E-notes: Crunch time for players hunting 'THE 25'

text size

Sometimes you just have to think there's another force at work. Justin Hicks entered last week's Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung in 160th place on the money list. He was assigned locker number 99 (Gretzky's uniform number) and went on to win the tournament hosted by the Great One and jumped all the way to 13th and in strong position to finish among "THE 25".

Owen

Greg Owen hasn't won yet, but he's having a standout season. The Englishman has five top-5 finishes in nine starts and leads the all-around category and total driving stats. He's also second in scoring average, driving distance and birdies as well as third in putting and ninth in sand saves.

Here's a statistical oddity. Of the top-10 players in scoring average, only one (Greg Chalmers) has won this year.

The Nationwide Tour is off this week, but next week will offer its first $1 million purse when the Tour assembles in West Virginia for the Nationwide Tour Players Cup.