PGA TOUR & Nationwide Tour

[charnockpro]

I was amazed when reading the results from the nationwide tour stop to see so many fallen PGA stars

Carlos Franco
Steven Allan
John Huston
Greg Kraft
Arjun Atwal
David Gossett
Neal Lancaster
Skip Kendall
D A Points
Alex Cejka
Tommy Tolles
Grant Waite
Len Mattiace-Nearly won The Players for god's sake


Shocked to see these guys there.

[VtDivot]

Originally Posted by charnockpro

I was amazed when reading the results from the nationwide tour stop to see so many fallen PGA stars

Carlos Franco
Steven Allan
John Huston
Greg Kraft
Arjun Atwal
David Gossett
Neal Lancaster
Skip Kendall
D A Points
Alex Cejka
Tommy Tolles
Grant Waite
Len Mattiace-Nearly won The Players for god's sake


Shocked to see these guys there.

he lost the 2003 Masters to Mike Weir in a playoff when he doubled #10

[warbirdlover]

Good thing they've got a tour to make a few $$$ on. And if they do well will be back in the PGA tour.

[Mors Ab Alto]

I have to admit, when I'm watching a show on the Golf Channel, I love to watch the crawl at the bottom of the screen for the Nationwide Tour info, and especially to see who is on the tour that used to be on THE TOUR. I chuckle when I see a one time major contender relegated to T-27th at the Pep Boys Huggies Krispy Kreme Classic presented by RotoRooter.

[SiberianDVM]

Krispy Kremes.......Yum............

I know that the Hooter's Tour is one level below the Nationwide. I played in a Hooter's Tour pro-am last year and the Hooter's girls were the best part of it.

What other Pro Tours are there?

[Bama Duffer]

I've played in two Hooter's pro-ams and one Nationwide pro-ams. The differences are like night and day. There are some good players on the Hooter's tour, but the Nationwide guys play at a much higher level.

What impressed me most about the Nationwide players was the putting. Very few bad misses.

[charnockpro]

Yeah i forgot about that playoff loss of Lenny boy!!.

It is scary to see the strength on the developmental tours and then the underling tours like the Challenge tour in europe, and the Nationwide in the US.

I think it may be harder for a US tour player to drop down and return than it would be for a rookie or 2nd year pro to develop on the hooters, europro tours etc.. and then progress upwards.

Boo Weekley is proof of the proving ground of the Nationwide.

[Sandy]

Originally Posted by charnockpro

It is scary to see the strength on the developmental tours and then the underling tours like the Challenge tour in europe, and the Nationwide in the US.

I'm very pleased to hear that is the case - all I've ever had to go on is the people on the Big Break who claim to play on some of these tours, and it didn't exactly inspire me with confidence in the strength of the people coming up for the future!

It's comforting to know it's not just a load of Kellys and Valerias hacking their way round the courses down there!

[bames]

Originally Posted by Sandy

I'm very pleased to hear that is the case - all I've ever had to go on is the people on the Big Break who claim to play on some of these tours, and it didn't exactly inspire me with confidence in the strength of the people coming up for the future!

It's comforting to know it's not just a load of Kellys and Valerias hacking their way round the courses down there!

You can also take comfort in the fact that noone from the college ranks is ever going to be on the BB. I think their will always be some impressive upcoming stars out of college. I have concluded that the BB contestants are washups looking to get out of the proshop and beauty salon by catching their "big break".

I still enjoy watching it though. Have any winners of the BB moved on to do anything on any of the tours?

[Sandy]

Originally Posted by bames

Have any winners of the BB moved on to do anything on any of the tours?

I read that Cindy - the older woman who had the misfortune of being paired with Gary in the latest series - did pretty well on the Women's Champions Tour, finishing 2nd in their rankings one year, and was also ranked in the top 50 female teachers in the US.

I dread to think what will happen to any of those players from the current season once they win and have to play a Nationwide or LPGA tour event...

[Augster]

Originally Posted by charnockpro

Boo Weekley is proof of the proving ground of the Nationwide.

Uh, Boo Weekley? Okay. How about the former #1 David Duvall? Or #2 in the world Jim Furyk. Chris DiMarco. Masters Champ Zach Johnson.

The reason you see so many has been on the Nationwide is pretty simple. They didn't have the game to finish in the top 125.

Once you get outside the top 125, it gets sketchy. Now the PGA Tour is taking the top 30 guys from the Nationwide money list. Add that to the 30 guys(plus ties) from Q School. That is at least 60 new guys coming in each year.

Granted, a few of the guys that fall out of the 125 may still have the game to go to Q-School and take up some of those 30+ spots. Unfortunately, they need to take those spots away from guys that are hungry to get to the big tour, that have come through two stages of qualifying to get to that point. And the fallen pros have to contend with top college guys (Anthony Kim) that just turned pro that don't want to "waste" a year on the Nationwide.

The road "back" to the PGA Tour is often a lot more difficult than getting there in the first place.

In so far as BB contestants, none of the guys have ever done anything to my knowledge. Ashley Prange from BBV won on the Futures tour. Sarah?from BBVI qualified for the LPGA through their Q-School this year.

For the majority of these BB winners, they just get hammered when they play their exempt tourneys. Golf Channel is nice enough to run their names during the tournament leader scrawl at the bottom of the screen during sponsoring tournament weeks. Usually with something like " and BBX's So Andso T125 82."