Strong field, Walker Cup hero set to tee it up in Oregon JUNCTION CITY, Ore. -- With lots on the line over the remaining seven events, the best Nationwide Tour field of the year will tee off on Thursday in the Oregon Classic presented by Kendall Automotive Group. All but two of the Nationwide Tour's 22 tournament winners and 48 of the top-50 money winners will be in the field. ![]() Walker Cup hero Jonathan Moore makes his professional debut this weekend on the Nationwide Tour. (Getty Images)
Nick Flanagan, who earned a three-win promotion to the PGA TOUR last month, and Paul Claxton, who withdrew on Tuesday, will not be at Shadow Hill Country Club this week. Of the top 80, only five Nationwide Tour members are idle. Leading money winner Roland Thatcher and No. 3 Jason Day return after both taking two-week breaks from the Nationwide Tour. Thatcher is one win away from joining Flanagan on the PGA TOUR. The young Australia, Day, may have the most impressive collection of stats on TOUR this year. He is currently second in the All-Around, third in Scoring Average, T4 in Putting Average, T6 in Driving Distance, and has the most top 10s, seven. Last week's Utah SolutionsEnergy Championship winner, Franklin Langham, comes to Eugene with a good deal of momentum. He made a huge jump on the money list last week, from No. 57 to No. 20. He now finds himself on the inside of THE 25 and in good position to secure his PGA TOUR card for 2008. Runner-up Richard Johnson all but wrapped up his card when he moved 16 spots up the list to No. 10. A record 25 cards will be awarded at the season-culminating Nationwide Tour Championship at Barona Creek near San Diego, Nov. 1-4. Former U.S. Ryder Cup team member (2004) Chris Riley is entered this week, having recently concluded that he has a better chance of getting back to the PGA TOUR by playing the rest of 2007 on the Nationwide Tour. Riley, who won the Rochester (MN) Area Charities Showdown at Somerby in June, is 50th on the Nationwide Tour money list in only three starts. Sunday's Walker Cup star Jonathan Moore will be making his professional debut this week in his home state. Born in California, Moore grew up in Portland, OR. His 252-yard 4-iron on the 18th hole at Royal County Downs Golf Club in Northern Ireland led to an eagle three and clinched the Walker Cup for the U.S. Moore won the 2006 NCAA Championship as a redshirt Oklahoma State freshman and became only the seventh freshman to capture the individual title. Shadow Hills Country Club hosts the Oregon Classic for the ninth straight year. It is a 7,007-yard, par-72 layout. Past champions of the event include prominent PGA TOUR players Jason Gore and Oregonian Jeff Quinney. Last year, Cliff Kresge defeated Ricky Barnes on the third hole of a playoff with a par to claim his third Nationwide Tour title. Kresge finished 99th in the FedExCup standings, while Ricky Barnes is 82nd on the Nationwide Tour money list. He is playing this week. With only six events remaining to qualify for the Nationwide Tour Championship at Barona Creek, Jim McGovern is the new man on the bubble at No. 60 on the money list. Once in the field, even those players who are down the money list are only a high finish away from grabbing one of the 2008 PGA TOUR cards that will go to the top 25 on the money list. |