LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The line of players falling into place to win the Children’s Miracle Network Classic started to look like the column of patrons waiting their turn on Disney’s Space Mountain on Saturday.
Nineteen players are within five shots of the lead and among the four frontrunners is one Mathias Gronberg whose curious route to a 2010 PGA Tour card is the stuff of bureaucratic legend.
Gronberg was sidelined mid-season with a foot injury, which qualified him for a minor medical exemption and some status in 2010. While the Swede was waiting to get back on Tour he worked in nine starts and a victory to finish 24th on the final Nationwide Tour money list and to secure even better status.
His third-round 66 lifted him into the CMN Classic “it” crowd and would land him inside the top 100 in earnings and a two-year exemption. When it comes to Tour cards, Gronberg’s got a full deck in 2010.
