Nationwide Tour players start going with the flow now

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Jim Herman has one win and four missed cuts in his five starts on the Nationwide Tour this year.

Settling into a rhythm on the Nationwide Tour isn't as easy as it sounds.

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Jim Herman, who is second on the Tour's money list, is looking forward to the next part of the season when the schedule is more compressed and consistent.

"I think once you start playing week after week you can kind get into a flow that makes it a little easier," said Herman, who was one of five different winners during the first five events.

The Nationwide Tour returns to action next week at the Fresh Express Classic at the TPC Stonebrae near San Francisco to begin a stretch of three straight weeks.

Herman won't make the cross-country trip from his home in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He will be driving to Georgia, though, as the Tour stops in Valdosta and Athens.

"It saves going across country and back, and it obviously helps that I won earlier this year," Herman said.

While he can take the week off thanks to his victory at the Moonah Classic, other players bidding to crack "The 25" can't afford to miss a week.

"It's nice to have some time off like this and hopefully I can have some good vibes when I get back out there," Herman said.

Herman and the other four winners this season (Bobby Gates, Fran Quinn, Steve Pate and Fabian Gomez) have given the Tour a variety of interesting storylines.

For Pate, who at age 48 became the oldest champion in the 21-year history of the Tour, the victory offers hope for the future as he looks ahead to the Champions Tour.

And Gomez, a 31-year-old from Argentina, greatly enhanced his chances of staying inside the top 25 on the money list to earn a PGA TOUR card for 2011 when he won the Chitimacha Louisiana Open. A year ago he missed by two spots.

"Anybody who won during our first five tournaments is in great position, but you still have to put your head down and keep plugging," Herman said. "It's a long season and there's a lot of golf left."

Here are five things to look for in the coming weeks on the Nationwide Tour:

1. Rookie James Hahn will likely win, and it could be in at the Fresh Express Classic. Hahn has made all five cuts so far this season and is 13th on the money list. He also plays and practices at the TPC Stonebrae so the home-course advantage will help.

2. Sam Saunders, who is better known as a grandson of Arnold Palmer, will contend in a Nationwide Tour event. Saunders, who left Clemson after three years to pursue the dream, will try to earn a PGA TOUR card for next season by playing on the Nationwide Tour.

3. One of the winners from the first five events will win again. Bobby Gates has struggled since winning early in the year, but that doesn't mean he won't catch fire again. And don't be surprised if Gomez or Herman pick up another victory very soon.

4. A young gun will eventually win. Jamie Lovemark is too good and once he figures it out he will get it done. Kevin Chappell is another young player who has all the tools.

5. Parity will rule the day this season. It will be extremely hard for anybody to win three Nationwide Tour tournaments to get the battlefield promotion to the PGA TOUR. There's just too much talent out there.

John Dell has covered golf for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina for the last 15 years. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.