2008 Gateway Tour money leaders
Desert Series (Scottsdale)
Jesse Mueller       $49,347
Ben Kern              $33,915
Niklas Lemke       $33,282
Benoit Beisser      $29,469
Kane Hanson        $26,144
Beach Series (West Palm Beach, Fla.)
Justin Hicks          $39,763
Jeremy Pope         $35,319
Brandon Knaus     $31,759
Kyle Dobbs           $29,111
Jamie Neher          $24,368

IF YOU GO
 Gateway Tour Winter Series Championship
Where: Encanterra Club
1035 E. Combs Road, Queen Creek
When: Today through Saturday
Format: 72 holes stroke play
Tickets: Admission is free
Purse: $200,000; $30,000 to the winner
Directions: Take Highway 60 east to Ironwood Road,
go south approximately 15 miles, turn east on Combs Road,
go approximately one-half mile, turn right into front gate.

         The ever-expanding Gateway Tour is on the move again. This time the Scottsdale-based minitour is setting up shop in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
         Counting its other minitour in West Palm Beach, Fla., that brings to three the number of circuits currently waving the Gateway Tour banner. There certainly are a lot of moving parts, said Jon Levy, the director of communications for the Gateway gang.
          “We’ll be moving in to what we call the DFW Series – Dallas-Fort Worth – this summer,’’ said Levy, who formerly was the golf coach at Scottsdale Community College.
          “But first we’ve got a rather large event planned this week for the top money winners from our winter series in both Scottsdale and Florida. It’s a guaranteed $200,000 event with $30,000 going to the winner, and we’ll be playing it at Tom Lehman’s new Encanterra golf course in Queen Creek.’’
          The Gateway’s Winter Series Championship, which takes place today through Sunday, coupled with its spring, summer and tour championships will pay out a guaranteed $1.1 million. Even more impressive, Levy added, the total money on the tour in 2008 will reach another record, somewhere in the $8 million to $9 million range.
            “That guaranteed money for our series championships and tour championship -- $1.1 million – is something that has never been done on any minitour, to my knowledge, and we’re pretty proud of that,’’ Levy noted. “That and we’ve developed some very good players since we started our operation here in Scottsdale seven years ago.’’
            No kidding, as 25 former Gateway alumni have reached the PGA Tour, and 59 have gone on to the Nationwide Tour. It also must be noted that 57 Gateway Tour players made it to the PGA Tour qualifying school finals last year.
            This season, three Gateway graduates – Kevin Streelman, Tommy “Two Gloves’’ Gainey and Steve Marino – made the big jump to the PGA Tour.
             “We take a lot of pride in setting up the courses and the competition to be just like it would be for the guys if they were on the big tour,’’ added Levy, noting that this week’s event will be played today through Sunday over 72 holes.
             “That will again be the case at Encanterra, where we’ll set the course up as tough as it can play (at 7,248 yards).’’
              The leading money winner from the Scottsdale winter series is a familiar name, as Jesse Mueller, who has only one victory but four other top-five finishes that have piled up $49,347, was an All-American at Arizona State. The leading money winner from West Palm Beach is Justin Hicks with $39,763.
              Other players to watch include Scottsdale’s Ben Kern, a former star at Kansas State who also won the Arizona Match Play Championship; Niklas Lemke, another former ASU All-American who graduated last spring; Benoit Bessier, who ranks No. 4 on the local money; former PGA Tour player Jerry Smith of Scottsdale; and Phoenix’s Brian Kontak, the all-time leading money winner on the Gateway who recently captured “The Big Break: Mesquite’’ on The Golf Channel.