Nationwide Tour begins two-week 'Down Under' stretch

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The Nationwide Tour flies across the Pacific Ocean to Christchurch, New Zealand this week for the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship, the first of two events Down Under. For the seventh year in a row, the Nationwide Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia have partnered to host events in New Zealand and Australia that feature 156-player fields divided evenly with 78 players from both tours.

Jarrod Lyle will be happy to return to his corner of the world after celebrating a win in Mexico with no friends and family present. (Mu/Getty Images)

Recent Nationwide Tour winner Jarrod Lyle returns to a familiar part of the world. The popular Australian recorded his first win as a professional in the Tour's last event, the 50th Mexico Open. Lyle, 26, was confined to a bed for nine months at age 17 while undergoing chemotherapy treatments for acute myeloid leukemia. In 2006, he played on the Nationwide Tour and finished 18th on the money list to earn his PGA TOUR card for 2007. Despite making 14 cuts in 24 starts, he finished 164th on the PGA TOUR money list. His victory in Mexico puts him in strong position to play his way back onto the PGA TOUR in 2009 via a top-25 finish on the money list.

This week's event features the Nationwide Tour's youngest member making his first Tour start of the year. D.H. Lee, who won't turn 21 until April, finished tied for 33rd in last fall's PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. The South Korean is expected to compete regularly on the Nationwide Tour this year following two seasons on the Japan Golf Tour where he posted a win, two runners-up and a third-place finish in 2007.

New Zealand native Michael Campbell is playing in the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship for the first time. The 2005 U.S. Open champion is determined to put a disappointing 2007 season behind him. Campbell, 38, is working with Sydney sports psychologist John Crampton in an attempt to regain the form that vaulted him to No. 12 in the 2005 World Golf Ranking. With Crampton's advice, Campbell has returned to a less hurried pre-shot routine, tempo and pace. Crampton is the nephew of 14-time PGA TOUR winner and 1954 New Zealand PGA champion Bruce Crampton.

New Zealander Steve Alker at the Clearwater Golf Club in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Walter/Getty Images)

Located on the South Island, host Clearwater Golf Club sits among 465 acres of lush parklands and crystal-clear lakes and streams. The course was designed by John Darby in consultation with New Zealand golf legend, Sir Bob Charles. It has hosted the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship every year since the Nationwide Tour first teamed with the PGA Tour of Australia in 2002.

American Nicholas Thompson won last year's championship defeating Canadian David Morland IV on the first hole of a playoff. On Sunday, he enjoyed his best finish in four starts this year, a tie for seventh in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

In the previous six playings of the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship, four of the winners (Ryan Palmer, Gavin Coles, Jim Rutledge and Nicholas Thompson) have gone on to gain their PGA TOUR cards at the end of the Nationwide Tour season. Australian Peter O'Malley, the 2002 and 2005 winner, is the lone exception electing to play much of his golf in Europe.

Next week, the Nationwide Tour heads to Fingal, Victoria, Australia for the second leg of this year's New Zealand/Australia swing and the Moonah Classic.

Golf Channel will broadcast the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship this Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET in the USA. The Championship will also air on GOLF CHANNEL in Japan and China and be distributed in Europe, Asia and South Africa. Network Ten in Australia and TV 3 in New Zealand will carry it as well.