Strong Aussie lineup for Knoxville Open
BY Bruce Young | Nationwide Tour | 2009 Knoxville Open | Preview | 10 Jun 2009
The Nationwide Tour is in Knoxville, Tenessee this week for the Knoxville Open on the other side of the State to where the PGA Tour is playing the St Jude Classic in Memphis.
The tournament is once again at its long time home at the William Byrd designed Fox Den Golf Club, a venue which has been good to Australians in recent years with both Kim Felton and Jarrod Lyle winners in the last four years.
D.J. Brigman finished third in the tournament last year and after two top five finishes in recent weeks he is considered the favourite.
After a shaky start to the season Justin Bolli appears to be finding the form which saw him graduate to the PGA Tour in 2007 before losing his status and returning to the Nationwide this year.
Garrett Willis is having a good season on the Nationwide Tour in 2009 having finished runner up in Panama and third three starts ago in Georgia.
Cameron Percy missed the cut in this event by a big margin last year but he has really begun to hit his straps in recent weeks. Percy has finished inside the top ten four times in 2009 and is currently 12th on the money list. In his current form, a Nationwide Tour title cannot be too far away..
Once again a strong contingent of Australasians is in the field. In addition to Percy, Scott Gardiner, Gavin Coles, Adam Bland, Mark Hensby, Won Joon Lee, David McKenzie, Andre Stolz, Bradley Iles, Grant Waite, Alistair Presnell, Phil Tataurangi, Andrew Bonhomme, Steve Bowditch and Paul Gow will line up.
Michael Sim, the Nationwide Tour money list leader, is taking the week off as he prepares for the upcoming US Open, which he qualified for on Monday this week in Maryland.
