Pat Gallagher | The Valdosta Daily Times Ted Potter Jr. sinks a short putt on the fifth green during the final round of the South Georgia Classic at Kinderlou Forest on Sunday.

VALDOSTA — Ted Potter Jr. spent Monday playing golf in Thomasville hoping to shoot a good enough score to qualify for the South Georgia Classic.

Six days later, he had to fight back his emotions on a short putt that made him the most unlikely tournament champion in the South Georgia Classic’s five year history.

Potter Jr. finished a flawless third round of 65 on Sunday morning, then followed it with a 68 in the day’s final round to win the South Georgia Classic by three shots over Mathew Goggin.

The Silver Springs, Fla. native shot 16-under to break the tournament record by two shots.

“I was more nervous after I finished the (18th) hole,” Potter Jr. said. “I was fine pretty much most of the day. I was trying to draw back on past experience from the Hooters Tour and focus on each shot. It was pretty good out there on the course today. Knowing that you won the tournament, I don’t know how to describe it. Nervous, happy, everything you could be, I guess.”

Not bad for a guy who wasn’t even in the field until he shot a 66 on Monday at Glen Arven Country Club. Potter Jr. is the first Monday qualifier to win a Nationwide Tour event in nearly five years. It was last done in 2006 by Kyle Reifers at the Chattanooga Classic.

Potter Jr. said he couldn’t have imagined a week ago he’d be the winner.

“From past experiences, I haven’t done well and I knew I needed to keep grinding out and trying,” Potter Jr. said about his experiences on the Nationwide Tour. “The biggest goal this week was to finish in the top 25 so I could play next week and keep learning.”

Potter Jr. said he tried not to watch the leaderboard in his final round. If he did take a peek it might have relaxed him. His playing partners, Jon Mills and Jonas Blixt, quickly fell back while he was consistent, hitting 6 of 7 fairways and 8 of 9 greens on the front nine.

For a good portion of Sunday afternoon he led by five shots.

“I just hit a lot of good shots,” Potter Jr. said. “I tried to play the middle of the green if I didn’t like where the pin was. I knew if I just made a bunch of pars and three or four birdies then            anybody who was about 10-under had to shoot a low score to catch me. Jon and Jonas didn’t play too well today. They struggled out there. I knew I needed to play a solid round and I’d be on top.”

Potter Jr. entered the third round at 12-under and tied for the lead with Mills. Blixt made birdies on the last three holes of his third round to within two shots of the lead into the final group.

Potter Jr. got off to a quick start with a two-putt birdie on the par 5 second hole to move to 13-under. Good iron shots on Nos. 7 and 8 led to birdies that put him at 15-under.

Meanwhile, Mills was sliding after four bogeys on the front. Two front nine bogeys for Blixt dropped him to 8-under.

Goggin shot 2-over on his front nine and was well back of the lead.

Brent Long, another Monday qualifier, and Charles Warren each made three birdies on the front to move to 11-under, but Potter Jr. still had a four-shot lead and a birdie on the 11th put him a five clear of second.

A bogey for Potter Jr. at the difficult 12th opened the door slightly, but no one was close enough to make a push. Goggin heated up on the back nine with a 5-under 31, but he lipped out a birdie on 17 that would have cut the lead to two.

“I kicked it into gear on the back nine, but it was all a little bit too little too late,” Goggin said. “Ted just played great. When you have the lead and shoot 4-under, especially around here with the way they set it up, there’s nothing much the rest of us could do.”

With Potter Jr. so far ahead, the best battle was for second. Goggin and Warren were both 12-under through 17. After Goggin missed his birdie, Warren sank his to move to 13-under and within two of Potter Jr. and one clear of Goggin.

However, Warren ruined his chances pressuring Potter Jr. or taking second place by pulling his tee shot on 18 out of bounds. He triple bogeyed the hole to lose his hold on second place.

Goggin birdied the 18th to get to 13-under and second place.

“You never like to finish that way,” Goggin said. “We were both trying to push each other and said let’s make a few birdies and pressure this guy. We were doing that. It would have been nice for him to finish with a birdie, but it’s unfortunate for him.”

While Goggin and Warren jockeyed for runner-up, Potter Jr. birdied the 16th to put himself three shots clear of second. He parred the 17th, then chipped on and made a short par putt to close out the tournament. He ranked his win as the highest point of his career.

“It’s right on top,” Potter Jr. said. “The Hooters Tour and all the ones out there I had were really nice, but this one means a lot more.”

Long and Warren tied for third at 10-under. Mark Anderson, Major Manning and Rob Oppenheim shot 9-under to tie for fifth.

Mills imploded with a 79 to drop all the way from first to start the day into a tie for 18th at 5-under.

Potter Jr.’s win gives him an exemption onto the Nationwide Tour for the rest of this year and all of next year. That is if he doesn’t finish in the top 25 and earn his PGA Tour card. His win moved him to fourth place on the money list. He won $112,500 for coming in first.

Potter Jr. said he won’t look too far ahead to the PGA Tour. One thing is for sure though. He won’t have to worry about Monday qualifying for the Stadion Classic in Athens this week.

“I’m going up to Athens so hopefully it’ll be fun,” Potter said. “Hopefully it’ll sink in before the tournament starts next week.”