Australians On Tour Wrapup - Nationwide Tour

This week The Year In Golf and Aussie Golfer have a look at the Nationwide Tour.

Out of all the tours this year, Australians had the most success on the Nationwide. Seven wins over the course of the season.

Jarrod Lyle - Mexico Open
Ewan Porter - Moonah Classic
Gavin Coles - Chitimacha Louisiana Open
Aron Price - Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship
Greg Chalmers - Henrico County Open
Jarrod Lyle - Knoxville Open
Marc Leishman - WNB Golf Classic

Jarrod Lyle showed some consistency through the year with two wins and four other top ten finishes, helping him to fourth on the money list, and securing his PGA Tour card for 2009.

Perhaps the most consistent though was Greg Chalmers, who we will see back on the PGA Tour again in 2009 thanks to one win and nine other top ten finishes. His short game and putting have improved this year, and hopefully he can keep that up on the main tour.

In his first full year on the Nationwide Tour, Marc Leishman steps straight into the big time in 2009. A win, a second and three other top ten’s helped Marc finish inside the top 25 that automatically gain entry to the PGA Tour.

Perennial struggler (if you can call winning over half a million US dollars struggling) Gavin Coles will probably be spending all his time on the Nationwide Tour in 2009 after finishing 159th on the PGA Tour money list. It must be the underdog thing, but I would love to see him win a PGA Tour event and really secure his future on the main tour.

Positions and Earnings on the 2008 Nationwide Tour

4 Jarrod Lyle $382,738
8 Greg Chalmers $321,930
18 Aron Price $249,144
T19 Marc Leishman $244,224
41 Ewan Porter $159,124
48 Gavin Coles $142,000
50 Won Joon Lee $137,694