Tales from Q School: Inside Golf's Fifth Major

by John Feinstein

  Stricker’s story is not an unfamiliar one: a good player falls on hard times, keeps grinding, and then finds something again. What is frightening is how quickly it can come and go, even for an elite player. During the 2006 season, Lee Janzen was where Stricker had been in 2004 and 2005. The two-time U.S. Open champion was exempt only because, being in the top 50 in career earnings, he was able to use a one-time one-year exemption. Most of the year he struggled to make cuts, before a late rally in the fall vaulted him to 132nd on the money list. He decided to endure Q School again, trying to improve his status for 2007. But he could do no better than finish 90th at Q School and would go into the new year depending on the kindness of strangers—tournament directors—who he hoped would look at him as a two-time U.S. Open champion, not as a struggling Q Schooler.

  Several players who had failed at Q School in 2005 had much better luck in 2006. Most notable in that group was George McNeill. In ’05 at the TPC Tampa Bay, McNeill had bogeyed three of the last five holes—including the 18th—to miss making it to second stage by one shot. His par putt on 18 swerved about two inches wide of the hole, leaving him wondering if it was time to stop chasing the dream.

  “I had to at least think about it,” he said. “I was getting married and closing in on thirty and the best I had been able to do was make it to the finals once and then I did nothing on the Nationwide the next year. I had no status anywhere. I really didn’t want to go back to grinding in mini-tour events trying to break even or make a little money if I was lucky.”

  Thinking about his future, McNeill accepted a job as an assistant pro at a club in Naples, Florida. He wasn’t sure if being a club pro was what he wanted to do long term, but in the short term he figured it would give him time to decide what his next move might be and to perhaps find out if he would enjoy teaching and trying to run a business.

  By early spring he was pretty convinced club pro life wasn’t for him. “As soon as I got back to the range and began practicing, I knew the bug was still there,” he said. “Of course, there’s a big difference between having the bug and having the talent. But I knew I wanted to keep trying—at least one more time.”

  In June, McNeill qualified for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. That was a confidence builder, although he had qualified for the Open before. He missed the cut but felt he had played pretty good golf on a very difficult golf course—one on which the winning score on Sunday was five over par. He arrived at Q School thinking his game was in better shape than it had been in several years, but knowing if he didn’t get out of first stage, he would have to think seriously about leaving competitive golf behind. He breezed through the first two stages—fourth at TPC Tampa Bay, third at Lake Jovita—and arrived at PGA West for the finals brimming with confidence. He started well—an opening 67—and went from there. He went into the last day with a two-shot lead and proceeded to shoot a 30 on the front nine to blow the rest of the field away. Even with a back-nine bogey, he still finished 23 under par, which put him five shots clear of runner-up Robert Garrigus. Not only was he on the PGA Tour for the first time, but with card number 1 from Q School he would be able to plan his schedule in advance, not wait to see if his number came up—especially on the West Coast.

  “It’s the most unbelievable feeling I’ve ever had in golf,” he said. “Now I just have to carry this over to playing the tour. My goal now is to not have a chance to defend my title.”

  Almost as happy as McNeill was Steve Wheatcroft, the young pro who had surprised himself in ’05 by making it through second stage at Lake Jovita, then had a chance to go low on the third day at the finals before a late collapse dropped him way back—a lapse that he never recovered from. Wheatcroft played reasonably well on the Nationwide Tour with partially exempt status (he finished 85th on the money list), but the experience of playing at that level week after week clearly paid off when he got back to Q School. This time, he easily made it through second stage, and then he played six steady days of golf at the finals to finish all alone in seventh place. He had come a long way from pulling his clubs around Lake Jovita back in November of 2005. Needless to say, he instantly became very popular with caddies, agents, and equipment reps—his new best friends.

