Week 19 Power Rankings: Price Cutter Charity Champ.

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Aug. 11, 2009
By Adam Wallace, PGA TOUR Staff

Editor's note: Adam Wallace is a media assistant for the Nationwide Tour. Each week, Wallace will size up the field and provide his top five players going into the tournament, based on factors such as the player's strengths, the course setup, recent performances, etc. | POWER RANKINGS: PGA Championship

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The Nationwide Tour heads to Springfield, Mo., for the 20th annual Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper. Only three other events have been on the schedule since the Tour's inception in 1990 -- the Knoxville Open, the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open and the Albertsons Boise Open.

Highland Springs Country Club (7,115-yard par 72) was the second easiest course on Tour last year, averaging 70.12. No tournament in 2008 saw more birdies than the Price Cutter Charity Championship -- 1,880. Only two courses had more eagles than Highland Springs (65) -- Black Creek Club , home of the Chattanooga Classic presented by Black Creek (84), and Champions Run, home of the Cox Classic presented by Lexus of Omaha (82).

Although Highland Springs is not a difficult course relative to par, it's not an easy place to find the fairway. Only 61.41 percent of the field found the short grass off the tee. From there, things got much easier, 74.51 percent knocked it on the green in regulation, nearly eight percent higher than the year's average, and each player averaged over four birdies a round, roughly one more than the year's average.

Last year, Colt Knost ran away from the field after firing four rounds in the 60s to win by four strokes over Monday qualifier, Webb Simpson. If Colt Knost is an example of what this year's winner has to do to win, he left some big shoes to fill. Knost was first in fairways hit (80.36 percent), putting (1.548), birdies (26) and second in greens in regulation (86.11 percent).

Power Rankings: Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper
Rank Player   Comment
Roger
TAMBELLINI
Despite missing the last two cuts, he's still No. 6 both on the money list and in birdie average (4.25). He also won the Price Cutter Charity Championship in 2005.
Blake
ADAMS
It's safe to say Blake Adams is the best player on '09 Tour without a win. He's No.4 on the money list, and his 2010 TOUR card is almost a lock. In 12 events, he has eight top-25s and only two missed cuts. He has five top-15s in a row coming into this week.
Jhonattan
VEGAS
Three weeks ago, he was 116th on the Nationwide Tour money list. After two top-15 finishes at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational/T11 and the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open/T4, he's moved up to No.55.
Chad
COLLINS
Collins was off and on earlier in the year, but he appears to have steadied the ship. The past four events, he has finished T53, T19, T17 and T2. In those weeks, he jumped from No.67 on the money list to No.25.
Dave
SCHULTZ
Schultz has strung together back-to-back top-fives the last two weeks. One month ago, he was 171st on the money list after missing the cut in Canada. Headed into this week, he is 24th.
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