Storylines: de Jonge on his amazing run, Austin stops by

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CLASSIC HAS NEW HOME -- Elmhurst Country Club, located in the Scranton suburb of Moscow, Pa., is the new home to the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic. Elmhurst is a traditional layout that will play to a par of 70 and approximately 6,810 yards. The first eight years it was held at Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic. Justin Bolli won last year's event by one stroke, shooting 14-under-par 270 to defeat Richard Johnson and Patrick Sheehan.

de Jonge

XEROX WINNER BRENDAN DE JONGE ON A GREAT RUN -- "This is the best stretch of golf I've played in my life, " said Brendan de Jonge (pronounced dee-YONG) on Sunday after capturing his first Nationwide Tour title at the Xerox Classic in Rochester, N.Y. The 28-year-old de Jonge has been on a tear of late. The former Virginia Teach standout, who is a native of Zimbabwe, has posted par-or-better scores in 26 of his last 28 rounds and is a combined 79-under during that stretch. In his last four starts, he has finished T3, T18, 5th and 1st with a scoring average of 67.8 to move from 23rd on the money list to No. 2. Of his last 21 rounds, 19 have been in the 60s. Every round (12) in his last three starts has been in the 60s. De Jonge, a member of the PGA TOUR last year who finished 155th on the money list, has put considerable effort into improving his short game this year and the positive results have been evident, particularly on Sunday at Irondequoit Country Club. Chip-ins from very difficult lies on the 18th hole on Saturday and the 14th on Sunday were highlights among many other fine recoveries.

AND THE INTERNATIONAL LIST GROWS.... -- Brendan de Jonge's Nationwide Tour win in the Xerox Classic was the first by a native of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe becomes the 20th country (including the U.S.) to produce a tournament winner on the Nationwide Tour.

Barnes

RICKY BARNES / ALWAYS HOVERING AROUND THE NUMBER -- Ricky Barnes likes to make life interesting on the Nationwide Tour. After all but eight of the 22 tournaments that have been played this year, the former University of Arizona All-American has been between 19th and 30th on the money list. This includes two weeks sitting on No. 25 and every week since May 11th. Barnes has played on the Nationwide Tour full time since 2004. The Stockton, Calif., native came closest to earning his PGA TOUR card in 2006 until chip-ins by Craig Kanada on the last two holes at the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship bumped him one spot outside the number. Coming off a T6 in Omaha and a season-best T3 in Rochester, Barnes finds himself in his best position of the year, 19th on this week's money list.

THE PGA TOUR PLAYOFFS FOR THE FEDEXCUP -- The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup get underway this week at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. Of the 136 players expected to tee it up on Thursday, 89 (two-thirds) have Nationwide Tour roots. Stewart Cink at No. 6 is the top-ranked alumni.

Owen

GREG OWEN / ON TOP YET STILL IN SEARCH OF A WIN -- It's been both a productive and a frustrating season for Englishman Greg Owen. On the positive side, Owen leads four statistical categories on the Nationwide Tour -- Scoring Average (69.74), Birdie Average (4.26), Total Driving and All-Around Ranking (by a considerable margin over Brendon de Jonge). But the victory column is empty thus far. In only 13 starts, he has two runners-up, two T3s, a T4 and a T5 to put him 10th on the money list with $247,102. Only Casey Wittenberg at No. 7 has earned more money and not won. Owen, who finished T3 at the Xerox Classic, will be in Scranton this week in search of that illusive first win.

BMW CHARITY PRO-AM CONTINUES TRADITION OF CHARITY IMPACT -- The BMW Charity Pro-Am recently announced donations of $906,308 for this year's tournament from which 72 Upstate and Western North Carolina charities received checks. Since BMW assumed title sponsorship of the Tour's Greenville, S.C.-based tournament in 2002, it has raised more than $6.6 million and become a leader among Nationwide Tour events.

Austin

WOODY AUSTIN PAYS THE NATIONWIDE TOUR A VISIT -- At a press conference last month to promote the Nationwide Tour's Cox Classic in Omaha, Neb., Woody Austin fondly recalled the days he spent on the Tour in 1994 and 1998 honing his skills. "You didn't have that proving ground (back then)," he told the Omaha World-Herald. "This tour now is a great springboard for young players. It's why you have all these European and Australian guys coming over, because they realize how great an opportunity there is." Austin earned his PGA TOUR card via the Nationwide Tour in 1998 when he finished 8th and has been there ever since.

RICH BARCELO / AN INTERESTED LLWS SPECTATOR -- It's a good bet Rich Barcelo will be an interested viewer of the Little League World Series as it comes to a finale this weekend in Williamsport, Pa. The California native was first baseman on the Tucson team that lost to Taiwan in the 1986 Series. Baseball was in the Barcelo family genes. Rich's brother, Marc, played six years in the majors as a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs organizations. Ironically, the Nationwide Tour is in Scranton, Pa., this week, not far from Williamsport.

NEXT WEEK -- The Nationwide Tour is idle next week before heading to the Salt Lake City area for the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank (Sept. 1-7).

THIS WEEK IN NATIONWIDE TOUR HISTORY -- August 19, 2001: Chad Campbell earns his second win of the 2001 campaign, capturing the Permian Basin Open in Odessa, Texas, just 35 minutes from his hometown of Andrews.

August 22, 1993: David Duval wins the Wichita Open in just his second Nationwide Tour start. At age 21 years, 9 months, Duval becomes the youngest winner in Tour history to date.