  Bob Heintz already knew caddies, agents, and equipment reps. He had slogged back to the Nationwide Tour in ’06 after missing getting his PGA Tour card back by one shot at Orange County National. He played decently but not as well as he had hoped, finishing 43rd on the Nationwide money list, meaning he had to make the trek back to second stage again. He made it through second stage and during finals was never in serious danger of falling out of the top 30. He wound up in 13th place, sending him back to the PGA Tour for a third time—hoping that the third time would be the charm and he would spend the following November home with his family rather than wondering one more time if he was putting his Yale degree to its best possible use.

  McNeill wasn’t the only player who had failed to get out of first stage in ’05 whose fortunes improved in ’06. Stephen Gangluff, who had gone from full status on the PGA Tour in 2002 to starting 2005 working as a cart boy at a club in Ponte Vedra Beach in order to have the chance to practice, ended 2005 wondering if he would ever find his game after not even coming close to getting through first stage at TPC Tampa Bay.

  He had played reasonably well on the Canadian Tour in ’05, so he decided to go back there and try again in ’06. His year began to turn around in June when he not only qualified for the U.S. Open but made the cut and finished in a tie for 40th place after shooting one of the lowest rounds of the last day—a one-over-par 71. Suddenly, the demons that had been following him around golf courses for two years were nowhere to be found. He played well during the summer, then made it through first stage and second stage for the first time in four years. He ended up 48th at the finals, but having status back on the Nationwide Tour was a huge step in the right direction after two years of complete frustration.

  As happy as Gangluff was to be back on the Nationwide, he could not have been any happier than Marc Turnesa. Having missed getting through first stage for a fifth straight year in ’05, Turnesa had expressed the doubts many players express when it begins to look like they might be fooling themselves into believing they have the game to play on the tour. His comment about those who consistently missed at first stage: “When you can’t get out of first stage, you can’t claim that you’re close to being good enough because the evidence shows that you aren’t”—holds true for a lot of players.

  In 2006, Turnesa could finally lay claim to being close. For the first time in six years as a pro, he made it through first stage. Then, as if to prove it wasn’t a fluke, he made it through second stage, guaranteeing himself some status on the Nationwide Tour in ’07. He arrived at the finals and promptly freaked out—shooting 83—the first day. Most players would have been convinced after such a round that they were overmatched. Turnesa put his head down and played his way back into the tournament, shooting 16 under par for the last five rounds to finish at five under for the week. That left him three shots outside the cut line for the PGA Tour but with full status on the Nationwide.

  He wasn’t on the big tour, but he could go home at night, look in the mirror, and tell himself that—at last—he was close. Very close.

  Not everyone had a happy story to tell at the end of ’06. Tommy Tolles never completely recovered from the recurring nightmare of his last tee shot at Orange County National. He failed to make a cut during the first three months of the Nationwide season and never got anything serious going all year, finishing 85th on the money list. That sent him back to second stage, where he had been so dominant a year earlier. This time, he failed to make it back to the finals, leaving him playing the “what-if” game that so many golfers play: what if that tee shot had found the fairway and he had spent 2006 back on the PGA Tour?

  Garrett Frank was also doing a lot of wondering by the end of 2006. He had decided to give it one more try on the mini-tours and hope that his seventh
try at Q School would be the lucky one. Instead, his Groundhog Day experiences continued. He made it through first stage for the seventh time, then flunked second—for the seventh time—finishing tied for 39th place, five shots outside the cut line. He would turn thirty-five during 2007.

  David Sutherland would turn forty-one during ’07, but he wasn’t playing any more “what-if” games. He had played well during the second half of the Nationwide season, well enough to convince himself that it was worth the entry fee to try Q School one more time. This time, though, he couldn’t get through second stage, and he knew it was time, once and for all, to find his second act. Jason Buha was considerably younger than Sutherland but also at a point where he had to think about putting his college degree to good use. After finishing 122nd on the Nationwide money list, he failed to make it through second stage, leaving his golf future in doubt.

  At twenty-two, Ty Tryon wasn’t close to thinking that way, but he had to be discouraged after finishing dead last—at 17 over par—at the second stage in Lake Jovita. The kid who couldn’t be stopped at the age of seventeen appeared to be confused and discouraged at twenty-two. He could hardly be blamed. David Gossett’s struggles also continued. He got into seven tournaments on tour in 2006 but made only one cut and then failed once again at second stage.

