By Jon Levy - Staff Writer

May 26, 2010

With a pair of near misses -- T2s -- at last week’s HP Byron Nelson Championship, Blake Adams and Jeff Overton continue an amazing year by former Gateway Tour players on the PGA TOUR. It was a weird and wild end to the Dallas, Tex. TOUR event, a staple on the PGA TOUR that saw Jason Day earn his first TOUR win via a sloppy bogey on the last, but it was an event that also ultimately saw Adams secure his highest finish on TOUR to date.

Earning $485,333.33 along with Overton, Adams moves to $821,168 on the year and to 53rd in the FedEx Cup points standing. Never mind the Oklahoma native’s double-bogey on the final hole to fall two shots short of playing partner, Day, the finish came as Adams’ second top-10 of the year and eighth of 14 cuts made. More importantly, as Adams is halfway through his rookie season after earning almost $400,000 on the Nationwide Tour last year, he’s almost certainly now locked in his TOUR card for 2011.

And speaking of locking things in, Overton, with his finish -- a second runner-up that comes on the heels of his runner-up at the Zurich Classic a few weeks ago -- has locked in his most lucrative year on the PGA TOUR ($1,387,541 in earnings to date) and has hit the $5 million mark in career PGA TOUR earnings since 2006. Not bad for the former Walker Cup star and Indiana native who played on The Gateway Tour en route to PGA TOUR stardom just a few short years ago.

So, where do these guys go from here?

Only time will tell, of course, but we can take a look at where Adams, specifically, and most recently, came from: The Nationwide Tour.

Every week, we chronicle the successes of former Gateway Tour players on the PGA TOUR’s younger brother. And, in each and every event played, it seems easy to do so because there are droves of Gateway Alumni who constantly litter the leaderboard, stacked up in the top-10. Case and point: Last week at the Rex Hospital Open, another five former Gateway Tour players accomplished the top-10-feat.

Starting with Chris Nallen, who played The Gateway Tour earlier this year, he lost to champ, John Riegger, by five strokes in the 54-hole rain-shortened event, but he beat the rest of the field by three to secure solo second and a $59,400 paycheck. The University of Arizona grad now stands at $80,896 and in 19th in THE 25, and with over $530,000 in career Nationwide Tour earnings, is in great shape to reach the PGA TOUR for the first time in his career.

Moving down the leaderboard, former players B.J. Staten (T3), Troy Kelly (T6), Ron Whittaker (T6) and Ted Brown (T9) also found their way into the top-10. The finishes accounted for the second top-10 on the year for Staten, and first for Kelly, Whittaker and Brown. Staten now stands at $58,154 and in 31st on the money list -- and in great shape to make a run for a 2011 TOUR card -- but for the other three, who stand at $31,145, $20,347 and $22,477, respectively, the all-important finishes have them at least breathing a sigh of relief towards retaining their Nationwide Tour cards next season.

The Nationwide Tour being what it is: An ultra-competitive circuit that favors no one for a permanent home; any player is most definitely happy to put themselves in a good position to retain the following year’s status before they even think of the possibility of earning a PGA TOUR card. Because of the uncertainty of professional golf, securing a home -- a tour to play -- is ultimately the bottom line.

That said, however, with just a good week or two on the Nationwide Tour and the explosive potential its tournaments’ prize-winnings boast, things can certainly change -- and the PGA TOUR can come a-calling -- in a hurry. Keep it going, Alumni…


Click here for full field results of the HP Byron Nelson Championship and here for full field results of the Rex Hospital Open, from pgatour.com…