“I’m trying to get in some Nationwide (Tour events) but I haven’t yet,” Hnatiuk said from his Florida home on Thursday.

“We’ll see how the summer goes. I’ve been working on my game and we’ll see how it progresses, how my swing progresses.

“I’m trying to compete again and I’ve got some swing changes going, all for the better, and if there’s some progress in my game then we’ll see about going to tour school.”

A rash of injuries hastened Hnatiuk’s exit from the PGA Tour on a full-time basis.

He hasn’t played an event since the 2005 Canadian Open and he hasn’t played full-time tour golf since 2006, when he played the Nationwide Tour.

But his latest problem, a bad shoulder, has healed and the pressure and stress he put on it to prepare for and compete in last fall’s Q-school, plus his recent work, tells him it’s fine.

“Physically, I feel pretty good,” Hnatiuk said. “Those injuries I went through were tough, but I’m feeling pretty fit and I work at being fit. I can say my body’s better than when I went on tour.

“And my age? I haven’t thought of it until I play with somebody out of college, but other than that, never.”

Hnatiuk’s addition to the Players Cup field brings together a fairly stellar collection of Manitobans for this Canadian Tour event.

Tournament director Mitch Zalnasky said Thursday that in addition to recent winner Adam Speirs, he expects tour members Ryan Horn and Matt Johnston to be in the starting field, along with three-time Canadian Tour champ Rob McMillan.

In addition, tournament exemptions have been extended to Dean North and Derek Ingram of the Manitoba section of the Canadian PGA, as well as amateurs Brad Kirton, the 2007 Manitoba amateur champ, and Garth Collings, who will be inducted into the Manitoba Golf Hall of Fame this fall.

Hnatiuk has a very low category of status on the Nationwide Tour based on his four career victories, but said he’s itching to play some tournament golf.

And so the Canadian Tour, where he kept a membership all the years he played the tours in the U.S., will be his 2008 debut.

“Competition is great everywhere; it doesn’t matter where you go, to the Nationwide or Canadian Tours,” he said. “I expect to have to play my best to win or have a chance.”

Whether he’s been playing or not, he knows there will be expectations.

“It doesn’t matter at what point you are, when you enter, you expect to win and I’m going to do my best,” said Hnatiuk, who will do the Monday Investors Group KidSport clinic at Pine Ridge during tournament week.

“I’m not going to guarantee anything. I haven’t played a tournament since tour school but I was extended this invitation and for the first time in a long time I didn’t have to take a week off the big tour to come, so I took it.

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