Nationwide Tour crosses halfway point at StoneWater  PGA TOUR Staff HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The second half of the 2007 Nationwide Tour season begins this week at the third annual Legend Financial Group Classic presented by Cynergies Solutions. The event, the 17th of the 32 Nationwide Tour events, will be played at StoneWater Golf Club outside Cleveland.  Bradley Hughes finished second in this tournament last year. (Autostock)
Last year's champion, Gavin Coles, will not be at StoneWater as the Aussie now calls the PGA TOUR home having earned his PGA TOUR card via the Nationwide Tour last fall. However, the second-place finisher and fellow-Australian, Bradley Hughes, is in the field seeking his second Nationwide Tour win. In the first two playings of the Legend Financial Group Classic presented by Cynergies Solutions, international players have been a major factor. Six of last year's top-nine finishers and four of the top 10 in 2005 were born outside the United States. StoneWater Golf Club is a par-71, 7,045 yard-layout designed by Dana Fry that opened in 1996. It played to a stroke average of 72.308 last year, making it the sixth most difficult course on Tour. Thirteen winners from the 2007 season are in the field including last week's Peek'n Peak Classic champion, Roland Thatcher, and runner-up, Paul Claxton. Thatcher's win at the Peek'n Peak Classic was his second career victory and jumped him from No. 10 on the Nationwide Tour money list to No. 4. He now finds himself less than $7,000 behind No. 2 Nick Flanagan. Claxton's good play last week moved him to No. 1 on the money list for the first time this year and put him more than $21,000 ahead of Flanagan, who held the top spot the previous six weeks. Although Claxton leads the money list and is a lock to earn one of the 25 PGA TOUR cards available at the conclusion of the Nationwide Tour season in early November, he is not resting on his laurels. "This Tour is too good to sit and pat yourself on the back about being No. 1 on the money list, "he said. "There are a bunch of guys behind you waiting to beat you next week." For the first time this year there were no players who moved in or out of THE 25 at Peek'n Peak. On Sunday the Nationwide Tour heads down Interstate 71 to Columbus, Ohio for the inaugural Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational. |
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