Nationwide Tour takes week off before big event

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The Nationwide Tour is idle this week as America celebrates its Independence Day holiday. Tournament play resumes next week (July 7-13) with a milestone event, the Nationwide Tour Players Cup -- the Tour's first $1-million event. The Players Cup will be held at the Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport, W. Va., and will feature the current 144 leading money winners on the Nationwide Tour.

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Justin Hicks (left) with No. 99 Wayne Gretzky.

MONEY LIST ESTABLISHED FOR $1 MILLION NATIONWIDE TOUR PLAYERS CUP -- The Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic was the final tournament for players to qualify for next week's first $1-million Nationwide Tour event, the Nationwide Tour Players Cup. The leading 144 committed players off this week's money list have secured a place in the milestone event.

WAS IT MEANT TO BE? -- After Justin Hicks registered last week at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic in Canada he went to the locker room and couldn't believe his luck when he saw his locker was No. 99 (The Great One's famous jersey number). Karma was apparently on the side of Hicks, the former hockey player who grew up in Wyandotte, Mich., and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1997. "I didn't say anything to anyone until today because I didn't want to jinx anything," Hicks said. After a Hicks birdie and a Casey Wittenberg bogey on the 71st hole tied things up at the top, Hicks went on to defeat his young adversary in a one-hole playoff to earn his first Nationwide Tour title in his eighth start of the year and 37th overall. Currently residing in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., Hicks gained notoriety two weeks ago when he was the unlikely first-round leader of the U.S. Open. "As nervous as I was today, if I hadn't have gone through what I went through at Torrey Pines I would have been a mess today," he said. The 33-year-old who began the season with conditional Nationwide Tour status, added, "This gives me job security. I've qualified for two U.S. Opens in my career and only one Bank of America Open. That shows how competitive it is in professional golf." Hicks moved all the way from 160th to 13th on the money list, putting him in a solid position to earn one of "The 25" PGA TOUR cards available on the Nationwide Tour for 2009.

CASEY WITTENBERG / FEELING GOOD ABOUT HIS GAME -- Casey Wittenberg got just about everything he could have asked for out of his game in Canada last week other than his first Nationwide Tour victory. The 23-year-old rookie hit 43 of 55 fairways and 57 of 72 greens and made only three bogeys the entire week. The Memphis native has been a model of consistency throughout the first half of the season. In 14 starts, he has missed only two cuts and recorded nine top-25 finishes. In his last start, the Bank of America Open outside Chicago, Wittenberg was in the hunt, finishing tied for third. His worst position on the money list this year was 30th in late March.

BIG PURSE = BIG MOVERS IN CANADA -- Several players took advantage of the big Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic purse of $800,099 (third largest of 2008) to enhance their place on the Nationwide Tour money list. The following players who are now inside the top 60 improved four or more places.

SCRANTON, PA EVENT HAS NEW HOME, ELMURST CC -- The Nationwide Tour's Northeast Pennsylvania Classic announced a new site for this year's event. The Elmhurst Country Club in Moscow, Pa., will host the August 18-24 event, replacing Glenmaura National Golf Club which held the event every year since its inception in 2000.

STRONG NATIONWIDE SHOWING IN FLINT -- Nationwide Tour players had a particularly strong showing in the Buick Open last week. All but two of the first 10 players who finished behind winner Kenny Perry (T2 through T9) were Tour alums. Matt Jones, a member of the 2007 Nationwide Tour class, had his second tie for fourth finish of the year, sharing the spot with 2006 Player of the Year Ken Duke.

MEDIA OFFICIALS -- Last week was John Bush's last event as a Nationwide Tour media official. He now moves over to the PGA TOUR in a similar capacity. Joe Chemycz and Mark Williams are the new tandem of media officials for the Nationwide Tour, with Media Relations Assistant Adam Wallace backing up the Tour's communication team.

THIS WEEK IN NATIONWIDE TOUR HISTORY -- On June 30, 1989 the PGA TOUR, the Ben Hogan Company and the Southern California Section of the PGA of America announce that Bakersfield, Calif., will host the inaugural Ben Hogan Tour (now the Nationwide Tour) event. The Bakersfield Open would be held Feb. 2-4, 1990 at Bakersfield Country Club.