A lot at stake at Nationwide Tour Championship

BY iseekgolf.com | Nationwide Tour | 2003 Nationwide Tour Championship | Preview | 28 Oct 2003

The final event of the year on the Nationwide Tour, the Tour Championship, gets underway this Thursday for the top 55 players on the Nationwide moneylist. There is alot at stake for many of those close to the top twenty bubble including several Australasians.

At week’s end those players finishing 20th or higher on the money list will gain playing rights for the USPGA Tour. Not only is it important to finish inside the top twenty, but to finish as high as possible in order to have greater priority in events next year. The top fifty five players on the Nationwide Tour are lining up.

Australasians guaranteed of their cards for 2004 are Mark Hensby (7th) and Andre Stolz (13th) with Michael Long at 29th on the money list needing to finish at least second to be back on the USPGA without the Q-School torture.

The two Nationwide Tour winners here in this part of the world, Joe Ogilvie, who won the Jacobs Creek Open and Ryan Palmer, who took out the Clearwater Classic in New Zealand, are now assured of PGA Tour cards. Ogilvie has been there before having played the PGA Tour from 1999 to 2002, but for Palmer his rapid elevation in the game has been impressive. He is a rookie on the Nationwide Tour this season after winning several times on the mini tours. He was a classy winner of the Clearwater Classic in March and has had four other top four finishes this season.

The Tour Championship is played at the Senator Course at Capitol Hill in Prattville, Alabama, a course measuring close to 7,700 yards.