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By PGA TOUR staff

WEEKLEY'S WIN BACKS UP JOHNSON'S MASTERS VICTORY -- Back-to-back wins in Augusta, Ga. and Hilton Head Island, S.C. by Zach Johnson and Boo Weekley, respectively, increased the number of PGA TOUR wins by former Nationwide Tour players to 202. Not only did the wins come on two of the best golf courses on TOUR, Johnson and Weekley stared down two of the games biggest stars in Tiger Woods and Ernie Els over the final nine holes.

SOUTH GEORGIA CLASSIC WINNER, JOHN KIMBELL, HEADS HOME -- John Kimbell, the winner in Valdosta last week, is a native of Atlanta who now lives in Lafayette in northwest Georgia. He heads this week to a familiar area with his first Nationwide Tour trophy in tow. At 38 years of age, he is a first-year Tour member, having advanced to the final stage of last year's PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. A devoted George Strait fan, he did not take up the game of golf until the age of 22. His former non-golf related jobs include a seven-year stint working the third shift for a parcel delivery company. The big-hitting Kimbell was not intimidated by the 7,781-yard Kinderlou Forest Golf Club (longest in PGA TOUR history) last week nor was he at the previous venue, the ultra-demanding Course at Wente Vineyards in California where he posted a T-13 finish. The Valdosta win secured Nationwide Tour playing privileges for Kimbell through 2008 and gave him a big leg up on earning one of the 25 PGA TOUR cards at year's end.

35 PGA TOUR WINNERS IN THE FIELD -- Indicative of the impact the Nationwide Tour has had on the PGA TOUR, 35 former PGA TOUR winners are in this week's Athens Regional Foundation Classic. The list includes Steve Jones, Jim Gallagher, Jr., Bill Glasson, John Huston and Steve Pate.

JEFF KLAUK TEAMS WITH KICKER JEFF CHANDLER AT VALDOSTA -- Jeff Klauk enjoyed his best finish (T3, $34,800) in Valdosta with friend and former University of Florida/NFL place kicker Jeff Chandler on the bag. Both grew up in the Jacksonville, FL area, met through mutual friends and began playing golf together. Klauk's best finish last year was T3 at the Cox Classic in Omaha in August. His father is the superintendent at TPC Sawgrass at PGA TOUR headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. His lone Nationwide Tour win came at the 2003 Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open.

JASON DAY / YOUTH MOVEMENT -- The 19-year-old Australian who has demonstrated a great deal of potential in his homeland has now played his first four Nationwide Tour events this year. The youngest player on Tour, he was a sponsor invitee into the first two events in Australia and New Zealand where he finished T31 and T6, respectively. He then came to the States in March and was medalist and co-medalist in his first two Monday qualifying attempts at the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship and South Georgia Classic. He has made the cut in all four events, adding T-26 and T43 finishes in the U.S. Currently not fully exempt, Day is No. 28 on the money list and stands to secure guaranteed playing privileges for at least the next five events once the reorder of non-exempt members is made after play on Sunday in Athens. The reorder will be in effect next week at the Henrico County Open outside Richmond, VA. Day is not playing this week. In 2006, Day played in seven PGA TOUR events, making the cut five times and finishing as high as T11 at the Reno-Tahoe Open.

KEN DUKE READIES FOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP -- 2006 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year Ken Duke will be the first player to benefit from a new PLAYERS Championship exemption category that extends a spot in the field to the previous year's leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour. Duke collected $382,443 with one win and nine top-10 finishes in 2006. He will be making his first start in THE PLAYERS. "Everybody was talking about THE PLAYERS (exemption), so it wasn't so much about winning the money title as it was about playing at THE PLAYERS," said Duke. "I tried not to think too much about it until we were in, but now I'm just so excited."

DID YOU KNOW? Todd Dempsey, who finished T20 in last week's South Georgia Classic at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta, GA, is the only player on Tour to have made the cut in all six Nationwide Tour events this year. Now 25th on the current money list, he finds himself among The 25, which symbolizes the competition for the 25 available PGA TOUR cards for 2008.

• This week's field at the Athens Regional Foundation Classic will feature 33 players who have won a total of 76 PGA TOUR titles during their careers. Included on this list are winners of the Masters (Larry Mize) and U.S. Open (Steve Jones). The field has four former Ryder Cup team and two Presidents Cup team members.

• The Nationwide Tour is international, too. This week's field will feature players from 15 countries.

• The Athens Regional Foundation Classic will offer familiar surroundings for several players this week. No less than six players in the field attended the University of Georgia in Athens?Chip Beck, Justin Bolli, Paul Claxton, Erik Compton, Franklin Langham and Matt Peterson.

• John Kimbell, who won last week's South Georgia Classic, didn't take up the game of golf until he was 23 years old. A native of Atlanta, the 38-year old is a rookie on the Nationwide Tour this year.