Notebook: Nationwide grads win first 7 TOUR events

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2011 NATIONWIDE TOUR SEASON KICKS OFF IN PANAMA ON THURSDAY -- The Nationwide Tour's 22nd season and its players' year-long quest to earn a 2012 PGA TOUR card gets underway on Thursday at the Panama Claro Championship in Panama City, Panama. It will be the first of 26 tournaments played in 16 states in the U.S., plus three in Latin America (Panama, Colombia, Mexico). More than 200 players from the United States and 18 other countries will compete for "The 25" available PGA TOUR cards from February through October. Panama Golf Club, which welcomed greats of the game like Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead andRoberto De Vicenzo in the 1950s and 60s, has hosted the Nationwide Tour season-opener every year since 2004 but last year).

7TH IN A ROW -- It won't be long before the Nationwide Tour reaches the milestone of a collective 300 PGA TOUR wins by its former players. Through the Northern Trust Open, the win count stands at 295, thanks to Aaron Baddeley's victory on Sunday in the Northern Trust Open. Alumni have been in the winner's circle the first seven TOUR events of 2011, equaling the longest run of consecutive wins by the group during any stretch on the Nationwide Tour (2006).

Below is a year-by-year tally of the 295 wins, demonstrating the ever-growing impact the Nationwide Tour has had on the PGA TOUR (with cumulative figures after '95, '00, '05, '10 and '11):

The 100th win came in Oct. 2001 (David Toms) and the 200th in March 2007 (Mark Wilson).

YOUNGER SET -- The Nationwide Tour's three youngest members, Richard T. Lee (age 20), Danny Lee (20) and Matthew Giles (21), are entered in the Panama Claro Championship. Richard T. Lee is the youngest (born 10/29/90). He was born in Canada and now resides in Chandler, Ariz. where he won the state high school championship in 2006. New Zealander Danny Lee, who won the 2008 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst, is next in line (7/24/90). The third youngest is the Australian Giles (9/10/89), who achieved All-American status at the U. of Southern California while a teammate of last year's Tour Player of the Year Jamie Lovemark. Lee and Giles will be making their first Nationwide Tour starts as professionals. Richard played 16 Tour events between 2007 and 2009. Note: It was incorrectly stated in a release last week that Danny Lee was the youngest player on Tour.

BUBBA WATSON TO SERVE AS HONORARY CO-CHAIR AT STADION CLASSIC AT UGA -- Former University of Georgia golfer Bubba Watson will join fellow Dawg Chip Beck as Honorary Co-Chairman of this year's Stadion Classic at UGA. Watson will be in Athens to participate in tournament functions on Monday and Tuesday of tournament week (May 2-8), prior to heading to Charlotte, N.C. for the PGA TOUR's Wachovia Championship. The two-time TOUR winner lettered at UGA in 2000 and 2001, helping lead the Bulldogs to the 2000 SEC Championship. He completed requirements for his degree in Consumer Economics in 2008. Beck served as the sole honorary co-chair last year.

BEN CRANE ON NATIONWIDE TOUR IMPACT -- Three-time PGA TOUR winner and 2002 Nationwide Tour alumni Ben Crane remarked recently on the state of the Tour and its impact on the PGA TOUR..."The Nationwide Tour is bringing out just awesome talent. I played on the Nationwide Tour. I think it's the best training ground, better than any other sport has. I think it's just fantastic....I'm excited to meet the guys and play with some of them."

MORE IMPACT -- The Nationwide Tour's status as the official proving ground of the PGA TOUR continues to grow in 2011 as evidenced by the increase in the percentage of Nationwide Tour alumni who will be competing on the PGA TOUR this year compared to the last two years: 2011 = 73.9%....2010 = 70.7%.... 2009 = 67.5%.

NATIONWIDE TOUR PRESIDENT ON "MORNING DRIVE" WEDNESDAY -- Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee will preview the 2011 season as a guest on Golf Channel's "Morning Drive" on Wednesday (Feb. 23rd) at 8:15 a.m. ET. Calfee's week got off to a good start when he competed as a member of the Amateur team in the 20th annual Underwood Cup at Timaquana Golf Club in Jacksonville, Fla. The Presidents Cup-styled competition pits a team of 12 pros and 12 amateurs from the North Florida section of the PGA of America. The Ams captured the last two matches to win the Cup on Tuesday, with Calfee, a former TOUR player for nine seasons, earning two out of a possible three points.

BIRTHDAY BOYS -- Celebrating birthdays in Panama will be: Steve Wheatcroft (Indiana U./Jacksonville, Fla.), and Scott Weatherly (Auburn U./Fort Payne, Ala.), who both turn 33, on 2/21 and 2/24, respectively. Ryan Armour (Ohio State U./Jupiter, Fla.) turns 35 on 2/27.

NEXT WEEK -- The Nationwide Tour will be in Bogotá, Colombia for the Pacific Rubiales Bogotá Open. Last year's inaugural event marked the PGA TOUR's first sanctioned event in South America and was hosted by 2005 Nationwide Tour alumnus and Colombia native Camilo Villegas.