Craig Bowden, Close Up

Craig Bowden is what sportswriters refer to as a journeyman.

He's spent the last decade shuttling between the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour, pro golf's version of Triple-A ball.

It's easy to forget that this puts him in the sport's top one-hundredth of one percent. Bowden finished fourth on the Nationwide money list in 2006, with $334,671, to play his way back into the sport's highest echelon, with the goal of establishing himself as a familiar name.

This straight-hitting veteran is a straight shooter, too, as TheStreet.com found out in this interview.

TheStreet.com: How much difference is there between a Nationwide Tour pro and a PGA Tour pro?

Bowden: The top 30 on the PGA Tour money list are pretty darn good. We haven't had a whole lot of guys from the Nationwide go out on the PGA Tour and make the top 30. But this year there were 10-12 Nationwide graduates [who] kept their PGA Tour card, so it's very competitive on the Nationwide. There are guys capable of winning on the PGA Tour, but none of us are gonna, say, win the money title. That ain't gonna happen.

Is there anything you'll miss about the Nationwide Tour?

Every Nationwide Tour pro who makes the big tour answers that question the same way: the camaraderie, the fellowship, the closeness, the family-ness. You don't have that on the regular Tour as much.

Why? Are the stakes too high?

You get some egos on the regular Tour. Guys get a lot of money in their bank account and they feel they're a bit of a different person than what they were before on other tours. It's sad, but it happens.

Did you treat yourself to anything special after you clinched your PGA Tour card for 2007?

A new motor home -- that was a pretty big ticket. If you consider spending $375,000 on that treating yourself to something, then I'd say yes. It's how my family and I will get around week to week. It's a Newmar Mountain Aire, and we're really excited about it.