1997 Nike Tour

The 1997 Nike Tour was the eighth season of the Nike Tour, the official development tour to the PGA Tour.

1997 Nike Tour season

Duration	January 30, 1997 (1997-01-30) – October 19, 1997 (1997-10-19)
Number of official events	29
Most wins	Chris Smith (3)
Money list	Chris Smith
Player of the Year	Chris Smith
← 1996 1998 →

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1997 season.^[1][2]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (US$)	Winner[a]	Notes
Feb 2	Nike Lakeland Classic	Florida	200,000	Ryan Howison (1)	New tournament
Feb 23	Nike Inland Empire Open	California	200,000	Mark Carnevale (1)
Mar 16	Nike Monterrey Open	Mexico	225,000	Mike Small (1)
Mar 30	Nike Louisiana Open	Louisiana	300,000	Joe Daley (1)
Apr 6	Nike Greater Austin Open	Texas	200,000	Eric Booker (1)	New tournament
Apr 20	Nike Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic	Mississippi	200,000	Jeff Brehaut (2)
Apr 27	Nike Alabama Classic	Alabama	200,000	John Elliott (2)
May 4	Nike South Carolina Classic	South Carolina	200,000	Harrison Frazar (1)
May 11	Nike Carolina Classic	North Carolina	200,000	Ahmad Bateman (1)
May 18	Nike Dominion Open	Virginia	225,000	Jeff Julian (1)
Jun 1	Nike Upstate Classic	South Carolina	200,000	Chris Smith (3)
Jun 8	Nike Knoxville Open	Tennessee	200,000	Dave Rummells (2)
Jun 15	Nike Miami Valley Open	Ohio	200,000	Trevor Dodds (2)
Jun 22	Nike Cleveland Open	Ohio	200,000	Mike Small (2)
Jul 6	Nike Hershey Open	Pennsylvania	200,000	Barry Cheesman (2)	New tournament
Jul 13	Nike Laurel Creek Classic	New Jersey	200,000	Matt Gogel (2)
Jul 20	Nike St. Louis Golf Classic	Missouri	200,000	Todd Gleaton (1)
Jul 27	Nike Wichita Open	Kansas	200,000	Ben Bates (1)
Aug 3	Nike Dakota Dunes Open	South Dakota	200,000	Chris Smith (4)
Aug 10	Nike Omaha Classic	Nebraska	200,000	Chris Smith (5)[b]
Aug 17	Nike Ozarks Open	Missouri	200,000	Chris DiMarco (1)
Aug 24	Nike Permian Basin Open	Texas	200,000	Paul Gow (1)
Sep 7	Nike Colorado Classic	Colorado	200,000	Pat Bates (2)
Sep 14	Nike San Jose Open	California	200,000	R. W. Eaks (3)
Sep 21	Nike Boise Open	Idaho	275,000	Iain Steel (1)
Sep 28	Nike Tri-Cities Open	Washington	200,000	Todd Gleaton (2)
Oct 5	Nike Puget Sound Open	Washington	200,000	Kevin Johnson (1)
Oct 12	Nike Shreveport Open	Louisiana	200,000	Mark Wurtz (1)
Oct 19	Nike Tour Championship	Alabama	300,000	Steve Flesch (1)	Tour Championship

Money list

For full rankings, see 1997 Nike Tour graduates.

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in U.S. dollars.^[4][5] The top 15 players on the money list earned status to play on the 1998 PGA Tour.^[6]

Position	Player	Prize money ($)
1	Chris Smith	225,201
2	Mark Carnevale	184,997
3	Chris DiMarco	135,513
4	Steve Flesch	133,190
5	Trevor Dodds	130,983

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Player of the Year	Chris Smith	[7]

Notes

1. The number in parentheses after each winner's name is the number of Nike Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Nike Tour members. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Nike Tour as success at this level usually leads to promotion to the PGA Tour.
2. Smith earned immediate promotion to the PGA Tour, as this was his third win of the season.^[3]