Tour alums at Valhalla, Oregon features elite field

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37th RYDER CUP
Five Nationwide Tour alumni are members of Captain Paul Azinger's U.S. Team that will be seeking to regain the Ryder Cup this week after three successive losses dating back to 2002. Jim Furyk (six-time team member), Stewart Cink (four times), Chad Campbell (three times) and Steve Stricker and Boo Weekley (first appearances) will be at Valhalla Golf Club this week representing the red, white and blue.

Tidland

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK CAN MAKE
Chris Tidland more than doubled his 2008 earnings with Sunday's Albertsons Boise Open win. The former Oklahoma State All-American's paycheck of $130,500 pushed his earnings to $194,480 for the year, vaulting him from 86th on the money list to 16th and very much into the middle of "THE 25" race. The win was his first TOUR victory in 192 Nationwide Tour and 57 PGA TOUR starts as a pro dating back to 1996.

OREGON FIELD FEATURES 45 OF TOP 50
Another very strong field will assemble this week in Eugene, Ore., for the Oregon Classic presented by Kendall Automotive Group. Of the current top-50 money winners, 45 are in the field. Absent will be Greg Owen (No. 5), Jeff Klauk (No. 8), D.J. Brigman (No. 25), Chris Anderson (No. 33) and Tee McCabe (No. 48). Klauk's wife is expecting a baby. McCabe withdrew last Friday in Boise with a wrist injury.

Lunde

ONE CONSISTENT ROUND
This feat is probably not in anybody's record book, but perhaps it should be. Last Friday in the Albertsons Boise Open, Bill Lunde posted six streaks of par-par-birdie to shoot 65 and take sole possession of the lead. The Las Vegas resident birdied holes 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 and parred the other 12 at the par-71 Hillcrest Country Club. The 1998 UNLV graduate opened with a 66 and added weekend rounds of 69 and 72 to tie for sixth. He improved one spot on the money list to fourth. PGA TOUR bound in 2009, Lunde said "The goal is the same and that's to finish as high as possible on the money list. If I could somehow squeak out and become No. 1, that's the ultimate goal. I've got to keep playing hard each week and finish as high as I can."

ATOP THE MONEY LIST
Through 25 of 30 events, there have been five different money leaders on the Nationwide Tour this year; Scott Dunlap (led one week after winning the season opener in Panama), Jarrod Lyle (16 weeks), Darron Stiles (two), David Mathis (three) and current No. 1 Brendon de Jonge (three).

De Jonge

DE JONGE PADS MONEY LEAD -- With his tie for 13th on Sunday in Boise, leading money winner Brendon de Jonge put a little more room between himself and No. 2 Jarrod Lyle, who tied for 33rd. De Jonge's earnings of $376,273 are $12,722 ahead of Lyle. The difference last week was $735. The big move among those vying for No. 1 came from Scott Piercy, who roared up the leaderboard on Sunday with a 10-under-par 61 to finish second. The two-time 2008 winner from Las Vegas jumped from 12th to third with total earnings of $310,329. Bill Lunde, who tied for sixth, improved one spot to fourth. His total earnings are $302,337.

GREG OWEN CLOSING IN ON DUBIOUS EARNINGS RECORD
On a couple of occasions this year we have chronicled the incredible consistency Greg Owen has enjoyed on the Nationwide Tour this year. It continues as he is first in Scoring Average, Birdie Average, Total Driving and All-Around Ranking and fourth in Putting Average and Sand Save Percentage. Despite all this consistency, the Englishman has yet to post a "W" and finds himself on track to earn a place in the Tour's record book that he no doubt would like to avoid. With $299,605 in earnings (fifth) in only 15 starts, Owen is approaching Jeff Quinney's 2006 record of $317,802 in earnings in 27 starts without a victory. It's not like Owen hasn't come close to winning. He has two seconds (one in a playoff) and three thirds.

Haas

COMING ON STRONG
Two players who have played their way up the money list over the summer are Spencer Levin and Hunter Haas. Levin was 60th on the money list on July 13th. The Sacramento, Calif., native now finds himself only three spots outside "THE 25" at No. 28 thanks to three top-eight finishes and only one missed cut in his last eight starts. Haas, a former University of Oklahoma standout, was 73rd on July 13. Three top-six finishes and a total of five top-20s since then also have Haas in "THE 25" picture at No. 31. At No. 24, Levin is hoping to play on the PGA TOUR in 2009 for the first time. Haas earned nearly $500,000 in two previous stints on TOUR (2001 and 2005)

"QUEST FOR THE CARD"
With only five events remaining in the 2008 season, GOLF CHANNEL's "Quest For The Card: Inside The Nationwide Tour" offers viewers an inside look at the players who are battling to get into "THE 25" and earn their PGA TOUR card for 2009. Tune in to GOLF CHANNEL on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET for the latest edition of the show. "Quest For The Card" will re-air three times on Tuesday and Wednesday.

NEXT WEEK
The Nationwide Tour is idle the next two weeks before the drive for "THE 25" resumes at WNB Golf Classic in Midland, Texas, (Oct. 6-12).

THIS WEEK IN NATIONWIDE TOUR HISTORY
Sept. 16, 1994: The Nationwide Tour's first two Players of the Year in 1990 and '91, respectively, Tom Lehman and Jeff Maggert, are members of the victorious U.S. team in the inaugural Presidents Cup in Lake Manassas, Va.
Sept. 19, 2004: Eugene, Ore., native Jeff Quinney shoots a course-record 63 on the final day to earn a come-from-behind win in the Oregon Classic in front of family and friends in his hometown.