Golf International Magazine Online

November 2007 - Posts

• Golf's Toughest Test Starts At Q-School

  Eighteen players who made it through 108 holes of stomach churning last year at Q-school earned their PGA Tour cards, and what did that get them? A return trip to what many consider to be the toughest six days in golf. The reality of Q-school is that six days is not nearly as difficult as the 10 months that follow. The final stage of PGA Tour qualifying started Wednesday at Orange County National in Orlando, Fla., and most of the 166 players would do well to remember the words of Rich Beem. He was asked what his goal was after earning his tour card in 1998. "Keep my job," Beem said, pausing after each word. "Are you kidding?" he continued. "I was so lost out there, I didn't even figure out until after the tournament in Hawaii that they gave us free food. I ate hot dogs at that tent between the first and 10th tee all week. I never expected to be where I am now. I wanted to keep my job, or at least say that I played on the PGA Tour for a year." Next year will be his 10th straight season on tour. Not bad for a guy who was selling car stereos in Seattle. Beem is one example of why Q-school remains as meaningful today as its first year in 1965. Guys like Beem are why some two-dozen players will leave Orange County National next Monday with high hopes. If nothing else, a PGA Tour card is a license to dream. Beem eventually found player dining in the months after Q-school, and drinks were on the house when he won the Kemper Open. He was one of three Q-school grads from the class of '98 who were PGA Tour winners the next season. The others were Carlos Franco, who won twice, and Mike Weir, who in five years went from Q-school to Masters champion. Yes, the hard part is keeping your job, but the good news for Q-school finalists is that 1998 was hardly a fluke. One only has to look back one year to find George O'Neill. He was an assistant pro at Forest Country Club in Fort Myers, Fla., when he decided to try Q-school again. After failing in eight previous trips, he was the medalist and finally earned his card. "I'm ready to see what I can do," O'Neill said that day. He wound up winning the Fry's.com Open in Las Vegas, joining Brian Bateman (Buick Open) and Mark Wilson (Honda Classic) as PGA Tour winners who only a year ago were grinding away in Q-school. Bateman and Wilson got their cards on the number. This happens more than people realize. A year ago, J.B. Holmes went from Q-school medalist to FBR Open champion in two months. The year before that, Sean O'Hair narrowly made it through Q-school, then won the John Deere Classic to earn a spot at St. Andrews for the British Open. Players who get their cards at Q-school have won the following season every year since 1981. "I would have lost that bet," Lucas Glover said Tuesday. "That's pretty unbelievable." Glover is on that list, having made it through Q-school in 2004, then winning the Disney Classic the following year by holing a bunker shot for birdie on the 72nd hole. "I think the pressure you go through at Q-school sets you up for the tour, for that last nine holes if you have a chance to win," Glover said. "I wanted to keep my card for the next year. But you have to dream big." Some players on the list of winners captured the essence of hope that Q-school brings. Ben Curtis was just another face in the field at PGA West in 2002, one of 38 players who earned a tour card. Seven months later, blinking in the sunlight of a hot English summer, he cradled the silver claret jug as the British Open champion. "The first goal I set was to retain my card for the year," Curtis said. "It was nothing extravagant, like winning three times, or even winning once. Obviously, when you play you want to win. But the big goal was to finish in the top 125, keep building on that, and try to improve each week and each year. "I didn't think too much about winning until it happened." Four players who made it through Q-school over the last 10 years have gone on to win majors -- Curtis, Beem, Weir and Todd Hamilton, who followed his first successful trip through Q-school by winning the Honda Classic and British Open. Remember, though, 18 of the 40 players who earned cards last year are back for more punishment. Only 12 of them kept their jobs, and the other 10 didn't even make it back to the final stage. For all the inspiration from players like McNeill, Curtis, Beem and Glover, Q-school has far more stories of failure. Such is the nature of golf. It has been proven the Nationwide Tour offers better experience and a higher success rate. According to PGA Tour research, 40 percent of Nationwide Tour graduates since 1991 have kept their cards, compared with 30 percent from Q-school. Major champions who paid their dues in the minor leagues include Tom Lehman, David Toms, Jim Furyk, David Duval and Shaun Micheel. "Unless you have experience, those guys from the Nationwide Tour have a huge advantage," Beem said. Still, it all starts with a dream. After he won the Kemper Open in 1999, Beem was in the final year of his two-year exemption when he made eagle on the 17th hole to win the International. A week later, he shot 68 in the final round at Hazeltine to hold off a furious charge from Tiger Woods and win the 2002 PGA Championship, a career-defining victory. All those memories, and one of his favorite keepsakes is in his wallet. It's the stub of his scorecard from the final round at Q-school, when Beem shot 66 to tie for eighth and earn his ticket to the PGA Tour. "It's the only stub I've ever kept," Beem said. That stub represents a tour card, and that gave Beem a chance. That's all any of these guys can ask. Posted Nov 30 2007, 12:00 AM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, PGA Tour, Q-School

