Storylines: Masters week

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The Nationwide Tour is idle the week of the Masters. Tournament play continues next week (April 14-20) at the Athens (GA) Regional Foundation Classic at Jennings Mill Country Club in Bogart, Ga.

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Defending champion Zach Johnson got help from son Will during the par-3 contest at Augusta National Golf Club.

• MASTERS PRESENCE -- Zach Johnson is the first Nationwide Tour alumni to defend at the Masters. The Tour's 2003 leading money winner and Player of the Year will be joined by 29 other former Nationwide Tour players, including recent Shell Houston Open winner Johnson Wagner, in the distinguished and diverse field of 94 international players, past champions and select amateurs. Last April Johnson became the 11th alumni to win a major championship. His win at Augusta National gave the Nationwide Tour at least one win in all four of golf's majors.

• JOHNSON WAGNER UPS WIN TOTAL TO 225 -- Johnson Wagner added win No. 225 to the Nationwide Tour's collection of PGA TOUR titles when he captured his first victory at the Shell Houston Open on Sunday. The former Virginia Tech star was a full-time player on the Nationwide Tour from 2003 through 2006. His breakthrough year was 2006 when he won twice and finished second on the money list behind Ken Duke. Wagner turned 28 on March 23rd. Former Nationwide Tour players have now won eight times in the 16 PGA TOUR events played thus far in 2008. "The Nationwide Tour does such a good job preparing guys for the TOUR," Wagner said last week. "The level of play out there is incredible."

• ARON PRICE ADDS TO ALREADY IMPRESSIVE RESUME -- Sydney, Australia native Aron Price came from four shots off the pace to defeat Texan J.J. Killeen in a two-hole playoff at the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship on Sunday. It was Price's first Nationwide Tour win. His closest previous brush with victory came at the 2006 Permian Basin Charity Golf Classic where Brandt Snedeker outlasted Killeen in a playoff. The 25-year old played college golf at Georgia Southern where he won seven tournaments and was named first-team All-American and one of three finalists for the Ben Hogan Award in 2005. In 2004, Price won two prestigious amateur titles in America, the Rice Planters Amateur Championship and the Players Amateur Championship. In 2003 and 2004 he was medalist in the Western Amateur and in 2004 he lost one down to eventual U.S. Amateur champion Ryan Moore in the round of 16. Since joining the Nationwide Tour in 2006, he has seen his ranking on the money list improve from 52nd in 2006 to 42nd last year and now to 4th. After accepting the unique Livermore wine barrel replica trophy, Price said he'll head back to his adopted home of Jacksonville, Fla., this week and look for a house or condominium to buy. When in the area, Price utilizes the TPC Sawgrass practice facility.

• AUSSIES ON A 2008 ROLL -- On Sunday Aron Price became the fourth Australian to win on the Nationwide Tour this year in six tournaments. He is joined by Jarrod Lyle (Mexico Open), Ewan Porter (Moonah Classic) and Gavin Coles (Chitimacha Louisiana Open). With 24 Nationwide Tour events remaining this year, Australia is well on the way to breaking its own mark of most international winners in a single season, which it set in 2005 and 2006 (five).

• TEXAS ROOKES J.J. KILLEEN AND COLT KNOST POST TOP FINISHES -- While a win would have been sweeter, J.J. Killeen of Ft. Worth, Texas has to be happy with his playoff appearance in the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship. The 26-year old graduate of Texas Christian University had never played in a PGA TOUR or Nationwide Tour event prior to this year. Livermore was Killeen's sixth Nationwide Tour start. Fellow Texan Colt Knost demonstrated the form that turned him into the U.S.A.'s top-ranked amateur last summer. The 2007 SMU grad enjoyed his best Nationwide Tour finish in four starts in California, a fourth. Killeen and Knost leaped into THE 25 to Nos. 11 and 25, respectively, on the money list.

• BMW CHARITY PRO-AM ANNOUNCES CELEBRITY LINEUP -- One of the Nationwide Tour's most prominent tournaments, the BMW Charity Pro-Am, will once again feature an impressive lineup of celebrity participants. Scheduled to compete this year are: Samuel L. Jackson, Dennis Quaid, Luke Wilson, Greg Kinnear, Kurt Russell, Catherine Bell, David James Elliott, Wayne Gretzky, Janet Jones Gretzky, Dave Coulier, Stefanie Schaeffer, Patrick Warburton, Oliver Hudson, Michael Pena, Jason Dohring, Kevin Sorbo, Josh Kelley, Cheech Marin, Javier Colon, Lucas Black, Steve Azar, Gary Valentine, Mark Rypien, Branford Marsalis, Pat Green, George Rogers, Ben Wright and Jennifer Mills. The BMW Charity Pro-Am groups amateurs and celebrities with Tour professionals in a three-day better-ball competition. Last year the event raised $2,021,325 for 20 Upstate and western North Carolina charities. Nick Flanagan won the second of his three 2007 Nationwide Tour titles that led to his PGA TOUR "victory promotion". A new rotation of courses in Greenville and Spartanburg, S.C. and Mill Spring, N.C. is in effect this year. GOLF CHANNEL will provide live coverage.

• GOLF CHANNEL "QUEST FOR THE CARD" SHOW KICKS OFF -- The 2008 season of "Quest for the Card: Inside the Nationwide Tour" kicks off in April with four episodes airing April 15 and 29 and May 13 and 27 at 7 p.m. ET. Each will be followed by four reairs within seven days. GOLF CHANNEL will produce 16 "Quest for the Card" shows between April and November.

• MATT JONES CUT STREAKS END BY SINGLE SHOT -- PGA TOUR rookie Matt Jones missed the cut in the Shell Houston Open by a single shot bringing his consecutive cuts made streak to an end at nine. Jones almost overcame a first-round start that saw him three-over par after four holes. On the strength of four runner-up finishes last year, the Australian, by way of Arizona State University, earned his PGA TOUR card (seventh on the final money list).

• JASON DAY SHINES ON THE WEEKEND IN HOUSTON -- Australian Jason Day, who performed so well at age 19 last year on the Nationwide Tour, demonstrated his ability to go low when he shot rounds of 69 and 65 (134) on the weekend at the Shell Houston Open. Only Fred Couples (133) and runner-up Geoff Ogilvy (134) bettered or matched his Saturday/Sunday effort on the very challenging Redstone Golf Club/Tournament Course. Day finished tied for eighth to move 26 spots up the FedEXCup points list to 66th. It was his second top 10 of his rookie year on the PGA TOUR (6th/AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am).