

• The tour will take next week off before returning to action on May 1-4 for the annual Columbia Open, to be contested at Columbia Country Club in Blythewood, SC.