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Golf: On Nationwide Tour, golfers battling for final 25 spots Although the top 13 players, including No. 1 Brendon de Jonge ($362,256), have already made enough cash to start thinking of next season's PGA Tour, there remains a battle between those ranked between 14 through 25 and beyond. Only $174 separate the No. 25 and No. 26 golfer on the money list. Utah product Daniel Summerhays, ranked 34th coming into this week's event at Willow Creek Country Club in Sandy, is $27,648 away from No. 25 Ryan Hietala, winner of the Cox Classic. So all eyes will be on the $99,000 winner's share of a $550,000 purse when the field tees off Thursday morning. As Scott Piercy proved, under the right circumstances, upward movement can happen quickly. For example, with two wins and a sixth in his last three tournaments, Piercy has leapfrogged all the way from 123rd to 12th on the money list. Only Jason Gore, who won in three consecutive starts midway through the 2005 season, managed a better stretch on the Nationwide. The top 25 earners from the Nationwide automatically qualify for the PGA Tour. "This has been in the making for a while,'' the 29-year-old Piercy said after winning the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic. "I discovered what makes me tick on the golf course. I learned to control myself better, to be patient.'' In his only appearance at the Utah Championship in 2003, Piercy tied for 22nd. "Greens in regulation are my key,'' said Piercy, 42 under par in his last 216 holes. "They'll have a hard time beating me when I do that consistently. I think I've proved that the last few weeks.'' E-mail: martyr@sltrib.com
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