• European Tour Announces The Richest Tournament In Golf

  The European Tour is to host the world's richest event after announcing plans on Monday for a $10 million season-ending tournament in Dubai for 2009. Offering $1.66 million for the winner, the first Dubai World Championship will take place from November 19-22 as a climax to the season. Another $10 million will be handed out in bonuses to the top 15 players in 'The Race to Dubai', which will start in November 2008, acting as the tour's order of merit with the number one player receiving $2 million bonus to add to his year's prize-winnings. "This is so much more than a tournament sponsorship. It is a long term partnership which will see The European Tour and Dubai joining together to significantly enhance the game world-wide and take golf to a new level for spectators everywhere," said European Tour chief executive George O'Grady after announcing a five-year deal with Leisurecorp, owned by the Dubai Royal Family. "The Race to Dubai will bring a new dimension to the European Tour, creating great drama and theatre throughout the year as all the best players in the world are given the opportunity to compete in the world's richest tournament - the Dubai World Championship. "With the combined prize funds of the Dubai World Championship and The Race to Dubai we have the prospect of a player standing over a putt for $3,666,660. The European Tour said there was an option to extend the agreement by a further five years and while the tour will keep its main headquarters at Wentworth, England, it plans to establish an international HQ at Jumeirah Golf Estates, where the Dubai World Championship will take place. "As the European Tour has become ever-more global in its outlook, it has become increasingly important to us to have an international base in a strategically placed location," added O'Grady. The Volvo Masters has been the traditional end to the tour's year, with the top 60 players rounding off the season and will continue to be a similar elite tournament next year. However, the tournament that revolutionized the European Tour when it began its partnership with Volvo, will then lose its status. O'Grady insisted the tournament, held at Valderrama and Montecastillo in Spain since 1988, would not disappear from the schedule but might move from its current November date. "Volvo have been very aware that for the last five years we wish to source an additional bonus pool," said O'Grady. "They are making their mind up about whether they prefer their (late season) position or choose a completely different date." The tour's chief admitted that the multi-million dollar deal had been inspired by the U.S. Tour's Fedex Cup playoffs, which have encouraged a burgeoning list of European Tour players to try their luck in America. "The Fedex Cup made us want to raise the bar as well," O'Grady said. "We had to look where the European Tour was strong and weak and it is very strong at the beginning and the end of the season, although there are not many tournaments in our mid-season we have to apologize for." Posted Nov 23 2007, 01:03 PM by Golf International with no comments

