Notebook: Hall of fame hosts, stacked field in Canada

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Hall of famer Wayne Gretzky will be hosting the Nationwide Tour event for the third year.

HALL OF FAME HOSTS: The next two Nationwide Tour events -- this week's Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung and next week's Chiquita Classic near Cincinnati, Ohio -- will feature two sports hall of fame members in hockey's Wayne Gretzky and football's Anthony Munoz, both of whom are very active hosts of these two events. Both events will be broadcast on Golf Channel.

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Jerry Rice rounds out this year's team of "Hall of Fame Hosts." The former football great had a significant impact on April's Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae where he was both tournament host and a competitor.

Gretzky and Munoz are joined by several other sports celebrities who have ties to 2010 Nationwide Tour events -- Camilo Villegas, Juan Pablo Montoya, Chip Beck, Gary Williams, Clark Kellogg, Arnold Palmer and Jim Furyk.

STELLAR FIELD IN CANADA: One of the strongest fields of the year is entered in the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. Everyone in the current top 10 will be in Canada along with 23 of the top 25 and 47 of the top 50. Only Steve Pate (15th), Fran Quinn (16th) and Jarrod Lyle (45th) will miss the $800,099 event that features a 160-player field. Included are ten sponsor exemptions and the top five available professionals off the Canadian Tour Order of Merit (as of June 28th / floor of 25th position). Canada is the sixth and final country outside of the U.S. the Nationwide Tour visits in 2010 (joining New Zealand, Australia, Panama, Colombia and Mexico).

WAYNE'S FRIENDS: Many celebrity friends will join "The Great One" at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic this week. Scheduled to appear are former NHL stars Grant Fuhr, Brett Hull, Matthew Barnaby, Claude Lemieux, Eddie Mio, Craig Simpson, Marty McSorley and Darren Pang, Stanley Cup winning coach Mike Keenan, basketball's Charles Barkley, Pro Football Hall of Fame member Andre Tippett and another former football great Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson. Gretzky's wife, Janet Gretzky, will also participate, among others.

FORMER COLLEGE STARS KIRK, LOVEMARK, CHAPPELL SIT 1-2-3 ON MONEY LIST: The top three spots on the Nationwide Tour money list are occupied by players who in recent years were recognized as the best among their college peers. Leading money winner Chris Kirk won the 2007 Ben Hogan Award while at the University of Georgia. No. 2 Jamie Lovemark won both the Jack Nicklaus Award and the Fred Haskins Award the same year (2007) as a college freshman at the University of Southern California. No. 3 Kevin Chappell, out of UCLA, claimed the same two awards as Lovemark in 2008. The Hogan Award combines accomplishments in both college and amateur play, while the other two focus on collegiate performance. Kyle Stanley is another member of the current "25" leading money winners (23rd) who won the Hogan Award (2009) while at Clemson.

CHRIS KIRK & TOMMY GAINEY NAMED CO-PLAYERS OF THE MONTH FOR MAY/JUNE: With very similar results, Chris Kirk and Tommy Gainey were named co-Players of the Month on the Nationwide Tour for May and June combined. Both won events (Kirk/Fort Smith Classic and Gainey/Melwood Prince George's County Open) and finished T2 at the BMW Charity Open presented by SYNNEX. In three other starts, Kirk had a T27, T34 and one missed cut, while "Two Gloves" Gainey had a T16, T40 and a missed cut.

KEVIN CHAPPELL/THE STATS DON'T LIE: In ten key Nationwide Tour stat categories, Kevin Chappell is listed among the top 10 in six. He's No. 1 in the all important All-Around Ranking as well as Eagle and Birdie Average. Despite not appearing in the Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy Percentage top 10, Chappell is 2nd in Total Driving. His Scoring Average (69.46) is 4th, only 0.22 behind leader David Mathis. Greens In Regulation (6th) and Putting Average (7th) are the other two top-10 categories he appears in. Chappell won his first Nationwide Tour event in April, the Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae, and has a runner-up and five top 10s in all.

"25" DRIVE TO DANIEL ISLAND KICKS INTO HIGH GEAR: With 16 events over the next 17 weeks, there will be little let up in the Nationwide Tour's run to the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island in Charleston, S.C. where only 25 of this year's almost 250 Nationwide Tour members will be awarded their 2010 PGA TOUR cards. Ten of these 16 tournaments will air on Golf Channel, including seven of the last nine. The only off week is Aug. 16-22.

LPGA'S MEG MALLON NAMED HONORARY CHAIRPERSON FOR NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL INVITATIONAL: Four-time Ohio State University letter winner Meg Mallon will serve as the honorary chairperson for the fourth playing of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational later this month (July 19-25) at the OSU Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio. Mallon follows in the footsteps of former OSU alums and event chairs Jack Nicklaus, John Cook and former golf coach Jim Brown. The winner of four LPGA majors and 18 titles in a professional career that began in 1986, she led the Buckeyes to three Big Ten titles (1983-85) and was voted into the OSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.

BIRTHDAY BOYS: Celebrating birthdays this week in Canada are Zach Miller of San Rafael, Calif. and Stanford University (July 5 / turns 26), Kevin Chappell of Fresno, Calif. and UCLA (July 8 / 24), Emmett Turner (July 9 / 27) of Augusta, Ga. and Augusta State University (July 9 / 27).

NEXT WEEK: The Nationwide Tour is at the TPC River's Bend near Cincinnati for the inaugural Chiquita Classic (July 12-18). Pro Football Hall of Fame member Anthony Munoz, who starred for USC and the Cincinnati Bengals, is the tournament host.