  A number of players who didn’t make it onto the PGA Tour through Q School in 2005 played well enough on the Nationwide in 2006 to avoid a return to Q School. Ken Duke, who had double-bogeyed the last hole at Lake Jovita from the middle of the fairway, was the tour’s leading money winner (with $382,443, which would have been good for 167th place on the PGA Tour money list), thus ensuring himself a return to the big tour in 2007 and a spot in the Players Championship, the extra perk of finishing first on the Nationwide list.

  Johnson Wagner, the kid from New York who had blown to a 78 on the last day at Orange County National, played almost as well as Duke and finished in second place, $10,000 behind him on the money list, meaning he would be a PGA Tour rookie in 2007. Peter Tomasulo, who had been so close to his card in ’05, spent most of ’06 running in place, never able to piece together a big enough week to jump-start his year. He finished 47th on the Nationwide list, meaning he had to return to second stage. He didn’t make it to the finals and headed back to the Nationwide for at least one more year.

  A number of fortysomething players also failed to get past second stage, including Brian Henninger, Mike Hulbert, and Grant Waite. Donnie Hammond finished 233rd on the PGA Tour money list in eleven starts but had his fiftieth birthday in 2007 to look forward to. Briny Baird, who had been hit with the double whammy in 2005 (finishing 126th on the money list because of Jason Gore’s battlefield promotion, then missing at Q School by one shot), was able to take advantage of his partial status to win more than $844,000. That put him 102nd on the money list and got him back to the tour without a stop at Q School. Guy Boros played well enough to make it back to the finals, but he couldn’t hold his game together for six rounds. In all, forty players received cards at the finals, with thirteen players tying for 28th place.

  One of those who tied for 28th was Bob May. More than six years after his epic duel with Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship and more than three years after injuring his back so severely that he wondered if he would ever swing a golf club again, May played well enough in twenty-one starts on tour in 2006 to finish 142nd on the money list. But he wanted to be able to plan his entire year in advance in 2007, and he made that happen by slogging through six rounds at Q School. It was the continuation of a remarkable comeback story.

  Q School is all about stories. Some have happy endings, some sad, some bizarre. But they are all stories about people who know why Greg Norman always says, “Golf is a four-letter word.”

  Nowhere is that more true than at Q School. Those who go there will frequently curse their fate, even those who survive and go on to have years like Brett Wetterich did in 2006. Nothing is easy at Q School. In a sense, those fans who told Larry Mize that he didn’t deserve to be back at Q School were right. It isn’t fun for anyone, young or old. But Q School is also a rite of passage for 99 percent of those who play professional golf. It is something they will never forget, something they will tell you they were glad they went through—though none of them ever want to go through it again.

  It is like no other golf tournament. And for that, the players are very thankful.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  T HE LIST OF PEOPLE who get a kick out of making fun of my lengthy acknowledgments is almost as long as the acknowledgments themselves. So to ensure that those people will continue to have the opportunity to joke about my tendency to go on . . . and on . . . buckle up.

  I begin, as always, with the people who are the subject of the book: in this case, the golfers who took the time to talk to me before, during, and after the 2005 Qualifying School, along with those who shared stories about Q School experiences from the past.

  They include Casey Martin, Tommy Tolles, B. J. Staten, Peter Tomasulo, Dan Forsman, Larry Mize, Jaxon Brigman (who was remarkably gracious telling the story of his scorecard at Doral for the one millionth time), Marc Turnesa, Josh McCumber, Stephen Gangluff, Garrett Frank, Toddy Brown, Kelly Gibson, Donnie Hammond, Mike Hulbert, Guy Boros, Blaine McCallister, Chad Wilfong, Ty Tryon, Bob Heintz, Colby Beckstrom, Rick Fehr, Nick Thompson, Tom Byrum, Michael Allen, Ron Whittaker, Bill Glasson, Brett Wetterich, Bill Haas, Grant and Lea Waite, David Sutherland, Steve Stricker, Joe Alfieri, Johnson Wagner, Jason Buha, Patrick Damron, David Peoples, Hiroshi Matsuo, Nick Malinowski, Bob May, Patrick Bates, Steve Wheatcroft, Bubba Dickerson, Barry Cheesman, Skip Kendall, Brad Klapprott, Brad Lardon, and Jeff Mitchell. All of the above took part in Q School ’05.

