Nationwide Tour Storylines: Lowery notches 220th alum win

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HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship
Feb. 11 - 17
Clearwater Golf Club, Christchurch, New Zealand
Purse: $650,000
First Prize: $117,000
3rd of 30 events
GOLF CHANNEL/Coverage Saturday and Sunday
2007 Winner: Nicholas Thompson

PGA TOUR IMPACT / LOWERY WIN IS NO. 220 -- Steve Lowery's win on Sunday in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was the 220th by a former Nationwide Tour alumni. The Birmingham, Ala. native and resident captured the Nationwide Tour's Tulsa Open in 1992. He finished third on the money list that year to graduate to the PGA TOUR. Lowery has gone on to earn more than $14 million on TOUR (46th all time).

Jason Day (WireImage)

DAY / THOMPSON SHINE AT PEBBLE BEACH -- The sun was shining all last week at Pebble Beach and so were two Nationwide Tour rookies.

Australian Jason Day's sixth-place finish was his best in four PGA TOUR starts this year, having qualified via the Nationwide Tour last fall (fifth on the money list). Day's previous best TOUR finish was T11 in the 2006 Reno-Tahoe Open while playing on a sponsor invitation. The PGA TOUR's youngest player (20), has finished T49, T20 and now 6th in his last three starts.

Nicholas Thompson of Coral Springs, Fla. and Georgia Tech University finished one stroke behind Day at T7. He started the final round T19, then leaped into contention with birdies on five of his first six holes. The 2005 Walker Cup team member was a playoff victor in last year's Nationwide Tour event in New Zealand, propelling him to a strong season and the sixth spot on the final money list which earned his PGA TOUR card.

GLOBAL REACH -- This month's trip to New Zealand and Australia is the seventh straight year the Nationwide Tour has traveled Down Under. With new tournaments in Mexico (Mexico Open) and Canada (Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic) and the five-year old Panama Movistar Championship, the Tour will play in five countries this year, the most in its 19-year history.

The HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship and next week's Moonah Classic in Australia are co-sanctioned by the Nationwide Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia. The 156-player fields are evenly divided with 78 players from both tours competing.

JARROD LYLE / GOOD MEMORIES OF MOONAH -- 50th Mexico Open winner Jarrod Lyle finished T2 in his last HSBC New Zealand PGA appearance two years ago at Clearwater GC. The Nationwide Tour's leading money winner will have his younger brother, Leighton, on the bag this week.

GOLF CHANNEL COVERAGE BEGINS -- The HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship will be the first of 16 Nationwide Tour events GOLF CHANNEL will televise this year. It will air the final two rounds in the U.S. and Canada on Saturday and Sunday. The tournament will be broadcast on GOLF CHANNEL in China and Japan and be distributed in Europe, Asia and South Africa. Golf Channel will also air next week's Moonah Classic from Australia.

THE KLAUKS / FATHER AND SON -- Jeff Klauk, the son of the outgoing superintendent of the world renowned TPC Sawgrass is off to his best start since joining the Nationwide Tour in 2002. The St. Augustine, Fla. resident is fourth on the money list after T2 and T21 finishes in Panama and Mexico, respectively. He has come close to earning his PGA TOUR card a couple of times since joining the Nationwide Tour in 2002 -- 22nd iin 2002 (when 15 cards were available) and 34th last year.

At age 30, this might just be the year the 2000 Division II national individual champion out of Florida Southern punches his ticket to the PGA TOUR. It would coincide with father Fred Klauk's retirement from his TPC post after May's PLAYERS Championship. Mr. Klauk has served the club for 27 years.