With less than half of the season left to go, the money race continues to heat up on the Nationwide Tour as players head to Wichita, Kan. for the 17th annual Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open.Hosting the event for sixth straight year will be the North Course at Crestview Country Club. World-renowned architect, Robert Trent Jones designed the par-72, 6,913 yard course which played to a stroke average of 70.302 last year.

Joe Daley will return to the site of his second Nationwide Tour win to defend his title and will be joined by 2001 event winner Jason Dufner, who’s currently ranked No. 2 on the 2006 money list after a big money win at the LaSalle Bank Open. Other former event winners returning this week include Ben Bates (1997), Brad Elder (1999), Tyler Williamson (2002), Jeff Klauk (2003) and Bradley Hughes (2004).

Winners of this event have also gone on to find great success on the PGA TOUR, especially in major championships including Tom Lehman (1990), David Duval (1993) and David Toms (1995). Lehman, the event’s first winner, won both the British Open and TOUR Championship in 1996 and will be this year’s Ryder Cup captain.

Former PGA Champion and chairman of the Australasian Tour, Wayne Grady will take a break from his on-course commentary duties for the Golf Channel to join the field in Wichita this week. It is his fourth Nationwide Tour event of the season.

Two players who are within arm’s reach of a PGA TOUR card are 46-year old Canadian veteran Jim Rutledge and rookie Parker McLachlin. Rutledge has played on Tours around the world, but has yet to make it on the PGA TOUR. After a win earlier this season at the ING New Zealand PGA Championship, Rutledge is now ranked sixth and is closing in on securing a TOUR card, by finishing in the top 20 of the money list. McLachlin, a former UCLA golf team member, has logged two second place finishes so far during his first year on Tour.

The Nationwide Tour wraps up its Midwest swing next week with the Cox Classic presented by Chevrolet in Omaha, Neb. before heading to Rochester, N.Y. on August 7 for the Xerox Classic.