Nationwide’s 25 Grad to the PGA Tour
Aussie Nick Flanagan, the best of Nationwide 2007
The Nationwide Tour wrapped up it’s season and for twenty five lucky souls, they will automatically qualify for the PGA Tour. Richard Johnson was the winner at the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship with a 4-under round for a 20-under overall total to win both the Championship and finish as the Nationwide Tour’s top player. It is the second such win for Johnson on the Nationwide Tour this year and his total earnings popped by $139,500 to a total of $445,421.
No doubt it was a tense week for many of the players with the twenty-five PGA Tour cards on the line. The complete list of twenty five include,
Richard Johnson, Roland Thatcher, Nick Flanagan, Jon Mills, Jason Day, Nicholas Thompson, Matthew Jones, Justin Bolli, Patrick Sheehan, Paul Claxton, Ron Whittaker, Letzig, Laird, Kyle Thompson, Omar Uresti, Marc Turnesa, Brad Elder, Chez Reavie, John Riegger, Tom Scherrer, Scott Sterling, Pappas, Chad Collins, Driscoll and Jimmy Walker.
Nick Flanagan is already on the PGA Tour as he won three times earlier in the season and was bumped up according to the “battlefield” rule which essentially means if you win three times, you move up.
Those unlucky players that didn’t finish in the top twenty five, the 26-40 players on the final Nationwide Tour money list get an automatic exemption into final stage of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament. So, they will still need to go to Q school, but they start at the final stage.
I really like the system of the Nationwide Tour being the minor leagues to the PGA Tour. We’ve seen players like Masters champ Zach Johnson who was dominant on the Nationwide Tour, become really good PGA Tour players. Of all those players mentioned, I think Nick Flanagan has the best chance to have the biggest impact from this 2007 class.
Nationwide Tour, PGA Tour, Richard Johnson