• Drug Testing to Begin in July 2008

  Starting in July on the PGA Tour, players who register for a tournament could be given a locker, a tee time for their pro-am and a cup to submit a sample for their drug test. The PGA Tour plans to start its drug-testing program next year after six months of an intensive education program, with penalties for a positive test ranging from a one-year suspension for the first offense to a lifetime ban if a player is caught three times. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem will have some discretion on some offenses, especially if any positive tests are from recreational instead of performance-enhancing drugs. But he said ignorance will not be accepted as an excuse. "This is not the FedEx Cup," Finchem said Tuesday, a joking reference to players not understanding the points race. "You've got to know the details on this one." Leaders from golf's most influential organizations signed off last month on an anti-doping policy. The tour's plan was approved by its policy board on Monday. The tour will be sending players a comprehensive manual on the anti-doping policy Dec. 1, part of an education program that will extend through June. Players must attend a drug policy meeting in January, they will have access to a 24-hour hotline for questions about various substances, and medical experts will be at tournaments throughout next year. The manual contains a list of prohibited substances that fall under 10 categories, ranging from anabolic steroids to human growth hormones to narcotics to beta blockers. Finchem said the tour can test without notice anytime and anywhere, either at a tournament or a player's house. He said testing would be random, comparing it with pingpong balls used in a lottery; selective random testing, to help ensure every player gets tested at least once; and regular testing if a player has a history of substance abuse. Penalties could include ineligibility for up to one year for the first violation; up to five years for the second violation; up to a lifetime ban for multiple violations; and fines up to $500,000. Finchem said violations for recreational drugs, such as marijuana or cocaine, could be treated differently from steroids. The program allows the commissioner discretion to require treatment instead of sanctions, or a combination of the two. The PGA Tour was a reluctant entry into the new world of sports and drug testing, and Finchem resisted a policy for years because he had no evidence any of his players were using performance-enhancing drugs, or what drugs would help a golfer win tournaments. George O'Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, put a humorous spin on drug testing last month at the Presidents Cup when he suggested testing Tiger Woods. "If he's clean, what does it matter what the rest of them are on?" O'Grady said. Players would have the option to appeal any positive test. Finchem said the tour would disclose violations and report the penalty, although tour spokesman Ty Votaw said officials would only report the type of drug (such as performance-enhancing) instead of naming the specific drug found in the player's system. The anti-doping program will be handled through the tour's attorney. It also will have a therapeutic use exemption committee led by its medical advisor, Tom Hospel, who has served as the team doctor at Ohio State. The National Center for Drug Free Sport, which handles drug testing for the NCAA, will conduct the testing for the tour. Finchem embarks on this program believing golf will be proven clean, and even as the education program was about to begin, he was not happy that golf was joining other sports with drug programs. "This is why I don't like all this," Finchem told reporters in his office. "It's inconsistent and counterintuitive to what the game of golf is all about. Because it assumes someone is guilty. And in golf, you expect players to know the rules and play by the rules, and that's the culture of the game that sets us apart from all other sports." An education program for the Nationwide Tour will begin in the middle of next year, with testing to start toward the end of the 2008 season. On the Champions Tour for players 50 and older, the education program will start in January 2009, with testing expected to start in the middle of that year. Posted Nov 16 2007, 08:49 AM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Drug Testing, PGA Tour

