2010 Q-School

Imagine standing over a 3 foot putt, with hundreds of thousands of dollars, fame, fortune and quite possibly your entire career on the line. You picture the moment in front of a huge international TV audience and tens of thousands watching in person, right? Not quite. Not this week. This is Q-school, where you’re lucky to have 8 people in your gallery, with four of them relatives.

I’ve been intrigued by Q-School for years. It’s hard to imagine a more gruelling stressful environment in all sports. Unlike most 72 hole PGA tournaments, this one grinds on for 6 stress-filled days and 108 painful holes. First place? By PGA Tour standards, a paltry $50K. But this one isn’t about winning, it’s about securing your Tour card for the following season and playing for $1M every week.

In 2010, nearly 1,400 hopeful players ponied up the $5K entry fee for a chance to gain entry into the tour. It’s all about the Top 25 and ties. The drama on this day is focused on who finishes 25th and 26th. That one spot in the results is the difference between a year of luxury, great golf courses, huge galleries, and gobs of cash, vs. toiling for a year on a smaller stage. The prize money for 25th place is $10K, barely break-even, but the doors that are opened... oh, my...

This year’s Q-school took place at Orange County National, and I decided to spend the weekend there. What a great experience. The final stage features 166 golfers over 2 courses. Adding to the formidable challenge, the Orlando weather was brisk and windy. I drove up and basically parked at the clubhouse and walked onto the course. No admission fees, no security, just a bunch of men fighting for their professional lives with a handful of friends and relatives in the crowd.

It was an amazing experience; you are close to the players - real close. There’s no “inside-the-ropes” access here, because there are no ropes. You could literally walk down the fairways if you desired. We followed a few groups over the two days, and saw lots of great golf. These guys are good. The swings all look effortless, the ball flies off the clubs with a sound I don’t often hear when out on the links of Central Florida. These guys are all really good.

So, what separates the successful from those on the outside looking in? From what I could tell, it’s controlling emotions, handling adversity, making some putts and an occasional break or two along the journey. We saw some great shots and some poor ones, too; watched some monster putts drop and some knee-knockers slip by.

A quick rundown of some of the players we spent time with:

• Billy Mayfair - this five time former PGA winner was back at Q-School for the first time in 23 years. He seemed cool and relaxed the entire time. I was surprised by how positive and affirming his caddy was before every shot, “this is your shot Billy, hit when you are ready...” Truthfully, it seemed a little bit over the top. Billy won the whole thing.
• Kent Jones - a journeyman who had a few other stints on the big tour. Watched him both days, and he was money tee to green while I watched. Seemed like he was just a hot putter away from making a huge run. He also collected his card.
• Luke Hickmott - this youngster from Australia was one of the few guys playing without sponsors logos all over his clothing and equipment. His sole support was a pretty woman in the gallery. His swing looked amazingly fluid, but he struggled getting any momentum going. In it to the end, he missed the Top 25. I’m hoping this pleasant young man found a sponsor or two and makes it on the Nationwide Tour.
• Chris Baryla - he shot an insane 61 earlier in the week, yet still found himself hovering outside the Top 25 on Sunday. He really seemed to be feeling the stress on Sunday, but closed very impressively on Monday, featuring 5 straight birdies out of the gate to secure his card. This guy can really catch a hot streak, it will be interesting to see if he can do that on the big tour.
• Jarrod Lyle - watched him struggle down the fairway on a Par 5, then catch a nice lie and hole a wedge from the rough for an eagle. From that point on, he was on cruise control and is back on tour in 2011.
• Gary Woodland - looked solid all around, but my gosh, he played slow. Apprently the right speed as he comfortably made it.
• Paul Stankowski - seemed to always be smiling, and like a super-nice guy. The two time PGA Tour winner stayed near the top throughout, and kept his relatively large gallery happy.
• Ty Tryon - former wonder kid probably had the largest gallery and lots of folks rooting for him. He just never seemed to get it rolling and finished well back in the pack.
• Bio Kim - young kid who really seemed to have a solid game and secured his card.He hada ton of birdies, and I can picture him putting it all together some time soon.
• Scott Stallings - another streaky guy who made the cut, when I was watching him, he was struggling and bogeyed 4 of the last 5 holes on Sunday, but definitely had his moments including birdies on the final two holes to sneak in.
• Charles Warren - former Tour player out of Clemson started strong, but couldn’t get it together over the last two days.
• Sunghoon Kang - I think this kid has potential, seemed to have a great game and creamed the ball. His “gallery” was comprised of a few members of his family could not have been nicer.
• Andres Gonzalez - Big strapping guy, fu manchu mustache, long crazy hair, and a nice swing. He locked up his card, too.

Unfortunately, I missed the drama of the final round on Monday. As usual, all of the eyes were around the cut line. Will Strickler, who has never played a tour event just needed a 75 to secure his card. He sat in 25th place, needing to make a short par putt on the 18th to remain safe. A few feet from a lifetime dream. He missed he putt. then made a 3 footer for bogey - not knowing whether or not it was enough. When the results were tallied, it was good for 27th place, but fortunately, two of the finishers in front of him already had secured their cards. He was in! And in an ironic twist, his missed putt on the 18th also opened the door for his University of Florida teammate Billy Horschel to sneak in.

All told - an amazing experience - the most exciting tournament I’ve ever attended in person, and definitely a return trip for me sometime in the near future. I’ve been to a bunch of USGA, PGA and Nationwide Your events, played great courses and had some great experiences on the golf course, but nothing that compares to Q-School. Next time it’s in my neck of the woods, the only thing I’ll do differently is make sure I take vacation on Monday.

Check back periodically for a look at how these 27 successful men fare as they battle on the big stages of the PGA Tour in 2011.

December 2010