Mar. 20, 2009
Editor's note: The 2009 season is a special season for the Nationwide Tour; it's the 20th year of being PGA TOUR Driven. All year long, we'll be celebrating the double decade, and as the season gets started, it's a chance to look back...
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| VIDEO: Nationwide Tour prepares for historic 20th season |
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The Nationwide Tour launched its 2009 season at the Panama Digicel Championship, where a year-long celebration began as the Tour entered its 20th year. For the past two decades, the Nationwide Tour has grown into the official proving ground of the PGA TOUR. Watch |
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| This week in Nationwide Tour history |
| March 16 1990 |
Heavy rains and thunderstorms wiped out the first round of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic at windance Country Club in Gulfport. It was the first round in Tour history to be canceled due to weather issues. The tournament was reduced to 36 holes. |
| March 17 1991 |
Tom Lehman needed eight holes to win a playoff at the rain-shortened Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic. It was the second time in as many years that the event was plagued by rain and reduced to 36 holes. |
| March 17 1996 |
David Berganio Jr. rallied from six shots back in the last round to win the Monterrey Open by one shot. Berganio birdied the 71st hole during his final-round 66 to nip four others, including third-round leader Steve Rintoul. Rafael Alarcon of Guadalajara finished runner-up for the second consecutive year. Alarcon lost a six-hole playoff to Stuart Appleby in 1995. |
| March 18 1990 |
Dick Mast won the first playoff in Nationwide Tour history. Mast beat Rick Pearson on the fourth extra hole at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic, which was shortened to 36 holes after heavy rains washed out the first round on Friday. Pearson birdied the final three holes of regulation to force the playoff. With his runner-up check, Pearson took over the top spot on the money list, where he stayed for the next eight weeks. |
| March 19 2000 |
Briny Baird sets a tournament record en route to a four-stroke win at the Monterrey Open, the 300th event in Tour history. Baird stretched a one-stroke lead after 54 holes to five after a front-nine 30 that featured eagles on the first and ninth holes. A steady back nine of one birdie and one bogey was enough to propel Baird to his first career win. Mark Hensby came in second, while Tripp Isenhour, Tom Kalinowski and Brian Tennyson tied for third. Baird's winning score of 20-under 268 broke Scott Gump's tournament record of 269, set in 1994. Isenhour and Hensby both passed the $100,000 mark through four tournaments, tying Mark Carnevale's 1997 record for the fastest to reach that total. |
| March 20 1998 |
Then 18-year-old Sergio Garcia became the second amateur in as many tournaments to hold a second-round lead. Garcia shot 66-67 to grab the 36-hole lead at the Monterrey Open. The Spanish teen joined University of Texas senior Brad Elder, who led to Greater Austin Open at the halfway point two weeks earlier, as the only non professionals to hold a lead in Tour history. |
| March 21 1993 |
R.W. Eaks earned his second career title, winning the Louisiana Open in Broussard by two shots over Karl Kimball. Eaks won the team competition in the pro-am earlier in the week and held both the second- and third-round leads in the 72-hole event. His title hopes were nearly derailed by three bogeys in a row early on the final nine, but he settled down with a birdie and four closing pars to finish at 15-under 273. Kimball fell out of contention with a pair of double bogeys on Nos. 12 and 15. |
| March 22 1998 |
Joe Ogilvie won his first career title, capturing the Monterrey Open by two strokes. Ogilvie's final-round 66 at Club Campestre helped him overcome a four-shot deficit on the last day. Six players tied for second place -- including Perry Moss, who bogeyed the final two holes, and Chris Riley -- who bogeyed the final hole. Ogilvie two-putted from 25 feet for birdie and his final winning margin. The 23-year-old Duke grad had missed the cut in his first three starts his rookie season before winning in Mexico. Spanish teen sensation Sergio Garcia, who held the second-round lead, tied for 19th. |
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