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| A Look Back: Nov. 26 1874: Fred Herd, winner of the 1898 U.S. Open, is born in St. Andrews, Scotland. He died on March 14, 1954. 1962: John Inman, former PGA Tour member and current University of North Carolina men's golf coach, is born in Greensboro, N.C. 1972: Johnny Miller wins the Sea Pines Heritage Classic by a stroke over Tom Weiskopf. 1989: Curtis Strange wins $265,000 to claim the Skins Game title. 2000: Colin Montgomeries wins three skins in a three-holf playoff to win $415,000 in the Skins Game. |
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Business
Equipment maker
GolfGear International reports third-quarter net sales of $417,362 and
a net loss of $367,228, as compared with net sales of $573,702 and a net loss
of $382,428 for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2000. Company president Don Anderson
attributed a 27 percent decrease in sales to a decline in orders from retail customers.
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Travel
GolfServ
and PerryGolf are joining together to send one winner and seven golfing buddies
to Scotland for GolfServ's "8 Friends Free to Scotland Golf Sweepstakes."
Beginning today through June 17, 2002, golfers can register online to win a free
trip for eight to play Scotland's finest courses and stay in deluxe accommodations.
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InterGolf
Vacations announces its 2002 Scotland in the Spring Self-Drive Tours, valid
April 1-30, 2002, from $1,999 per golfer including economy airfare and guaranteed
golf at Turnberry and the Old Course, St. Andrews.
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Equipment
New clubs
from Golf USA hit that company's retail stores in time for Christmas shopping.
The Tour Eagle2 and MXD2 are priced as complete sets, 3 woods and 8 irons -- the
Tour Eagle2, which retails for $149, is for the beginning golfer, and the MXD2,
at $254, is targeted for the intermediate to advanced golfer.
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People
Course architecture
firm Cornish, Silva & Mungeam hires Brian A. Johnson as an associate designer.
Johnson, a landscape architecture graduate from Iowa State University, joined
the firm last June.
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more...
Events
Pre-registration,
online registration and phone registration are tools that Reed Exhibitions, organizers
of the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, plan to utilize to make it easier
for attendees of the show. More than 1,500 exhibitors are signed up for the show,
which is the world's largest.
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more...
Annika
Sorenstam hosts the Links Virtual Golf Association Tour Championship at
the World Golf Hall of Fame in Florida, in which Paul Willey of Maine won $50,000
and the title of "World's Best PC Golfer."
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more...
Instruction
Palm Coast
Golf Resort, in partnership with Marc Solomon and Golf Made Simple Golf School,
is offering a "Risk-Free & Guaranteed Golf School" through April 30, 2002.
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more...
Technology
A
new Web site from travel company InterGolf Vacations features policies
and tour options, detailed information on destinations and tours, frequently asked
questions, detailed information on making a reservation and an interactive Price
Your Own Tour engine with excellent value vacations from Canada to Scotland.
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more...
People, Places &
Things
Pinnacle
of Pressure: PGA Tour Q-School
The event is the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament and the numbers are simple: 167 players playing for 35 PGA Tour cards.
Beginning Wednesday, the assembled players at Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., will begin the final stage in their attempt to earn a place on the PGA Tour for 2002 -- the top 35 plus ties earning coveted cards. The consolation prize for those who do not will be various forms of Buy.com Tour status.
The Masters has its back-nine Sunday drama and the U.S. and British Opens are steeped in lasting legacies, which helps explain why they are the most difficult tournaments to win. Doubtful, though, is there any more difficult a tournament to play than the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.
While winning a major helps define a career, earning a Tour card helps define a life, opening the opportunity to play for millions of dollars each week and potentially secure a player's -- and his family's -- future. Therein lies the knee-knocking, white-knuckle pressure -- players dream and drool of such a chance.
Chad Campbell was the leading money winner on the Buy.com Tour in 2001, winning $394,552 in 23 events. Campbell's winnings, however, would have ranked 129th on the PGA Tour money list, which would have earned him a ticket back to Q-School for not finishing in the top 125. Fortunately Campbell was rewarded for his efforts with a PGA Tour card.
For many, reaching the final requires advancing through a grueling two-stage process that whittles away over 1,000 applincants. For those fortunate to survive and advance to the final, awaiting them is a six-round tournament.
Last year Stephen Allan was the Q-School medalist and won $50,000. What a player does after Q-School, though, is what matters most. Allan struggled throughout 2001 to keep his card, ultimately losing it after earning $156,686 and finishing 185th on the money list. Allan will be at Bear Lakes this week, as will 1999 Q-School medalist Blaine McCallister, who fared only slightly better by winning $280,589 and finishing 149th on the money list.
Scott Verplank (1997) and Mike Weir (1998) both were Q-School medalists and have flourished. Verplank has revived a once promising career to the point he was selected to the U.S. Ryder Cup team this year, while Weir has become one of the PGA Tour's premier players, having won once each of the last three years.
With each passing round this week, there will be no greater drama in all of golf than the stories of those players hovering around that magical cut-off line.
A year ago, Joe Daley was one of those flirting with fortune or failure. In six rounds, where 432 was considered par, one shot really did make all the difference. Any of the 418 shot he struck that week could have been considered "the one," but he will likely remember a two-foot putt that disappeared into the cup and bounced back out. Daley missed earning his care by that one shot.
"I could have told you then that he was going to miss by one stroke," said fellow Q-School participant Cameron Beckman of Daley. "Sometimes in golf, I think people who win tournaments ... it's determined before you tee off. Because the stuff that happens is completely goofy."
Certainly, Daley might have liked to have known that before he put himself through the pepper-grinder pressure. As would the final field for this year's Q-School.
On Air: The Golf Channel (Saturday-Sunday, 12:30-3 p.m. ET; Monday, 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET). Schedule subject to change.