I made a phone call to PGA headquarters in Florida yesterday to check on media credentials for one of the second round of Q-School tournaments being held at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas just a couple of zip codes north of my front door. Normally, I would check on credentials much earlier, but for some reason I didn’t until photographer David Stubblefield asked me if I had secured his credentials as I had promised.
The conversation with the PGA went something like this, “Hello, this is Sam Johnson with Tees2Greens.com and I was wondering if you could give me a name and number to call at TPC Craig Ranch to secure media credentials for the second round of Q-school?”
“There are no media credentials required,” the young lady replied.
“How about photo credentials?”
“Nope, you don’t need one of those either. The crowd is so small, mainly just friends and relatives. You won't have any problems getting interviews or pictures.” She promised.
I thought about what she said, then I thought about guys like Shaun Micheel who won the 2003 PGA Championship. His five-year exemption now spent, he finished 180th on the money list in 2009 and is playing in the Q-school in Panama City, Florida, this week and you don’t need media credentials to ask him for a quote.
All in all there are more than a dozen multiple winners in this year’s Q-school including five-time Tour winner Jim Gallagher Jr. You’ll also see Joe Durant and Carlos Franco each with four wins. Then there’s Robert Gamez, Nolan Henke and Kirk Triplett each with three wins, followed by Frank Lickliter, Ted Tryba, J.P. Hayes, Jonathan Kaye, Len Mattiace, J.L. Lewis and Dallasite Paul Stankowski each with two victories.
Other former Tour winners competing in second stage include Mark Carnevale, Peter Lonard, Dicky Pride, Michael Clark II, Robert Damron, Ian Leggatt, Jim McGovern, Tom Scherrer, Brian Bateman, Dennis Paulson, Jim Carter, Neal Lancaster, Bob Burns, Jason Gore, Mark Hensby, another adopted Texan Phil Tataurangi, Eric Axley, David Gossett and Mike Heinen.
After that you’ve got a couple a hundred guys that you may or may not have ever heard of that can still flat out play golf. Like former U.S. Amateur Champion and Walker Cup darling Colt Knost, he’ll be there, as will the young stars Jamie Lovemark, Mike Van Sickle and Drew Weaver. If pedigree helps as Jay Haas Jr. is hoping, he will follow his father and join his brother Bill on Tour, but there are hundreds of guys that don’t care who Jay Jr.'s father is. All they know is that he’s one more obstacle in their way to achieving their own dreams.
These guys are as serious as a heart attack. Everyone knows in this stimulus package there are millions of dollars and 125 jobs on the line. The pressure is enormous and for the most part there will be few if anyone to cheer them on. Not all of the multiple winners will be returning to full status, and major champion Shaun Micheel has no guarantee either. There are young bucks with dreams of their own. It is an evolutionary changing of the guard, the survival of the fittest, and in the words of Bob Dylan, “Those not busy being born are busy dying.”
Q-school is a ladder that you’re either climbing or descending and throughout the process you’re expected to be a sport. You want drama, joy, tragedy? Go cheer on the guys at a Q-school near you. You don’t need media credentials.
Next week we’ll have pictures and some nitty-gritty details from TPC Craig Ranch.
