Nationwide Tour Storylines: Moonah Classic

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Moonah Classic
Feb. 18-24
Moonah Links, Fingal, Victoria, Australia
Purse: $750,000
First Prize: $135,000
4th of 30 events
GOLF CHANNEL / Coverage Saturday and Sunday
2007 Winner: Scott Sterling

Jarrod Lyle

LYLE HEADS HOME ATOP NATIONWIDE TOUR MONEY LIST -- With a T15 in the last week's HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship and his first professional win two weeks ago in the 50th Mexico Open presented by Corona, Australian Jarrod Lyle returns home this week as the No. 1 money winner on the Nationwide Tour. Lyle has earned $140,862, with HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship winner Darron Stiles in the No. 2 spot with $126,652.

MOONAH IS NEW EVENT, NEW VENUE -- While this will be the Nationwide Tour's seventh consecutive visit to Australia in partnership with the PGA Tour of Australasia, this week's Moonah Classic is considered a new event. The new Moonah Links is in Fingal, about 90 minutes from Melbourne. The course hosted the Australian Open in 2003 and 2005, won by Peter Lonard and Robert Allenby, respectively. The first six events were held in Adelaide.

TOUR PRAISE FROM TIGER'S TEACHER -- Hank Haney apparently is a fan of the Nationwide Tour. In the February edition of Golf Digest, Hank Haney, the swing guru who counsels Tiger Woods, had the following to say about the Nationwide Tour. "It used to be that if you missed at Q-School, you played cut-rate events and lived from check to check until you could try for the tour again. Last year the 25th player on the Nationwide Tour money list made almost $200,000.

The competition is fierce, and you learn quickly that to get to the (PGA TOUR), you had to make lots of birdies. That's a good lesson for any tour player to learn. When a player makes the PGA TOUR before he's ready, missing 25 cuts can put a long-term dent in his confidence. Building on Nationwide success -- like Stewart Cink, Chad Campbell and Zach Johnson did -- can help him move up and stay up."

"25" TICKET TO THE PGA TOUR !? -- If history repeats itself, the winner of the Moonah Classic will be headed to the PGA TOUR in 2009 via a top-25 finish on the money list. All six winners of the Jacob's Creek Open Championship, the forerunner to the Moonah Classic in Australia, have graduated to the PGA TOUR via a top-25 finish on the money list. The Nationwide Tour transitions 25 players at season's end. Scott Sterling was the last to do so in 2007.

OFFICIAL $ / UNOFFICIAL WIN FOR STILES-- Last week's HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship was rain-shortened to 36 holes and while Darron Stiles' victory was not official, the money was official, meaning Stiles has taken a significant leap (currently No. 2 on the money list) toward securing a PGA TOUR card for 2009. This is the fourth time an event scheduled for 72 holes was reduced to 36 holes.

Money List

Stats: Nationwide Tour

It was the first time since 2001 (Price Cutter Charity Championship). The win was the fifth on the Nationwide Tour for the former Florida Southern All-American who currently resides in Pinehurst, NC. Stiles became the third Tour member to reach $1 million in career earnings, joining Paul Claxton and Tom Scherrer.

FOUR IN A ROW!? -- Last year Nationwide Tour members Nicholas Thompson (New Zealand) and Scott Sterling (Australia) won the New Zealand and Australian events, respectively. Darron Stiles' win last week in New Zealand puts the Nationwide Tour in position to earn back-to-back victories for the second year in a row. The two-event Down Under swing features 156 players, with 78 players from both the Nationwide Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia competing.

TOUR ALUM QUINNEY GOES HEAD TO HEAD WITH WORLD'S NO. 2 -- Nationwide Tour alum (2006) Jeff Quinney went head-to-head with the world's No. 2 player last week at the Northern Trust Open. His runner-up finish to Phil Mickelson bettered his previous top PGA TOUR performance, a third in last year's FBR Open. Quinney moved up 50 spots on the FedExCup points list to 13th.

QUINNEY TEAMS WITH GRETZKY'S NHL COYOTES --The Scottsdale, Ariz. resident recently signed a marketing agreement with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes whereby he will wear the team's logo on his shirt and participate in golf outings with season ticket holders and sponsors. Coyotes' managing partner and coach, Wayne Gretzky, will be the host of the Nationwide Tour's new Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung set for June 23-29 in Clarksburg, Ontario, Canada. Dennis Blake, brother of Gretzky's agent, Darren Blake, is managing the $800,099 event and is Quinney's agent.

EVENT NAME CHANGE -- The Nationwide Tour's Columbus, Ohio has modified its name since the 2008 schedule was released to the media in December. The word "Hospital" has been added, thus the event returns to the name it debuted with last summer, the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational.