Stankowski captures back-to-back wins on Nationwide Tour and PGA TOUR
Proving Nationwide Tour players have the game to win on any tour, alumnus Paul Stankowski captured back-to-back titles on the Nationwide Tour and PGA TOUR in the spring of 1996. A non-exempt PGA TOUR member, Stankowski won the Louisiana Open near Lafayette by four shots. As sixth alternate in the next week's PGA TOUR event, the California native went to Atlanta for the BellSouth Classic and on Wednesday learned he was in the field. The good vibes from Louisiana carried over as Stankowski outlasted Brandel Chamblee on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff on Easter Sunday. In winning back-to-back titles, Stankowski accomplished something no other TOUR player had ever done before or has since. From Atlanta, he headed east on I-20 to Augusta and his first Masters tournament. Click for video |
GOLF CHANNEL is born, broadly expanding Nationwide Tour's reach
With the backing of one of the game's true greats, Arnold Palmer, the GOLF CHANNEL was born in January of 1995. GOLF CHANNEL would televise seven Nationwide Tour events that first year, beginning with the Pensacola Open. More than 170 Nationwide Tour events have aired since. With an ever-expanding growth and reach, 120 million viewers worldwide now have access to "golf's home." Recognizing the growing stature and impact of the Nationwide Tour, GOLF CHANNEL is the Tour's exclusive television home and continues to showcase the PGA TOUR's "official proving ground" in the U.S. and abroad. Click for video |
Points secures TOUR card with incomparable finish in Miami
Few finishes in Nationwide Tour history compare with what D.A. Points pulled off at the 2008 Miccosukee Championship in Miami. Trailing leader Matt Bettencourt by one shot standing in the 72nd fairway, Points holed a wedge from 125 yards. The tournament went to extra holes when Bettencourt made his pressure-packed 15-footer for birdie. Returning to the same hole, Points nearly repeated his eagle performance, setting up a short birdie putt to capture the title. Click for video |
Nationwide Tour plays $1 million events for first time
Reflective of the growth the Nationwide Tour is enjoying, the 2008 Nationwide Tour Players Cup and Nationwide Tour Championship announced purses of $1 million, marking the first time the Tour played for seven figures in prize money. Click for video |
Nationwide signs on as umbrella sponsor
In July 2002, PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem announced that Nationwide Insurance would become the Tour's umbrella sponsor, beginning in 2003, with a five-year agreement. The partnership proved to be an excellent one for both Nationwide and the Tour, and in 2007, the agreement was extended for five years, making Nationwide the longest running sponsor in the Tour's history. Click for video |
Summerhays becomes first amateur winner
Playing on a special invitation as one of eight first-team college All-Americans in the 2007 Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational, Daniel Summerhays outlasted a strong field to win the inaugural event held in Nationwide's hometown of Columbus, Ohio. In so doing, the Brigham Young University product became the first amateur to enter the winners' circle in Nationwide Tour history. Click for video |
Gore's summer to remember
Jason Gore's summer to remember in 2005 began when the relative unknown captured the hearts of golf fans as he contended for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. A few weeks later on the Nationwide Tour, he won back-to-back events in West Virginia and Wisconsin. And three weeks after that, aided by a second-round 59 that included an eagle on the last hole, Gore won the Cox Classic in Omaha to become only the seventh player in Tour history to earn a three-win promotion to the PGA TOUR. Click for video |
Tour's first par-4 ace
Never before had a hole-in-one been made on a par 4 on the Nationwide Tour until Chip Beck hammered a drive onto the green and into the hole on the 315-yard ninth at Champions Run in Omaha, Neb., during the first round of the 2003 Cox Classic. At the time, Beck joined Andrew Magee as the only players in recorded TOUR history to make a 1 on a par-4, Magee having done so in the PGA TOUR's Phoenix Open in 2001. Click for video |
Day becomes Tour's youngest winner
With the support of his mom and coach, and inspiration from a Tiger Woods' book, 19-year-old Australian Jason Day arrived in America in 2007 set to tackle the Nationwide Tour and earn his path to the PGA TOUR. After a couple of near misses and a few eye-popping rounds in the low 60s early in the season, Day would put everything together in Cleveland, Ohio, where he won the Legend Financial Group Classic in July. At age 19 years, 7 months and 26 days, he became the Tour's youngest winner by almost two years. Click for video |
Lehman reaches No. 1 in the world
After pursuing his dream to become a world-class player in Asia, South Africa and elsewhere, American Tom Lehman joined the newly-born Nationwide Tour in 1990, winning once that first year. The next season he would win three times, hold the No. 1 spot on the money list for what is still a record 20 consecutive weeks and earn Player of the Year honors. Taking newfound confidence to the PGA TOUR, the Minnesota native won four big titles in the mid 90s, including the 1996 British Open, and climbed to No. 1 in the world the following April to become the first Nationwide Tour graduate to do so. Click for video |
John Daly becomes first alumnus to win a major championship
