Talented Nationwide Tour trio has plenty to celebrate

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Jeff Klauk estimates that he's played TPC Sawgrass 1,000 times in his life. How will the rookie fare?

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Remember when you were a kid and your birthday was really more of a birthweek so that your special celebration could last much longer? The Nationwide Tour has found its inner kid this season as it takes the entire year to celebrate its 20th birthday, and why not? It's been a successful 20 years.

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Matt Bettencourt earned a spot in THE PLAYERS field after winning the Nationwide Tour Championship in '08.

But this week, a few Nationwide Tour "kids" have more than just a double decade to be excited about. Matt Bettencourt, Scott Piercy and Jeff Klauk -- all graduates of the 2008 Nationwide Tour -- will each face TPC Sawgrass for the first time Thursday as members of THE PLAYERS Championship field. They are in elite company.

"It's an honor," said Bettencourt, last season's Nationwide Tour money winner. "This is what you live for; it's the biggest tournament of the year."

As the No. 1 in "THE 25" last year, Bettencourt is the only one of the three who was guaranteed a spot in THE PLAYERS field. Did the two-time Tour winner know he'd punched his ticket to TPC Sawgrass when he won the Nationwide Tour Championship? Oh yeah. "That's one of the biggest perks if not the biggest," he said, with a wry smile.

As far as 2009 goes, though, it's been a tough start on TOUR for Bettencourt. He's missed seven cuts, and when he has made the weekend, he hasn't been able to get anything spectacular accomplished.

Until last week.

At Quail Hollow -- one of the toughest tracks the players see all year -- Bettencourt's game started coming around, and he recorded his best finish of the season in a tie for 22nd. It seems he's warming up just in time for what will be the biggest start of his career so far.

"My goal is to keep playing well," he said. "Play as good as I can, see where that leads. Top 20 would be a great thing to do. Top 10 would be even better."

If Bettencourt wants to be the best rookie on the course this week, he's going to have to get past some tough competition in Piercy and Klauk. The two of them lead the rookies in FedExCup points -- Klauk at 40th in the standings and Piercy at 45th -- and they're both here with an agenda.

Piercy's goal this week? "Win," he says. And for the season? "Win."

Bold words from the 30-year-old San Diego State grad who had made only eight cuts on TOUR prior to this, his rookie season. But Piercy can afford to be bold; he already has two top-six finishes this year as well as ties for 12th, 19th and 20th.

"You never know when the results are going to come," he said of his hot start to the season. "I didn't even really know if I would make this field. I just play, and people are like 'Hey, if you keep playing like this, you might get into THE PLAYERS.' And I'm like 'Oh really? OK.'"

He wasn't so cavalier about being here once he knew he'd made the field, though, and he's as competitive as anyone at Sawgrass this week. At the mention of being second in the rookies in FedExCup points, he was quick to ask "Is Jeff (Klauk) ahead of me?" Yes, Piercy, but only by five spots.

Klauk has a good chance, however, to extend that lead over Piercy at THE PLAYERS. The son of Sawgrass' former superintendent Fred Klauk, the younger Klauk has played the Stadium Course so many times he's not even sure on the number. "I'd say around 1,000," he said with a look that suggested he'd just pulled that figure out of the air.

No matter the number, suffice to say that Klauk knows this course, and he knows it very well. "This is one that I always wanted to play in," said Klauk, who grew up just minutes from the course and lives only about 30 minutes away now. "To be able to have a chance to play is a dream come true really."

And it's probably a dream come true for Dad, too. Fred Klauk ran the PGA TOUR's darling course for over 20 years, and one year after retiring and handing the reins to new superintendent Tom Vlach, Klauk will get to watch his son compete against the strongest field in golf.

"Through the years," said Jeff Klauk, a little lost for words over how to describe what it will mean to his father to see him play. "It's just, it's just a lot really," he said.

He didn't need to say anything else. While Klauk was the last of the three rookies to make the field, don't expect him to be the last to cross the finish line. His knowledge of the course combined with the emotion of being a part of the event his father spent decades helping to perfect will make Klauk a veritable storyline this week.

Klauk knows it, too. His favorite tournament on TOUR this year? "It's going to be this one," he said with confidence.

Come Sunday, we'll know. But for now, Klauk, Piercy and Bettencourt have more than enough to celebrate.