PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The biggest difference between the PGA TOUR and the Nationwide Tour isn't the courses. It isn't the purses. It's not even the faces. It's the relationships. And keeping those relationships intact was the first order of business at Monday night's Nationwide Tour reunion in celebration of its 20th year.
With Tour President Bill Calfee on the grill and the big blue Tour truck looming large in the parking lot behind the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass, Nationwide Tour alums from the 1980s to 2008 gathered to catch up with old friends during the PGA TOUR's biggest week of the year. And that's the spirit of this Tour -- even with THE PLAYERS Championship taking the main stage this week, these guys found time to be a part of the festivities.
"Guys don't show up to these things very often," said Charley Hoffman, a PGA TOUR winner and Nationwide Tour member from 2000-2005. "Especially on a Monday, so seeing all these guys (players) here shows how much these guys (Nationwide Tour staff) mean to us and how much the Nationwide Tour meant to us."
Hoffman wasn't the only Tour alum to utter that sentiment over burgers, brats and beer Monday night. "They turned me around as a person, these guys in this truck here," said Boo Weekley. "They believe in all of us. They helped me start believing in who I was and what I wanted to do."
With two PGA TOUR victories in as many seasons under Boo's belt as well as a crucial role in the U.S. Ryder Cup team's 2008 success, it seems the Nationwide Tour guys were spot on. And Boo doesn't want them to forget it. "I still think about them as much as they think about me," he said.
Take a walk through "the truck" -- as all the players fondly call it -- and you'll see that the alums are still very much on the minds of the Nationwide Tour roadies. Signed flags from TOUR victories of proven stars like Nick Watney, Aaron Baddeley, Zach Johnson, Daniel Chopra, Brandt Snedeker and more splash the walls with color and character -- the same character that being a part of this Tour instills in players.
Flags aren't the only reminder of players who have moved on to greener pastures, though. A plasma TV mounted on the wall bears the autograph of the guy who bought it for the team -- Johnson Wagner. "We bet him that if he won in Omaha, he'd buy us a TV," said Patrick Nichol, operations coordinator for the Nationwide Tour.
Wagner did, of course, win the Cox Classic in 2006, and true to his promise, he picked up the TV at the Tour's next stop. When he won on the PGA TOUR in 2008 at the Shell Houston Open -- earning the final spot in that year's Masters -- he sent the truck an autographed flag with the message "I'm glad to see you watching me on my TV" written on it.
Ask anyone on this Tour for a 100 tales just like that, and they'll have them ready for you. "Most of those guys have stories about me," said Jerry Kelly, who just earned his third PGA TOUR title two weeks ago at the Zurich Classic.
"I spent three years on that Tour, and it was absolutely instrumental. I always think if I had made it on TOUR when I was missing by a shot (to reach q-school finals) any of those years, I wouldn't have the longevity on TOUR that I do now."
And that's why proven champions like Kelly don't want to forget their Nationwide Tour roots. This Tour is the proving ground of the PGA TOUR, but it's also a family that, no matter how long you're away from it, will always welcome you back.
"I love the Nationwide Tour," Calfee said. "It's a different atmosphere. It's closer, less pressure, but there are a lot of good feelings. The guys want to come back and have such good memories of what the Tour has done for them and their careers."
So with smoke coming off the grill and coozies in hand, the patchwork of champions past and present went to work on creating some new memories around the old truck.
TOUR vet Woody Austin congratulated Kelly on his latest win with a kick in the behind. Ryan Palmer and John Rollins brought their kids out to play. And as the evening wound down -- several hours after it began -- Stewart Cink, Tim Herron, Weekley and Wagner were all still there, enjoying the company, the Calfee cookout and the truck.
"I don't even know where the trucks are for the regular TOUR," Rollins said.
Perhaps that's the difference.
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