Just one year after the birth of the Nationwide Tour, John Daly became the first Tour alumnus to win a major. In his rookie year on the PGA TOUR, the Arkansas Razorback captures a three-shot victory over Bruce Lietzke in the 1991 PGA Championship, delighting the huge crowds at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana. Daly would go on to be named that year's Rookie of the Year, win another major at the 1995 British Open and collect five PGA TOUR titles overall. Click for video |
Three-Win PGA TOUR promotion established
In only its eighth season, the PGA TOUR Policy Board approves the three-win promotion, which grants players immediate access to the PGA TOUR upon winning three times in the same season on the Nationwide Tour. Chris Smith is the first player to achieve a promotion when it is introduced in 1997. In subsequent years, seven more players would earn promotions, including three who would win within two years of joining the PGA TOUR - Chad Campbell, Heath Slocum and Jason Gore. Click for video |
Notah Begay III posts first 59 in Nationwide Tour history
In May 1998, Tiger Woods' college teammate Notah Begay III closed with two birdies to record the first 59 in Nationwide Tour history at The Dominion Club outside Richmond, Va. He joins Al Geiberger and Chip Beck as the only players to break 60 in a PGA-TOUR sanctioned event. Four weeks later Doug Dunakey would match Begay's 59 near Dayton, Ohio, as would Jason Gore in 2005. Click for video |
Daniel Chopra smashes 72-hole scoring record
In May 2004, Swedish-born Daniel Chopra shattered the Nationwide Tour's 72-hole scoring record by four shots with a 30-under-par effort en route to victory at The Dominion Club near Richmond, Va. Firing on all cylinders throughout the week, Chorpa hit 46 of 56 fairways and 61 of 72 greens, and recorded birdies on 17 of Dominion's 18 holes and made just two bogies all week, both in the third round. His performance remains the lowest under-par score in Tour history. Click for video |
Jack Nicklaus and sons compete in a TOUR-sanctioned event for the first time
In May 2003, the golf world turns its focus on the Nationwide Tour when the game's greatest player, Jack Nicklaus, and his four sons are invited to play alongside the PGA TOUR's future stars at the 2003 BMW Charity Pro-Am. The Golden Bear and Jackie, Steve, Gary and Michael Nicklaus all tee off in the Nationwide Tour's popular pro-celebrity format at The Cliffs courses outside Greenville, S.C. It is the first time the five male members of the Nicklaus clan have played in the same TOUR-sanctioned event. Dad would outshine the boys by making the cut. Click for video |
Charitable impact on Nationwide Tour communities
Making an impact on charity in the communities tour events visit is the driving motivation of every tournament organization on the PGA TOUR, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour. Leading the way on the Nationwide Tour are the Albertsons Boise Open and the BMW Charity Pro-Am, both of which exceeded $1 million in 2007 alone, and the Price Cutter Charity Championship in Springfield, Mo. As the PGA TOUR drives towards its second billion dollars in charitable giving, the Nationwide Tour points with pride to its contributions to the overall effort. Click for video |
Impact on PGA TOUR -- 250th alumni win approaches
The Nationwide Tour uniquely prepares players to win on the PGA TOUR. Week in and week out alumni such as Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, Chad Campbell, Camilo Villegas, Boo Weekley and scores of others have produced more than 240 winning moments on TOUR. Their successes include major championships and wins at THE PLAYERS and spotlight the impact the Nationwide Tour has had on professional golf. The watch is on to see which alumnus captures milestone victory No. 250, likely during the 2009 season. Click for video |
Omar Uresti posts TOUR-record nine straight birdies
On April 24, 1994, Omar Uresti made PGA TOUR history with an unprecedented streak of nine consecutive birdies during the third round of the Shreveport Open. The Austin, Texas, native birdied the fourth through 12th holes at Southern Trace Country Club and would go on to shoot a course-record 63. Carrying a four-shot cushion into the last day, Uresti would claim the first of his two Nationwide Tour wins. His streak has never been equaled on the Nationwide Tour, PGA TOUR or Champions Tour nor on the European or Australasia tours. Click for video |
Zach Johnson wins the 2007 Masters
Four years after earning Nationwide Tour Player of the Year honors in dominating fashion, Zach Johnson becomes the first Nationwide Tour alumnus to win the Masters tournament with his 2007 victory. The victory completes what John Daly (1991 PGA Championship, 1995 British Open) and Ernie Els (1994 U.S. Open) began -- the Nationwide Tour's grand slam of golf's four major championship titles. Click for video |
Tour is announced at a Fort Worth, Texas, press conference
In October, 1989, the PGA TOUR announced plans to start a new tour with the support of the legendary Ben Hogan and his golf equipment company. Four months later, the 30-event tour is officially launched when then-Commissioner Deane Beman hits the ceremonial first tee shot at Bakersfield (Calif.) Country Club. Twenty years later, the Nationwide Tour has evolved into the recognized proving ground of the PGA TOUR, transitioning hundreds of world-class players and TOUR champions onto the games biggest stage. Click for video |
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