Holding down the No. 2 spot on the PGA TOUR money list, Jhonattan Vegas has been the face of last year's "25" Nationwide Tour graduates on TOUR in 2011. But with three consecutive top-20 finishes, including a 5th at The Honda Classic, Tommy Gainey is gaining momentum of his own. He has improved 38 spots to 34th on the FedExCup points list.
Four other graduates are inside the top 70, Chris Kirk (45th), Keegan Bradley(57th), Daniel Summerhays (67th), all TOUR rookies, and Hunter Haas (68th).Gary Woodland (16th), Zack Miller (47th) and Kyle Stanley (63rd) all competed on the Nationwide Tour last year before earning TOUR privileges via the Qualifying Tournament in December.
Brenden Pappas' win in the rain-shortened (36 holes) Pacific Rubiales Bogotá Open is considered unofficial but the money is official as it does not apply toward a three-win promotion to the PGA TOUR nor does it provide a two-year Nationwide Tour exemption. You will not see the win added to Pappas' 2006 Rex Hospital Open victory in the Tour's record books. By earning official money of $108,000 in Bogotá, Pappas is the Tour's new No. 1 after two events.
In the end result the effort was in vein, but on Sunday the Nationwide Tour Operations and Rules staffs managed to start the third round of the Pacific Rubiales Bogotá Open just four minutes after the last putt of the second round dropped at 11:36 a.m. This included doing pairings, hole location sheets, directing players to their respective tees, delivering sandwiches to some, handing out caddie bibs, and many more details for the 11:40 a.m. two-tee start. Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee jumped in by serving as first tee starter. The quick turn around was an attempt to complete an official 54-hole event by Sunday night.
Friday's suspension of play at 3 p.m. was a blessing in disguise in at least one regard. More than 100 players loaded onto busses for a 30-minute ride to Andres Carnes de Res DC, a fixture on the Bogotá social scene for dinner and entertainment. Joining in on the fun was Pacific Rubiales Energy president José Franciso Arata. One attendee commented, "It was the best party ever on TOUR." Tuesday evening's gala, which featured one of Colombia's most popular bands, was also very festive and well attended by the players.
All good things must come to an end, which the Nationwide Tour alumni run of eight consecutive tournament weeks with a winner on the PGA TOUR (nine if you count Robert Garrigus' win in the final event of 2010) did at The Honda Classic. The current alumni win count stands at 296.
Four South American players finished top-25 in Bogota and thus became eligible for the Nationwide Tour's next event in two weeks, the Chitimacha Louisiana Open -- Julian Etulain of Argentina (T3) and Colombians David Vanegas (T3), Manuel Villegas (T19) and Andres Echavarria (T19), a University of Florida senior. One other non-member,Andrew Parr (T19) of Canada, also qualified for the Louisana field.
James Hahn shared an interesting observation with John Dell of PGATOUR.COM recently: "This generation just loves to tear up golf courses and shoot 62s and 63s. Maybe another generation of players grew up and 3 or 4 under was good but now it seems like somebody is breaking a course record every week. You just have to keep going low on the Nationwide Tour. It's a mindset you have to have." Hahn had his share of low rounds last year in his rookie season on the Nationwide Tour -- two 63s, a 64 and three 65s.
The Nationwide Tour starts its domestic season March 24-27 at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open near Lafayette, Louisianna where Fabian Gomez won by six shots last year.
