With all due respect to my fellow scribes, the hype placed on last week’s final Tour event at Walt Disney World and next month’s final stage of Q-School is, at best, misplaced.
Truth is, if you finish outside the mark on Sunday at Disney, like David Duval or Jeff Maggert, you can still bank on 15-20 starts via your status as a veteran, former champion and your placement between 125 and 150 in earnings. Players who missed the money mark last week also have Q-School to get the job done.
And next month’s final stage may be a winner-take-all endeavor, but if you make it to Bear Lakes in south Florida you’re guaranteed a job on the Nationwide Tour in 2010 at worst.
Now, if you want real-time and long-lasting pressure, head out to one of this week’s second stage Q-School sites. The bottom line is if you don’t make it out of second stage you don’t have a job, or at least a good job, next year.
It is refreshing then that miracle man Erik Compton cruised through Wednesday’s first round (69 at Southern Hills in Florida) with the look of a man playing a Sunday afternoon four-ball at his home club.
For Compton it’s a clarity of thought he’s come by honestly.
“Erik has always had big highs and big lows,” said Compton’s long-time swing coach Jim McLean on Wednesday. “Since he’s gotten married and had a child it’s really changed him for the better. He’s much more grounded and organized. Since his second heart transplant (in 2008) nothing really bothers him on the golf course.”
