Notebook: Woods impressed with Smoltz's golf skills

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The Nationwide Tour returns to action April 14-17 at the Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, Calif. (San Francisco Bay area). Pro Football Hall of Fame's Jerry Rice will again be the tournament host and compete as a professional.

LAIRD SNARES WIN NO. 300 The Nationwide Tour alumni milestone of 300 PGA TOUR wins was reached on Sunday when Scotland's Martin Laird won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Tour alumni are on quite a run thus far in 2011. They have won a tournament every week the PGA TOUR has played this year, the exception being March 3-6. Of the 14 TOUR events played, 12 have been captured by alumni. Laird is a 2007 Nationwide Tour graduate via "The 25".

A total of 124 players have contributed to the 300 wins. (See the complete list here.) Half of the 300 have come since July 2004. Last year there were a record 28 alumni wins on the PGA TOUR. Win No. 100 came in the Tour's 11th year (Oct. 2001/David Toms). The 200th came just 6 ˝ years later (March 2007/Mark Wilson). And Laird's 300th only four years after that.

ARNOLD PALMER FAN OF NATIONWIDE TOUR Last week's PGA TOUR tournament host Arnold Palmer has been a supporter of the Nationwide Tour for several years. He made the following remark when asked about the Nationwide Tour in his pre-tournament press conference at Bay Hill: "I've advocated for some time the Nationwide Tour should be the stepping stone to the (PGA) TOUR....Your performance on the Nationwide Tour will set the pace for you becoming a (PGA) TOUR player. With the game growing as it is and the things that are happening in professional golf, the Nationwide Tour should be the stepping stone to the (PGA) TOUR. It's the fairest, best way to do it."

PALMER AND THE MYLAN CLASSIC Last Wednesday it was announced that western Pennsylvania native Arnold Palmer has agreed to serve again as Honorary Chairman for the second playing of his home state's only Nationwide Tour event, the Mylan Classic. The Mylan Classic will be played at Southpointe Golf Club in Washington County, Pa. Sept. 1-4. "I was happy to lend my name last year to help launch the tournament, and I enjoyed going out to Southpointe to meet some of the players and to watch Sam (Saunders, Palmer's grandson) play. I have a great deal of respect for the Nationwide Tour...I also think Mylan has done a great job in bringing this wonderful Tour to the Pittsburgh area."

UF SENIOR FINISHES SECOND -- University of Florida senior Andres Echavarria continues to get comfortable on the Nationwide Tour. On Sunday, he shot 67 to finish second in the Chitimacha Louisiana Open. The Colombia native earned his spot after finishing T19 in the Pacific Rubiales Bogotá Open as a sponsor's exemption. His second top-25 in Louisiana makes him eligible again for the next Nationwide Tour event, the Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae in the San Francisco Bay area, April 14-17. But the 23-year-old has a conflict. The SEC Championship is that same weekend. "We had a deal," Echavarria said referring to his UF coach Buddy Alexander. "I could come here (Louisiana), but I had to play conference." Echavarria became the fourth amateur to finish runner-up in a Nationwide Tour event, joining Jamie Lovemark (2007), Rickie Fowler (2008) and Charles Howell III (2000). Daniel Summerhays was the first and only amateur to win on Tour, having done so in 2007.

TIGER ON SMOLTZ Tiger Woods has played a number of rounds of golf with former Major League Baseball great John Smoltz, who has accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in next month's South Georgia Classic on the Nationwide Tour. Woods commented on Smoltz last week during the Arnold Palmer Invitational: "I had not played with an amateur that had ever shot the scores he shot. I mean, he is a hell of an athlete. He can play basketball. Obviously he was an incredible pitcher. But I think just the way he's able to take that same tenacity into golf is pretty amazing. I've gone out there and played with him and he shot, what, 69-67 in the same day. Not many amateurs can do that, especially when they are still playing a professional sport at the time. So it's pretty phenomenal."

KIMBELL GOIN' REAL LOW Monday qualifier John Kimbell caught fire on Sunday in Louisiana. After shooting 71 each of the first three days, the 2007 South Georgia Classic champion recorded nine birdies and an eagle en route to a 10-under-par 61, his career low by three shots and one off the course record. Kimbell jumped from T48 to a T4 finish the last day and gave himself some much-needed, early-season momentum.

BIRTHDAY BOYS Celebrating birthdays during the two-week break are Jason Schultz (turns 38 on the 29th), Barrett Jarosch (28 on the 1st), David Morland (42 on the 3rd), James Oh (29 on the 5th) and Chris Nallen (29 on the 9th).