RICHMOND, Tex. -- Get one thing straight.

This isn’t where these guys really want to be.

Then again, it is. At least for the moment.

Confused? Welcome to the Nationwide Tour. And the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship at the Houstonian, a week that defines at least 20 next years.

For the top 20 -- or maybe 22 -- players on the final money list Sunday night, it will be winners-take-all -- straight to the PGA TOUR. No pit-stopping at q-school. No list of tournaments to write in hopes of a 2007 exemption.

For the remainder? It will be back to work here on what’s been called the second-best Tour in the world.

Yes, it’s a Tour that has and will always live in the shadow of the Big Show.

But the competition? It’s the reason we’re talking second in the world.

You’ve heard the stories that come out of here. Tom Lehman making his way to a Claret Jug. David Duval going from nowhere to No. 1 in the world. Jason Gore laughing his way to the spotlight at the U.S. Open. Troy Matteson finding a pot of gold at the end of his rookie season.

And, lest you look at the field and shake your head, wondering who these guys are fighting for the $750,000 purse, think again.

We offer to you the 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup team. Nine of the 12 players -- yes, you heard right -- came up through the Nationwide Tour ranks and, honestly, you didn’t know who Zach Johnson or Chad Campbell were until they led this money list. And Lehman, who once showered in the rain when he was playing mini-tours and was almost out of money, was their captain.

The only non-Nationwiders? Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Scott Verplank.

We offer, too, that 12 of the 21 elite from the 2005 Nationwide Tour list will be back on the PGA TOUR in 2007. And, well, 60 percent of the 2006 PGA TOUR roster all cut their teeth out here.

“’That’s a huge number,’’ said Franklin Langham, who has played on both Tours, but finds himself 40th on the Nationwide Tour money list going into this week’s event. “The more things that happen like that, the more people will pay attention.

“... There’s a very fine line between being out here and out there.’’

A few chips here, a drive there. Two putts each round that fall instead of lipping out.

Langham’s mechanics are as good -- if not better -- than they were in 2000 when he finished in the top-30 money winners on the PGA TOUR. Cameron Beckman was a permanent top 125-er on the PGA TOUR for five years, until he slipped out in 2005 and found himself splitting time between Tours. He enters this week in 62nd place, which isn’t great, but, at the same time, is rock solid for someone who’s played in just seven Nationwide Tour events.

“Things,’’ he said, “are coming around.’’ Beckman’s spent more time with his family and worked hard on his game. And like everyone else, he wants to get back to the TOUR.

Glen Day, who won the 1999 MCI Heritage, but split time between Tours, too, estimates that players out here make about 10 cents to every $1 their PGA TOUR brethern do. And, yes, a lot of these guys room together, often drive from tournament to tournament and think of bringing their whole family out for the week as a real splurge.

But it’s a far cry from the old T.C. Jordan and other mini-tours where players scraped by. Langham still laughs about 1992 when he and Joe Durant, who won last month’s FUNAI Classic at WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort, fought it out for the money title on the Jordan Tour.

Langham and Beckman pretty much have to win the Nationwide Tour Championship to jump into the top 20. Day needs a great finish. And, yes, you’ve heard their names.

But it’s Ken Duke and Johnson Wagner who rank 1-2 on the money list going into this week and, along with Craig Bowden, Cliff Kresge, Jeff Quinney and Tripp Isenhour, could be this year’s murderer’s row. And, we know, you might have heard the names, but…

Honestly, a lot of these players are the future. They’re the Jim Furyks and Chad Campbells of the future. They’re Matteson’s rival somewhere down the line. They’ll be trying to beat another alum, Stewart Cink, out of a chance to win a major title.

“It’s the most underrated Tour and it’s the hardest Tour to make money on,’’ said Langham, who’s currently 40th on the money list.

Yet, added Beckman, it’s no cozy little developmental tour where you can hang around for years. “It’s a great place to prepare for the big TOUR," he said. “The toughest thing is to get out there.’’

With cuts at 60 players and ties on the money list instead of the 70-and-ties on the PGA TOUR, players have a tougher road. But, as we’ve seen for more than a decade now, it’s a roadmap a lot of players are willing to follow to find that spotlight.

It might be next year. It might be five years from now. Or a decade.

But they all know that those putts start falling and they grab one of those twentysomething brass rings… well, everyone might soon know their names.