1997 Nike Tour


The 1997 Nike Tour season was the eighth season of the Nike Tour, the PGA Tour's official developmental tour, now known as the Web.com Tour. The top fifteen players on the final money list earned PGA Tour cards for 1998.

Schedule

The season ran from January 30 to October 19 and consisted of 29 events. All of the tournament names began with "Nike", e. g. "Nike Lakeland Classic"; this is eliminated here for brevity.
A policy was enacted before the season to immediately promote to the PGA Tour any player who won three times in a Nike Tour season. With his win at the Omaha Classic, Chris Smith became the first golfer to earn a three-win promotion.
DateTournamentLocationWinner
Feb 2Lakeland ClassicFlorida Ryan Howison
Feb 23Inland Empire OpenCalifornia Mark Carnevale
Mar 16Monterrey OpenMexico Mike Small
Mar 30Louisiana OpenLouisiana Joe Daley
Apr 6Greater Austin OpenTexas Eric Booker
Apr 20Mississippi Gulf Coast ClassicMississippi Jeff Brehaut
Apr 27Alabama ClassicAlabama John Elliott
May 4South Carolina ClassicSouth Carolina Harrison Frazar
May 11Carolina ClassicNorth Carolina Ahmad Bateman
May 18Dominion OpenVirginia Jeff Julian
Jun 1Upstate ClassicSouth Carolina Chris Smith
Jun 8Knoxville OpenTennessee Dave Rummells
Jun 15Miami Valley OpenOhio Trevor Dodds
Jun 22Cleveland OpenOhio Mike Small
Jul 6Hershey OpenPennsylvania Barry Cheesman
Jul 13Laurel Creek ClassicNew Jersey Matt Gogel
Jul 20St. Louis Golf ClassicMissouri Todd Gleaton
Jul 27Wichita OpenKansas Ben Bates
Aug 3Dakota Dunes OpenSouth Dakota Chris Smith
Aug 10Omaha ClassicNebraska Chris Smith
Aug 17Ozarks OpenMissouri Chris DiMarco
Aug 24Permian Basin OpenTexas Paul Gow
Sep 7Colorado ClassicColorado Pat Bates
Sep 14San Jose OpenCalifornia R. W. Eaks
Sep 21Boise OpenIdaho Iain Steel
Sep 28Tri-Cities OpenWashington Todd Gleaton
Oct 5Puget Sound OpenWashington Kevin Johnson
Oct 12Shreveport OpenLouisiana Mark Wurtz
Oct 19Nike Tour ChampionshipAlabama Steve Flesch

Money list

For a complete list of the top fifteen players on the final money list, who earned PGA Tour cards for 1998, see 1997 Nike Tour graduates.
RankPlayerCountryEarnings
1Chris Smith225,201
2Mark Carnevale184,997
3Chris DiMarco135,513
4Steve Flesch133,190
5Trevor Dodds130,983
6Barry Cheesman120,033
7J. L. Lewis119,829
8Brian Kamm118,005
9R. W. Eaks117,665
10Glen Hnatiuk116,381