NEWS

Nationwide Tour E-Notes: Week of Sept. 10, 2007
 
Sep. 11, 2007
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  • Nationwide Tour winners in 2007 Miguel Carballo, Skip Kendall, John Kimbell, Jason Day, Daniel Summerhays, Nicholas Thompson and Franklin Langham are playing in the Oregon Classic for the first time.

  • Cliff Kresge picked up his third career Nationwide Tour victory when he won the 2006 Oregon Classic in a playoff against Ricky Barnes after Barnes birdied the 18th hole to force the playoff. Kresge has gone on to the PGA TOUR in 2007, but Barnes will return this week in an attempt to finish what he started. Barnes shot four rounds in the 60s (67-68-68-68) to earn a spot in last year's playoff. He is 82nd on this year's money list ($59,921). Including 2006 champion Cliff Kresge, six of the eight players who have won the Oregon Classic have gone on to earn their PGA TOUR cards the following season.

  • Two members of the Class of 2006 have advanced all the way to the final week of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Rookie Brandt Snedeker and Boo Weekley are among the final 30 players competing this week at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

  • When Franklin Langham won last week's Utah EnergySolutions Championship, it came 14 years, one month and two days after his first win on the Nationwide Tour, the 1993 Permian Basin Open. That's the longest time between first and last victory in Nationwide Tour history.

  • This week's Oregon Classic presented by Kendall Automotive Group will feature every winner on the 2007 Nationwide Tour with the exception of recent PGA TOUR graduate Nick Flanagan and Paul Claxton. The field also boasts 48 of the Top 50 money winners, with Flanagan and Claxton again the exceptions.

  • The Nationwide Tour's leading money-winner, Roland Thatcher, will try to win for the third time this season to join Nick Flanagan as the second player to earn the Tour's Three-Win Promotion and an immediate ticket to the PGA TOUR. Flanagan anticipates making his 2007 PGA TOUR debut at the Turning Stone Resort Championship Sept. 17-23 following the conclusion of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

  • Chris Riley will be playing in his second consecutive Nationwide Tour event. He missed the cut last week at the Utah EnergySolutions Championship. Earlier this season, Riley won the Rochester Area Charities Showdown at Somerby. Riley won the 2002 Reno-Tahoe Open on the PGA TOUR and was a member of the 2004 U.S. Ryder Cup team. After struggling the last two years, Riley finished 2006 at 150th on the PGA TOUR money list and has played this season with conditional status on the PGA TOUR, making six cuts this season. He is 50th, with $93,000 in winnings.

  • Sponsor exemption Jonathan Moore will be making his professional debut at the Oregon Classic after an impressive amateur career. Moore represented the United States in the Walker Cup at Royal County Down in Ireland last week. He made the birdie putt that clinched the victory for the U.S. over a team from Great Britain and Ireland after his 5-iron approach landed four feet from the cup. After winning the individual NCAA Championship in 2006, Moore participated in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club and qualified for the 2007 Verizon Heritage after winning the 2006 Players Amateur. At the end of his freshman year at Oklahoma State, Moore earned the Phil Mickelson Award as the nation's top freshman golfer. Moore grew up outside of Portland, Ore.