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UNIQUE NEW INVITATIONAL EVENT TEES OFF IN NATIONWIDE'S BACKYARD -- The Nationwide Tour's only invitational event, the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational, has several unique elements to it: 1) Tour sponsor, Nationwide, is based in Columbus; OH, 2) OSU/Scarlet Course, Golf Digest's top-ranked collegiate U.S. course, is the host venue, 3) OSU great Jack Nicklaus is the honorary chairman, 4) a unique eligibility criteria includes invites to members of the Division I PING All-American team. With 47 of the current top 50 money winners, a purse of $700,000 and four days of Golf Channel coverage, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the first-year event.

Australia's Jason Day made a great leap up the Nationwide Tour moneylist after his win in Cleveland. (WireImage.com)

THE 25 - LEGEND FINANCIAL GROUP CLASSIC WINNER JASON DAY MAKES MOVE OF THE WEEK -- After two earlier brushes with the winner's circle, Australian Jason Day made a significant move into THE 25, from No. 33 to No. 8 when he captured his first Nationwide Tour title on Sunday outside Cleveland, OH. The victory puts him in a very strong position to secure one the 25 PGA TOUR cards for 2008. Fellow Aussie and runner-up to Day, Scott Gardiner, also moved up 25 spots into THE 25, from 43rd to 18th.

ROLAND THATCHER KEEPS ROLLIN' ALONG -- Over the last three-plus months, the 30-year-old former Auburn All-American perhaps has been the Nationwide Tour's most impressive performer. Thatcher has finished in the top 25 in every start (11) he's made since the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship in early April, except one (MC at BMW Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs). He followed up his Peek'n Peak win with a T18 finish in Cleveland, which moved him ahead of Nicholas Thompson to No. 3 on the money list.

NICK FLANAGAN RETURNS AFTER EXTENDED LAYOFF/HERNIA OPERATION -- When Australia Nick Flanagan left the Tour after the Rex Hospital Open on June 10th, he was planning a two-week break. Two weeks became four when it was discovered he needed a hernia operation. Flanagan left the Tour comfortably atop the money list. He returns No. 2 with ground ($21,504) to make up on the new No. 1, Paul Claxton. As the only two-time winner in '07, Flanagan is one win away from an immediate victory promotion to the PGA TOUR.

EIGHT COLLEGE STARS -- One of the unique aspects of the new Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational is the participation of eight of this year's Division I PING First-Team All-Americans in the 144-player field. Jamie Lovemark/USC, Chris Kirk/Georgia, Dustin Johnson/Coastal Carolina, Billy Horschel/Florida, Dawie Van Der Walt/Lamar, Daniel Summerhays/Brigham Young, Niklas Lemke/Arizona State and Brendon Todd/Georgia will tee off on Thursday. Lovemark, the reigning NCAA individual champion, was a playoff runner-up to Chris Riley in mid-June in his first Nationwide Tour event, the Rochester (MN) Area Charities Showdown at Somerby. He finished T45 in the PGA TOUR's AT&T National on Sunday.

30 PLAYERS HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE -- 30 players in the field at OSU have played the Scarlet Course before in either an NCAA Championship (1980/1 player, 1987/4, 1995/5 and 2002/13) or last month's U.S. Open qualifier (seven players).

GOLF CHANNEL'S CURT BYRUM HAS OSU MEMORIES, TOO -- Golf Channel analyst Curt Byrum is another former collegiate golfer who has competitive memories of the Scarlet Course. While attending the University of New Mexico, he finished T45 in the 1980 NCAA Championship.

PAPPAS BROTHERS JOIN NICKLAUS AND TURNESA FAMILIES IN THE RECORD BOOKS -- For only the fourth time since 1943, three brothers will compete in the same TOUR event. Brenden, Deane and Craigen Pappas, a trio of South African siblings, all of whom came to the U.S. to play college golf, will do what Jackie II, Gary and Michael Nicklaus teamed to do in both the 2003 and 2004 BMW Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs and what Jim, Joe and Mike Turnesa did for the last time 64 years ago in the 1943 Chicago Victory Open. Brenden and Deane played at the U. of Arkansas, while Craigen, the current director of golf at the Country Club of Muirfield Village, captained the OSU golf team in 1986 and '87. Ironically, Mike Turnesa's grandson, Marc Turnesa, is scheduled to be in the field in Columbus.

SAME NAME, SAME HOMELAND, YET NO RELATION -- Despite similarities, two players in this week's field, Tjaart and Dawie Van Der Walt, are not brothers. Tjaart, 32, grew up in Durban, South Africa and played college golf as a walk-on at Central Alabama Community College. Since 2000, he has competed on both the Nationwide Tour and the PGA TOUR where he was a playoff runner-up to Brad Faxon in Hartford, CT in 2005. He has combined earnings of more than $1.5 million. Dawie, a native of Cape Town, South Africa, is a junior at Lamar University in Texas. The 24-year-old was named a Division I PING First-Team All-American last month.

BUBBA WATSON TO RETURN TO BOISE -- 2005 Nationwide Tour graduate Bubba Watson will return to the Nationwide Tour for a day in September. He has accepted an invitation from The Albertsons Boise Open presented by First Health to compete in the tournament's kickoff event on Monday, September 17th, the Kraft Shoot-Out. The PGA TOUR's driving distance leader who is known for his pink-shafted driver played in Boise's Nationwide Tour event three times (2003-05), making the cut every year. His best finish was T11 in 2005. As one of the Tour's four original events, the Albertsons Boise Open has raised nearly $6 million for charities since 1990.

DID YOU KNOW? Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee finished T10 in the 1970 NCAA Championship played at the OSU/Scarlet Course. John Mahaffey of the University of Houston was the medalist, with Lanny Wadkins/Wake Forest (2nd), Tom Kite/Texas (4th), Andy North/Florida (T5) and Tom Watson/Stanford (T5) among the other top-10 finishers. Calfee was an All-American that year and again in 1971 while attending the University of Maryland.