Nationwide Tour Insider: Get to know Roger Tambellini

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Roger Tambellini took home the largest first-place check of the season (and his career) last week at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung, which virtually guaranteed a top-25 finish on the money list and a return to the TOUR next year. Tambellini sat down with Nationwide Tour staff early last week -- before play began -- and gave us a glimpse of his mindset leading up to the third win of his career.

Q: You're coming off a fantastic finish at the Nationwide Tour Players Cup (tied for second). Your solid play there boosted you to 17th on the money list. You're now inside "THE 25," and that's everyone's goal out here. What are your thoughts on making it to the PGA TOUR for next year?

Tambellini

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TAMBELLINI: It's definitely my No. 1 goal out here. I want to be inside "THE 25" at the end of the year and get back to the PGA TOUR. I feel it's important to position myself as high as possible on the money list so I can get in some events early in the year for the West Coast Swing. If you can get four or five starts early in the year and make a significant amount of money, you are pretty much set for playing in tournaments the rest of the year.

Q: We are half way through the year, and you're in pretty good shape. You played in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; what is it about these events that make you play well?

TAMBELLINI: I guess it's the looseness of it. I played with Kevin Costner at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, and I always play well there. All the etiquette is thrown out the window, and you don't really think about golf. You think about whatever is funny going on at the moment. You're just messing around and having a good time. Golf is the furthest thing from my mind. If I can get my mind off of golf, it helps my game.

Q: You're a Nationwide Tour winner. What does it take to win out here?

TAMBELLINI: All facets of your game have to be working, and you need a little bit of luck. The weeks that I won, I was putting extremely well. That's what it takes to win on the PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour.

Q: The Nationwide Tour's slogan is "PGA TOUR Driven", what has this Tour meant to you and the development of your game?

TAMBELLINI: Everything from the mental side of the game to teaching you what you need to know to play well on the PGA TOUR. It's a great avenue to get to the PGA TOUR. There's a reason why the guys who graduate from the Nationwide Tour to the PGA TOUR succeed out there. You have an entire year out here, and you learn the whole time while grasping how to play at the next level.

Q: How do you prepare for a multi-course event?

TAMBELLINI: It's not a whole lot different than preparing for an event with just one course. It's important to play each course and figure out the different green speeds. For instance, Georgian Bay's greens are a little quicker than the Raven. From a mental aspect, nothing changes. You just need to make a lot of birdies and putts just like any other week.

Q: Are there any stories about celebrities that you would like to share with us?

TAMBELLINI: The most fun I ever had on the golf course was with Kevin Costner. He told some of the funniest stories. I can't remember them off hand, but I can remember laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. He got the crowd involved, and everyone was having a good time. He's a terrific actor and entertainer. I know it's exhausting for him, at the end of each day, he looked spent. That's probably why he doesn't play in too many pro-ams. His time and attention is in high demand.

Q: One of your biggest thrills was shooting a 60 en-route to winning a Hooters Tour event in 1999. One stroke away from a 59 ... what was that like?

TAMBELLINI: It was a lot of fun. It was a long time ago. It was a great score and a terrific round. I think I made birdie on the last hole, so I didn't have a putt on the final hole to break 60. I think it's more thrilling to play on the Nationwide Tour and have a great round. I shot 65 (7 under) in Atlanta, which was the low score after the first round, and it was really exciting. I shot 63 in 2005 at the Cox Classic in Omaha, and they have some big galleries, so it was a lot of fun.