• Fred Couples Slow To Return From Injury

  For the first time in five years, a week in November will go by without any tournament sanctioned by the PGA Tour. Not to worry. The new FedEx Cup did not kill off the silly season, which arrives later this month when the LG Skins Game celebrates its 25th anniversary and marks the return of Fred Couples to competition. Couples is the undisputed king of the silly season, a title he doesn't mind as long as it's mentioned in November instead of March. He has earned more money in his career at the Skins Game ($3.9 million) than the four majors combined ($3.5 million). Since 2002, he has played 91 times on the PGA Tour and earned $6.4 million, then played 14 times when the season was over and collected $3.3 million. Only this year, the silly season has never been more meaningful to him. Couples, one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour, has been coping with a faulty back the last 13 years, but this was the first time he wondered if his career might be over. "I thought it wouldn't be the end of the world," he said. "Playing golf is great, and I've done it for 26 years. But the last three years have been horrible." Even with a back that could go out at any moment, Couples has managed to play at least 15 times a year (regular season), and five of his 15 victories since he first hurt his back in 1994 have included The Players Championship and the Memorial. This year was different. He missed the cut at the FBR Open in Phoenix, noteworthy only because he has made the cut 82 percent of the time in his career. Warming up for the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, his back went out on the first tee at Poppy Hills, and he got the caddie for his pro-am partner -- who happened to be a club pro from New Jersey -- to fill in for him. He had to withdraw from the Nissan Open, a tournament he had played every year since 1981 and won twice. It was a struggle to get to Augusta National, and a minor miracle that he made the cut on the number, but only because the course was so difficult. Couples shot 76-76 and made it to the weekend through the 10-shot rule. He remains the only Masters champion to have never missed the cut. Stretching, twisting and massaging his back at every turn, he closed with a 71 and tied for 30th. That was April 8. And that was his last competitive round. It got so bad that Couples contemplated surgery, and only after he sought more opinions did he decide against it. "Other years, I've missed some events," he said. "But the last few years, I would go to my knees, I can't move, I'm locked up. I'm somebody you see when they're crunched over. It gets to be a week before you walk around, a week or two to get feeling decent, then practice, then go to Bay Hill and play horrible. It stinks." It seems odd that no one has seen Couples since the Masters. Even when he's not contending, he has a presence on the golf course that endears him to fans and players around the world. Maybe this was just a coincidence, but at the British Open one year, the practice range was divided with European players on the right side and American players on the left. Couples sauntered onto the range and took a spot in the middle of the Europeans, and the chatter and laughter picked up immediately. "It's been strange not to see him. He's a blast. Rocks are flying when he's around," Justin Leonard said. "But it's not like you can pick up the phone and call him." That was a reference to when Couples famously said that he doesn't answer the phone because "I get the feeling whenever I do that there will be someone on the other end." He called last week while driving back from Waco, Texas, where he has been seeing John Patterson, a back specialist whose clientele includes Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz and Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady. "I wasn't horrible, just a little crooked," Couples said. "He loosened me up and I'm heading back to practice and start playing. You want to talk about the Skins Games? I hope with two weeks of good practice, I won't embarrass myself. But I haven't played any golf." That he's even practicing is good news. He went to Hawaii with his family in June, tried to hit balls and his back went out. He tried again in July, got excited about how he was playing, then went to Arizona to try to prepare for the PGA Championship. "I went out in the heat of the day and lasted only a handful of holes," he said. There has been progress, however small. He played a corporate outing at The Olympic Club in August. He played a member-guest at Gozzer Ranch in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, five nine-hole matches over three days, and finished second behind Andrew Magee. "This might be my last hurrah," Couples said. "If this doesn't work, I'll set it down and try to not worry about it." The LG Skins Game will be played over Thanksgiving weekend at the new Celebrity Course at Indian Wells, and Couples will be going up against defending champion Stephen Ames, Masters champion Zach Johnson and Brett Wetterich. This will be the 14th time Couples has played. He has won it five times. And this was almost the first year he turned down the offer, not comfortable with taking the invitation after playing so infrequently. Now he's thrilled to be there, even if he has no clue what to expect. "I'm sure I'll slap around a few good shots," he said. "I'm not going to hit fat shots and snap hooks. But I'm a little concerned about trying to hit the right shot. In the Skins Game, there are shots you have to hit it in there 4 feet to have a chance. I don't think I can pull that off. But if I can compete, I'll be OK with that." Posted Nov 09 2007, 08:48 AM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Fred Couples, Injury

• Lots On The Bubble At Disney

  Most players used to come to Disney to play golf and enjoy the theme parks. As the final tournament of the PGA Tour season, the Children's Miracle Network Classic has a much more serious tone this year. Most guys here are simply trying to save their jobs. No one feels it quite like Ted Purdy, who has plunged from No. 110 on the money list at the start of the Fall Series to No. 125, giving him a $4,118 lead over J.B. Holmes. If he misses the cut and Holmes makes it to the weekend, Purdy will lose his full exemption for 2008. "Never was I worried about keeping my card until the last couple of weeks," Purdy said. "I've played my way into this situation." He's not alone. Since the Fall Series began, nine players have fallen outside of the top 125 in what has proven to be an unpredictable set of circumstances. Tour officials figured something around $700,000 would be enough to finish in the top 125, but that number has been moving north every week. One reason is because the top stars have taken the year off, leaving more players out of the top 100 on the money list into fields and raising the chances of them either winning (George McNeill) or doing well enough to secure their cards (Mark Hensby, Michael Allen). Other bubbles for the week: -- Anders Hansen is at No. 150, the cutoff for conditional status. Hansen, however, is not at Disney, and he would be bumped if Tripp Isenhour, Robert Gamez or Jeff Gove make the cut. -- Carl Pettersson is at No. 32 on the money list, needing at least $84,926 to have any hope of moving into the top 30 to qualify for the Masters. Heath Slocum (No. 31) already is eligible, as is David Toms (No. 30). Also in range of a trip to Augusta National is Justin Leonard (No. 35) and Ken Duke (No. 36). Posted Nov 02 2007, 08:47 AM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, PGA Tour, Disney, Children's Miracle Network Classic, Ted Purdy