Nationwide grads nearing 300 wins on TOUR

Wednesday, 02 March 2011 17:15

Notes: Nationwide grads nearing 300 wins on TOUR
Mar. 1, 2011 By Nationwide Tour staff

BACK IN THE WINNER'S CIRCLE Mathew Goggin's win at the Panama CLARO Championship was the 45th Nationwide Tour title by an Australian. Twenty-five different Aussies have contributed to the total. Canada is next in wins by players from outside the U.S. with 18. The 36-year-old Goggin spent the past five years and nine of the last 11 on the PGA TOUR. It was his first Nationwide Tour victory since he won twice in 1999 -- the third-longest span between wins in Tour history at 11 years, 6 month and 19 days. Goggin's Aussie mate Alistair Presnell pushed into the lead on the back nine, only to post bogies on 15, 16 and 17. He finished T2 with American Darron Stiles. Golf fans will remember Goggin contended for the 2009 British Open title (T5), having been paired with Tom Watson in the last group on the last day.

CLOSING IN ON 300 For the eighth consecutive week this year, a Nationwide Tour alumnus has won on the PGA TOUR. Johnson Wagner's victory in the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun was the 296th alumni win since the Tour's inception in 1990. Wagner also won the Shell Houston Open in 2008. He is a 2006 graduate of the Nationwide Tour. Alumni have now won events each of the last nine weeks on TOUR, dating back to Robert Garrigus' win in the season-ending tournament at Disney in October.

COMPTON ON A GOOD RUN Erik Compton went from being the third to last player to get in the Panama CLARO Championship to making a run for his first Nationwide Tour title. The former Univ. of Georgia All-American was a co-leader after the first two rounds, sole leader after the third and still atop the leader board through 13 holes in the Sunday's finale. Goggin grabbed the lead with timely birdies on Nos. 14 and 16. Compton slipped over the final five holes making bogies on 14 and 15 and a double-bogey on the 18th to finish T4.

Despite not making any birdies on Sunday, Compton led the field with 17 for the week. The two-time heart transplant recipient is on a nice two-week run. After Monday-qualifying for the PGA TOUR's Northern Trust Open and finishing T25, he caught a red-eye flight home to Miami, only to find out late last Monday morning a spot had opened up for him in the Panama field. Compton remained home on Tuesday to help celebrate his daughter's birthday, then flew south on Wednesday. Without a practice round, the 31-year-old birdied the first five holes and six of his first seven to shot 29 on Thursday. Compton's top-25 finish secured him a spot in this week's Pacific Rubiales Bogot

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