E-Notes: Drivers at the ready for longest course on Tour

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• The Nationwide Tour heads back to Georgia this week for the South Georgia Classic in Valdosta where the players will face the longest course on any of the three Tours?the 7,781-yard Kinderlou Forest Golf Club. The Kinderlou Forest Golf Club was the sixth-most-difficult course (of 34) on the Nationwide Tour last year, playing to a stroke average of 73.549 (+1.549).

• While Kinderlou Forest Golf Club is the longest course in Tour history, no player who finished among the top 10 in Driving Distance last season was in the top 10 at the 2007 South Georgia Classic.

Johnson

• Until last year, an international player had never led the Nationwide Tour money list. That changed when Wales' Richard Johnson earned $445,421 to finish No. 1 on the list in 2007. After eight tournaments, three international players, all from Australia?Jarrod Lyle ($189,090), Greg Chalmers ($161,154) and Ewan Porter ($149,745)?are the top-three money-earners this year.

• Ten players in the South Georgia Classic field participated in last week's EDS Byron Nelson Championship on the PGA TOUR. Those players were Brad Adamonis (cut), Steve Allan (cut), Michael Bradley (tied for 27th), Paul Claxton (cut), Brad Elder (76th), Jeff Gove (tied for 13th), Ryan Palmer (cut), Travis Perkins (cut), Michael Sim (tied for 57th) and Bob Sowards (cut).

• A year ago, north Georgia native John Kimbell arrived in Valdosta to play in his ninth career Nationwide Tour event. He departed the South Georgia Classic with the biggest win of a career, a one-shot victory over Australia's Matt Jones. The win was worth $108,000. Kimbell, who didn't begin his golf career until he'd turned 22, was already familiar with the Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, having won his third NGA Hooters Tour title at the same site in September of 2006.

Kimbell

Jones

• It has been a tale of two careers heading in the opposite direction since John Kimbell clipped Matt Jones by a stroke in 2007. Kimbell struggled the rest of the year, adding just one additional top-10 finish. He missed 14 cuts after the South Georgia Classic and eventually finished 37th on the money list. He is off to a slow start in 2008 (98th in money). As for Jones, his runner-up finish in Valdosta was one of four second-place finishes in 2007. He eventually finished seventh on the money list and was one of "THE 25" who earned their 2008 PGA TOUR cards. He has been solid so far on TOUR, tallying four top-25 finishes and ranking inside the top 70 on both the FedExCup points list and the official money list.

• With the exception of Chitimacha Louisiana Open champion Gavin Coles, every winner on the 2008 Nationwide Tour is scheduled to tee it up this week, including Scott Dunlap, Jarrod Lyle, Darron Stiles, Ewan Porter, Aron Price, Patrick Damron and last week's winner Greg Chalmers.

• The four sponsor's exemptions for the tournament all hold ties to the state of Georgia or border-state South Carolina. They are Blake Adams (resident of Eatonton, Ga., and a Georgia Southern University product); Brendon Todd (former University of Georgia All-American); Matt Weibring (former Georgia Tech All-American); and Adam Hart (former golf standout at Francis Marion University and native of Blythewood, S.C.).

• One of the favorites this week will be 23-year-old Casey Wittenberg, who might be the most consistent player on the Tour in 2008. He is the only player to make all eight cuts this year and is ranked inside the top 25 in seven Tour statistical categories. In Athens, the 2003 U.S. Amateur runner-up (to Nick Flanagan) enjoyed his first Nationwide Tour top-10 finish in 19 career starts, a tie for third, which has helped him move to No. 14 on the money list. Wittenberg, who turned pro following an abbreviated stint at Oklahoma State where he earned second team All-American honors in 2004, appears to be turning the corner after a slow start to his professional career.