Nationwide Tour e-notes  PGA TOUR staff HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship (3rd of 32 Events) TOUR JUMPS TO NEW ZEALAND -- The Tour travels from Australia to New Zealand this week to play the second of two events Down Under that are co-sanctioned by both the Nationwide Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia. Once again, the field will consist of 78 players from both tours. This is the sixth year the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship is on the Nationwide Tour's schedule, but the tournament has roots dating back to 1920 when J.H. Kirkwood won the inaugural event. The tournament was played 19 times before it was cancelled from 1940 to 1945 due to World War II. The tournament resumed in match play format before becoming a 72-hole, stroke-play event in 1965. The tournament was not held between 1988 and 2001. New Zealand native Frank Nobilo won in 1987 before it was cancelled. WON JOON "BOOM BOOM" LEE -- You may not have heard of Won Joon "Boom Boom" Lee but the golf fans Down Under have. The 21-year-old Korean-born Australian who turned professional in November won the 2006 New South Wales Amateur (match play), New South Wales Amateur medalist (stroke play) and New Zealand Amateur medalist. In addition, Lee was the 2006 Western Amateur 54-hole medalist in the States, firing a 61 to overcome a five-shot deficit (he lost in the first round of match play). He represented his country in last year's Eisenhower Cup, too. He's considered a crowd favorite given his ability to "boom" the golf ball. CRAIG PARRY -- The Australian was the first-round Jacob's Creek leader last week. A 20-time winner on the international stage (PGA TOUR, Australasian, European and Japan tours), including the 2002 WGC-NEC Invitational and 2004 Ford Championship at Doral, Parry has indicated he will concentrate his play on the Japan Golf Tour this year after spending the majority of the last 15 years in America. The HSBC will be his fourth Nationwide Tour start. His best finishes have come at the Jacob's Creek event -- a T5 this year and a T8 in 2004. SCOTT STERLING -- The '94 LSU grad captured his first TOUR win on Sunday in the Jacob's Creek Open Championship in Australia. It was his 122nd Nationwide Tour start. The win, worth $108,000, was, of course, his largest check ever and significantly surpassed the $72,227 he earned as the leading money winner on the Tight Lies Tour last year. He made his first PGA TOUR start last year in the FedEx St. Jude Classic, finishing T38. He regularly played the Nationwide Tour in 2002-05. 199 AND HOLDING.... -- We'll have to wait at least one more week for a Nationwide Tour player to capture the Tour's 200th PGA TOUR win. With 2007 wins on the PGA TOUR by Paul Goydos, Charley Hoffman and Aaron Baddeley, the Nationwide Tour is holding steady at 199 TOUR wins. ALSO ON HOLD -- Ben Bates will have to wait another week to surpass Steve Haskins as the Nationwide Tour all-time leader in cuts made. He and Haskin have 192. Bates missed the cut in last week's Jacob's Creek Open Championship in Australia. He is entered this week in New Zealand. DID YOU KNOW? No one has successfully defended a Nationwide Tour event in its 18-year history. • Aussie Peter O'Malley has a chance to do something this week that's never been done on the Nationwide Tour -- win the same event three times. O'Malley has won the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship twice (2002 and 2005), joining five other players who have won the same tournament twice on the Nationwide Tour. • In 121 previous Nationwide Tour events prior to his win last week, Scott Sterling had a career-best T4 finish back in 2003. The victory at the Jacob's Creek Open Championship was worth $108,000, nearly as much as the $112,357 he won in his best season -- 2002. • With Scott Sterling's win last week, U.S. players will be looking to sweep the two events Down Under for the first time since 2003 when Joe Ogilvie and Ryan Palmer won in Australia and New Zealand. |
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