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Stricker eyes $10 million prize

With a win, a T9 and a third yesterday in the first three events of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, Nationwide Tour alum Steve Stricker is sandwiched between No. 1 Tiger Woods and No. 3 Phil Mickelson going into this week's culminating event.

Given the current standings, odds are one of the three will win the Cup at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola and walk away with the $10 million bonus first prize. Stricker is joined in the top 30 in Atlanta by 2006 Nationwide Tour grads Brandt Snedeker (15th) and Boo Weekley (22nd).

Everybody's headed to Eugene

With the season racing down the stretch, the best field of the year to date is headed to Oregon.

Jason Day

All but two of the Nationwide Tour's 22 tournament winners are in the field (Nick Flanagan, who earned three-win promotion to PGA TOUR last month, and Paul Claxton, who withdrew today).

Every one of the current top 50 players (Flanagan and Claxton) will be there. Only five Tour members who are among the top-80 money winners will not be. Many players have their sights set on making the top 60 to qualify for the Nationwide Tour Championship at Barona Creek (six events left to do so).

Once there, a strong finish could lead to a spot in 'The 25" and a PGA TOUR card for 2007 (25 PGA TOUR cards will be awarded at Barona Creek).

Day and Thatcher back in the field

Roland Thatcher

Leading money winner Roland Thatcher and No. 3 Jason Day will be back in action this week after missing the cut and withdrawing due to illness, respectively, in their last event in West Virginia. Neither was in Utah last week.

A seven-event duel for top honors is in the making, which others could join. Thatcher is one win away from joining Flanagan on the PGA TOUR and has a $65,665 lead on the young Aussie. Day may have the most impressive overall stats on Tour -- All-Around/2nd, Scoring Average/3rd, Putting Average/T4, Driving Distance/6th and seven top 10s/1st.

Flanagan set for PGA TOUR debut

Australian Nick Flanagan, who earned PGA TOUR privileges for this year and next as a result of his third 2007 Nationwide Tour win recently, is expected to make his PGA TOUR debut as a member next week at the Turning Stone Resort Championship near Syracuse, N.Y.

Riley sticking to Nationwide Tour

Chris Riley has concluded he has a better chance of getting back to the PGA TOUR by playing the rest of the 2007 season on the Nationwide Tour as opposed to trying to get in PGA TOUR events.

"That was my plan all year long to see how I did, and I'm in better shape here (Nationwide Tour), so I'm going to stay here," the former Ryder Cup team member said in Utah. Currently 175th on the PGA TOUR money list in 12 starts, he is 50th in three starts on the Nationwide Tour. "There's a real fine line," Riley said.

"There's 50 guys out here who are good enough to play on the TOUR (PGA TOUR). It's a couple of putts here and a couple of putts there." Riley is in the Oregon field.

The '25' Update

Last week's Utah EnergySolutions Championship winner Franklin Langham and runner-up Richard Johnson made big moves into 'The 25.'

Jon Mills

Langham leaped from 57th to 20th, while Johnson all but secured his 2008 PGA TOUR card moving 16 spots up the money list to No. 10.

For the second week in a row, Canadian Jon Mills is on the hot seat that is No. 25. The two who dropped out were 2007 tournament winners Kyle Johnson (Rex Hospital Open/Raleigh, N.C.) and John Kimbell (South Georgia Classic/Valdosta, Ga.).

Thompson missed the cut in Utah and Kimbell withdrew after the first round. Both players dropped four spots to 27th and 29th, respectively.

Knost first to earn invite to 2008 Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational

With his win in the recent U.S. Amateur, Colt Knost becomes the first player to be eligible for next year's Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational.

The Nationwide Tour event invites the reigning Amateur champion and the first-team Division I All-American team (2008). Knost would be happy to follow in Daniel Summerhays' footsteps.

The BYU All-American won the inaugural event this year and became the first amateur to win a Nationwide Tour event. Knost, an SMU star from Pilot Point, Texas, will be able to accept his invitation even if he turns pro between now and next July.

Walker Cup star to make debut in home state

Jonathan Moore, who clinched the Walker Cup for the U.S squad on Sunday, will make his professional debut in his home state this week.

The former Oklahoma State star, who won the 2006 NCAA individual championship as a freshman, ended his amateur career on the highest of highs Not only did he win 2 1/2 out of a possible three points over

the weekend, his last full shot as an amateur was a 252-yard 4-iron to four feet. The subsequent eagle putt sealed the United States' first Cup win on Great Britain/Ireland soil since 1991 at Portmarnock G.C. in Dublin.

Moore grew up in the Portland area and at 16 became the youngest winner of the Oregon Amateur in 2001.

Franklin Langham

Langham's quote on talent levels

"Outside of the great players like Tiger and Vijay and those guys, there is really not a whole lot of difference in talent level between the PGA TOUR and the Nationwide Tour," said after his victory in Utah on Sunday.

"The gap keeps closing and closing. We had a good many guys come from the TOUR this week and it's not like they mowed over the field. Some of them had good finishes but there is such a fine line there."

Did you know?

Keith Nolan's iron-man streak remains in tact on the Nationwide Tour in 2007. The Irishman who now lives in Knoxville, Tenn., has played in all 25 Tour events this year. He was a member of the 1997

Walker Cup team for GB/I at Quaker Ridge in N.Y.