Wilson Earns the 200th Win  PGATOUR.com Correspondent No offense to Honda Classic champion Mark Wilson, but who would have called his name as the PGA TOUR player who would touch off a celebration on the Nationwide Tour? Think about it. What were the odds?  Bruce Fleisher was the first Nationwide Tour player to win on the PGA TOUR. (Badz/WireImage)
Toss out 10,000-to-1. Someone would scream that you're low-balling. Push it to 100,000-to-1. Getting warmer, but it's likely you have yet to hit the ceiling. "Normally I pretty much go unnoticed,'' Wilson said. But there he was in West Palm Beach, Fla., gutting out a victory on a tough-as-nails track called PGA National in the 2007 Honda Classic. Lop off that '7' from the current year and you get 200. And that's reason Wilson's win was so significant. It was the 200th on the PGA TOUR by a former Nationwide Tour player. "I didn't know it until I got into the media center after the playoff,'' said Wilson, who defeated Jose Coceres, Camilo Villegas and Boo Weekly in a playoff that ended Monday morning. "That was pretty exciting for me. That is a monumental number. Players are coming off that Tour ready to play. It is one of the top three tours in the world if you ask me. And you may be able to make an argument that is better than the European Tour.'' Even an eternal optimist could not have foreseen the roaring success of the Nationwide Tour, the brainchild of former PGA TOUR commissioner Deane Beman that is now in its 18th season. Do the math, dividing 200 by 17.25. Round off 11.594 and the answer is 12, representing the average number of victories on the PGA TOUR each season by former Nationwide Tour members. Only 41 victories came in the first seven seasons. In contrast, 59 wins were recorded between 2004 (a record 22) and 2006. Bruce Fleisher, who went on to become dominant on the Champions Tour, has the distinction of being the first Nationwide Tour player to win on the PGA TOUR. John Daly won the second (the 1991 PGA Championship) and the third. Former world No. 1 David Duval won the 50th and David Toms notched the 100th. Paul Goydos, Charley Hoffman and Aaron Baddeley preceded Wilson in the winner's circle this season. Any way you cut it, it represents an impressive body of work. Yet ask Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee about the round number and he ho-hums. "Frankly I see no major significance in it other than it's another in a long laundry list of accomplishments by our former players,'' Calfee said. "This is a very solid, highly competitive, stand-alone tour. We're not a developmental tour. We're not the minor leagues, but we always get that tag because in the United States it's the PGA TOUR. "But the PGA TOUR cannot grow. It's not like baseball, basketball or football. It can't go out and form an expansion franchise. So it only makes sense that we're here.'' PGA TOUR commissioner Tim Finchem seconded Calfee's contention, saying the Nationwide Tour has above and beyond the definition of a developmental tour. "There is not a great deal of difference in the level of play we see on the Nationwide Tour and the PGA TOUR,'' he said. "Players are coming right onto the PGA TOUR and contending for titles. They've all got the game to compete at the highest level. "It was more than ironic that Mark Wilson captured the 200th TOUR win by a Nationwide Tour player in a playoff that featured not one but three former Nationwide Tour players. His win was preceded by other winners with last names like Furyk, Lehman, Toms, Duval and Daly. It was a great win at The Honda Classic for Mark and reaching the milestone put a lot of focus on how the Nationwide Tour has grown over the years and the significant impact it is having on professional golf.'' The Tour's growth has been nothing short of amazing since Nationwide came aboard as the title sponsor. The corporation, which has provided name recognition and stability, is signed on through 2012. Its presence has aided in attracting a solid list of sponsors of individual events like IBM, Xerox, BMW and Albertsons. "It's all part of the growth,'' Calfee said. "Nationwide is a wonderful brand; solid financially. It has been a terrific partner and there's a whole new perception of this Tour. People know our players have game. They're the real deal. Now we're getting into bigger markets and we're also playing at better venues.'' Obviously the graduates, who will number 25 for the first time this season, are moving up as fearless and battle-tested players. A record 12 members of the 2005 graduating class retained their playing privileges and already quite a few members of the Class of '06 have made a splash with top-10s, including Jeff Quinney's three. There is a reason. Calfee said the Nationwide Tour decided to push the edge of the envelope with regard to course set-up several years ago. It decided to make the fairways more narrow, to grow the rough higher and to make the greens firmer and faster, all in an effort to mirror what the players will see when they move to the next level. What's more, the fairways were roped and skyboxes were built, something that also emulates the setting at a PGA TOUR event. "There is no doubt in my mind that the strides we've made on this tour are making the PGA TOUR better and stronger,'' he said. The numbers to back up that contention. |
