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By Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

AVONDALE, La. -- Johnson Wagner's head gear said it all Tuesday as he began preparations for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with an awfully heavy heart.

Wagner was wearing an orange cap with the letters "VT'' on its crest. It signified his alma mater, Virginia Tech University, where, on Monday, Cho Seung-Hui went on an early morning shooting rampage at the school that left at least 33 dead, including the shooter, in the deadliest shooting incident in modern United States history.

Johnson Wagner, a Virginia Tech alum, will be playing with a heavy heart this week. (Grayson/WireImage)

"I'm not exactly sure why I put this on this morning,'' said Wagner, a PGA TOUR rookie who won twice and finished second on the Nationwide Tour money list in 2006. "But I wanted to support my school. What happened yesterday was unbelievable. There's nothing I can say about it that hasn't already been said.''

Wagner was eating breakfast in the player's lounge at the TPC Louisiana as he spoke. South African Brendon de Jonge, like Wagner, a PGA TOUR rookie who played golf at Virginia Tech, was sitting to Wagner's right. The Hokie buddies were playing in Joe Durant's charity pro-am in Pensacola, Fla., on Monday when the bad news started filtering through the fousomes.

"Some guy was riding around and he said, 'Did you hear the news,'" de Jonge said. "I thought he was going around telling everyone about Boo's (Weekley, who won the Verizon Heritage on Monday) chip-ins at Hilton Head. The next thing he said was, 'about Virginia Tech.'"

De Jonge paused to collect himself.

"That shocked me,'' he said. "Blacksburg (Virginia, where the university is located, its campus nestled in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains) is such a small place. It's not like it's Los Angeles, where you would be shocked if something like that happened there, but not quite as shocked.''

Wagner and de Jonge agreed on one thing. The perception about Virginia Tech forever has been altered. And they find that extremely sad and unsettling.

"The first thing anyone ever asked me when they found out I went to Virginia Tech was something about football, like did I know Michael Vick,'' de Jonge said. "I suppose that's going to change.''

For the worst, Wagner said.

"I simply hate the fact that Virginia Tech will be remembered like that, like Columbine High School,'' he said.

That isn't the place Wagner will remember. Blacksburg, he said, had a real small town atmosphere despite the fact that Virginia Tech has more than 25,000 students. He doesn't remember ever locking a door in his four years there, not in his dorm room or the apartment and house he rented.

"I can't remember ever hearing of a crime against another person when I was there,'' he said. "It always seemed like such a safe spot, just a great rural college town.''

Wagner was disturbed while watching the news accounts of the massacre Monday evening. He saw halls where he attended class and the dorm where the first shooting incident took place was right across the sidewalk from where he lived as a freshman. Monday evening he saw satellite news trucks, hordes of media and listening to chilling words describing the improbable happenings.

Something else Wagner saw on the news struck him as strange. A New Orleans affiliate had localized the tragic story by interviewing students at LSU in Baton Rouge, La.

"I heard them saying how safe they felt there,'' he said. "But honestly, how can they be 100 percent certain when they may have 25,000 people on campus and one goes haywire. Anything can happen, but I simply cannot imagine what it must feel like sitting in a 9 o'clock class and hearing all those gun shots.''

Wagner's wife Katie, who also graduated from Virginia Tech, left the couple's home in Charlotte, N.C., early Tuesday and headed to Blacksburg, where she and a friend planned to attend a convocation on campus where President Bush is scheduled to speak.

"It will be interesting to talk to her tonight,'' Wagner said. "I'm anxious to hear what she has to say.''