Players jockey for money list spots in last full-field event

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Miami, Fla. -- The Nationwide Tour's final full-field event of the year, the Miccosukee Championship, gets underway this Thursday at the Miccosukee Golf and Country Club. Only the top 60 on the money list at the completion of play on Sunday will qualify for the season's grand finale, the $1 million Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch, November 6-9.

Badz/PGA TOUR

David Hearn is hoping to move off the bubble and into the field for next week.

The Miccosukee Championship raised its purse this year from $500,000 to $625,000. The first place prize of $112,500 could very well be enough to guarantee the winner, regardless of his current position on the money list, a spot in the Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch. On the bubble to make it into the field at TPC Craig Ranch near Dallas is No. 60 on the money list, Canadian David Hearn, who has $106,860 in earnings. Hearn has a $3,151 lead over Gary Christian of England, who is just $153 ahead of Chad Ginn of Alexandria, La.

Brendon de Jonge, No. 1 on the money list with $413,148, has increased his lead over Jarrod Lyle to $39,303. The Zimbabwean is $81,862 short of setting the Nationwide Tour's single-season earnings record. In 2005, Troy Matteson earned $495,009.

Ricky Barnes occupied the No. 25 bubble spot on the money list the two weeks prior to last week's Chattanooga Classic. With only 25 PGA TOUR cards up for grabs at year's end, that's not a comfortable place to be. Barnes finished tied for sixth in Chattanooga to improve four spots to No. 21. David Branshaw has replaced Barnes at No. 25. Branshaw, the runner-up at the Cox Classic in August, has a $644 advantage over Cox Classic winner Ryan Hietala. Nos. 26-60 on the money list after the Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch will be fully exempt on the Nationwide Tour next year.

Last year's Miccosukee Championship was won by Marc Turnesa by a single stroke over David Mathis and Jon Mills. The win locked up his PGA TOUR card for 2008. On Sunday at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Turnesa broke through with his first victory on the PGA TOUR. The win catapulted him from No. 138 on the money list to No. 75, giving the New York native and North Carolina State product a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR.

The Golf Channel will air all four rounds of the Miccosukee Championship starting Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET.

The Nationwide Tour is idle next week before heading to McKinney, Texas (Dallas area) for the pressure-packed Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch.