Web.com "Q School"
The qualifying tournament for the Web.com Tour, gateway to the PGA Tour, is this week at Whirlwind GC. I walked Thursday and Friday with Chip Lynn, Bruce Woodall, and Mark Baldwin. For some reason the walking scorer chairman used the same scheduling algorithm that the tour uses, and I ended up with the same group both days. We played the Cattail course Thursday in strong winds, and Devil's Claw Friday in calmer conditions. Mark did well, and was T8 after shooting 69-67. He has a 2-iron that he hits off the tee most of the time, about 280, only using the driver for reachable par 4's and 5's. Chip had 71-68. Bruce struggled, shooting 78-72, with a lot of missed short putts and a few errant drives. Chip missed some shots, too, and was prone to a sort of primal scream that had vague hints of profanity, but was mainly unintelligible. After Friday's round he apologized to me for his language, and I forgave him, told him that Suzann Pettersen made him sound like a choir boy. He was disappointed that a girl could cuss better than he could.
Mark had a following on the course, an international group of friends and relatives, including his fiance and family, who live in Mesa (Las Sendas). He's been playing in China for 2 years. He shot 68 today and is T31. Chip shot 65 and is tied with Mark.
Today they re-paired the field by score, and Bruce was in my group again, and struggled again to a 74. The other two were Adam Webb and Jimmy Beck.
It is the tournament for golf names. Besides Chip and Webb, the field includes a Looper, a Champ, a Hack, and a Yip.
Adam had flashes of brilliance, but too many wild shots off the tee. Bruce and Adam are tied for 142nd place.
Adam and Jimmy and Hannah were asking about what they should do or see while they were here, and how far away is the Grand Canyon. They all seemed interested in having some rattlesnake for dinner at Rustler's Rooste.
There was a guy following our group today, and smoking a big cigar. He thought he recognized me, and said he was a member of the club there. He introduced himself as Steve Jones. I knew the name, but it's a common enough name, so I didn't think anything of it. I asked why he was following us and he said Adam's caddy, Andy, had caddied for him before. I said "Oh, is he local?" and he said "No, he lives in Florida." That seemed odd, so I asked if he was the Steve Jones who had played the PGA Tour, and he said yes. He was the 1996 US Open Champion. Andy had caddied for him on the Champions Tour.
I don't fully understand the system, but everyone in this field, which is the third and final stage of qualifying, gets their tour card. Which is good for a discount into the Monday qualifiers on the tour, and some other perks. The top 45 and ties are exempt until the 2nd reshuffling, after which the leading money winners so far continue to be exempt, and others are not. Or something like that. The top 10 and ties are exempt for the full season.
Jimmy's caddy was Hannah, his fiance. He's been playing the Latin American Tour, and has had hip problems (I don't know the details) for 2 years now. He was in obvious pain, and couldn't hit the ball as far as he normally would, consistently 20-40 yards behind the other two. Which means he was playing the same sort of game that I do, making the rare birdie (he had 3 - OK, not as rare as me), and making pars mostly by getting up-and-down from off the green. Except he makes par 12 times to my 6. He shot even par 72, and is +6 for the tournament, T-138.
2 years ago doctors told him that surgery would be risky, and involve a long and uncertain recovery. Today, the procedure is only minimally invasive, and they're telling him he should have had it done 2 years ago. He's going to have one hip done before the new year, and the other after the recovery from the first, about 8 weeks.
He almost withdrew this morning, but had extra time to loosen up because of the frost delay, and decided to play. Because of the way the system works, he could withdraw any time, finish last in the field, and get the same playing privileges as if he had finished 46th. But he won't. He'll play, unless he really can't. I saw a few of the other players expressing their admiration for what he was doing. I told him about Christa Johnson.
Mark had a following on the course, an international group of friends and relatives, including his fiance and family, who live in Mesa (Las Sendas). He's been playing in China for 2 years. He shot 68 today and is T31. Chip shot 65 and is tied with Mark.
Today they re-paired the field by score, and Bruce was in my group again, and struggled again to a 74. The other two were Adam Webb and Jimmy Beck.
It is the tournament for golf names. Besides Chip and Webb, the field includes a Looper, a Champ, a Hack, and a Yip.
Adam had flashes of brilliance, but too many wild shots off the tee. Bruce and Adam are tied for 142nd place.
Adam and Jimmy and Hannah were asking about what they should do or see while they were here, and how far away is the Grand Canyon. They all seemed interested in having some rattlesnake for dinner at Rustler's Rooste.
There was a guy following our group today, and smoking a big cigar. He thought he recognized me, and said he was a member of the club there. He introduced himself as Steve Jones. I knew the name, but it's a common enough name, so I didn't think anything of it. I asked why he was following us and he said Adam's caddy, Andy, had caddied for him before. I said "Oh, is he local?" and he said "No, he lives in Florida." That seemed odd, so I asked if he was the Steve Jones who had played the PGA Tour, and he said yes. He was the 1996 US Open Champion. Andy had caddied for him on the Champions Tour.
I don't fully understand the system, but everyone in this field, which is the third and final stage of qualifying, gets their tour card. Which is good for a discount into the Monday qualifiers on the tour, and some other perks. The top 45 and ties are exempt until the 2nd reshuffling, after which the leading money winners so far continue to be exempt, and others are not. Or something like that. The top 10 and ties are exempt for the full season.
Jimmy's caddy was Hannah, his fiance. He's been playing the Latin American Tour, and has had hip problems (I don't know the details) for 2 years now. He was in obvious pain, and couldn't hit the ball as far as he normally would, consistently 20-40 yards behind the other two. Which means he was playing the same sort of game that I do, making the rare birdie (he had 3 - OK, not as rare as me), and making pars mostly by getting up-and-down from off the green. Except he makes par 12 times to my 6. He shot even par 72, and is +6 for the tournament, T-138.
2 years ago doctors told him that surgery would be risky, and involve a long and uncertain recovery. Today, the procedure is only minimally invasive, and they're telling him he should have had it done 2 years ago. He's going to have one hip done before the new year, and the other after the recovery from the first, about 8 weeks.
He almost withdrew this morning, but had extra time to loosen up because of the frost delay, and decided to play. Because of the way the system works, he could withdraw any time, finish last in the field, and get the same playing privileges as if he had finished 46th. But he won't. He'll play, unless he really can't. I saw a few of the other players expressing their admiration for what he was doing. I told him about Christa Johnson.
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