  Others who were generous with their time and stories: Jeff Sluman, Peter Jacobsen, Tom Watson, Joe Ogilvie, Shaun Micheel, Jim Furyk, David Duval, Jay Haas, Labron Harris, Jerry Foltz, Kevin Sutherland, Billy Andrade, Brad Faxon, and Davis Love III. Special thanks as always to my longtime friends Brian Henninger, Jeff Cook, and the immortal worst player in history Paul Goydos.

  Through the years, the tour’s rules officials have always gone way out of their way to make my life easier and try to help me get things right. That was never more true than in this book. Steve Carman, who works hard to make Q School as painless an experience as possible for the players, was remarkably patient with all my questions and requests. Jon Brendle was, as always, the best there is. Dillard Pruitt and Steve Rintoul helped make my life much easier at the early stages—even though Rintoul was undoubtedly responsible for my lost wallet at Lake Jovita—and Mark Russell was, as always, Mark Russell. Enough said. Thanks also to Laura and Alex Russell for putting up with the token liberal in their lives. Slugger White, though always wrong, is always there to help, as are Mike Shea, George Boutell, and, particularly during Q School, John Lillvis. Brian Claar provided me with the perspective of both a recent Q Schooler and a current rules guy.

  At the PGA Tour, I received ample help from Tim Finchem and his remarkable assistant, Cathie Hurlburt. Thanks also to Todd Budnick, Joan vT Alexander, Joel Schuchmann, John Bush, Joe Chemycz, James Cramer, Dave Lancer, Denise Taylor, Don Wallace, Chris Smith, and, of course, the king of all golf—at least in his mind—Henry Hughes.

  I thank Sid Wilson for his friendship, if not his taste in Mexican restaurants. A special nod must go to Marty Caffey, who has dealt with just about every player who has been through Q School in recent years and spent large chunks of his time helping me chase players and other people down. This book doesn’t happen without Marty.

  Esther Newberg has been my agent for twenty-one books and is somehow just as enthusiastic and encouraging now as she was in 1986. She is still the world’s worst sport and always will be. Michael Pietsch has now edited thirteen of those books and has lived to tell about it. His two most recent assistants, Stacey Brody and Zainab Zakari, have been remarkable resources for me— and, no doubt, for Michael. His new assistant, Vanessa Hartmann, h
as already shown exemplary patience. Heather Fain displayed great patience in doing public relations for ten books, and her latest assistant, Katherine Molina, has somehow survived the “Curse of Heather.” Thanks, as always, to Heather Rizzo, Marlena Bittner, and, in absentia, Holly Wilkinson.

  Chris Bauch and Kari Stuart, Esther’s two assistants, deserve special mention because they have a boss who simply won’t deal with whiny clients, so they deal with whiny clients—-notably me.

  My friends and family never get enough credit, but that’s especially true at the end of this book and this year. My father’s death was, as it is for anyone losing a parent, a traumatic event in my life, and I got through it only because of the amazing support I had from so many people. Just mentioning them here isn’t nearly enough, but, for the moment, it is the best I can do, so here goes:

  Keith and Barbie Drum; Bob and Anne DeStefano; David and Linda Maraniss; Jackson Diehl and Jean Halperin; Lexie Verdon and Steve Barr; Jill and Holland Mickle; Shelley Crist; Bill and Jane Brill; Terry and Patti Hanson; Mary Carillo; Bud Collins and Anita Klaussen; Doug and Beth Doughty; David Teel; Beth (Shumway) Brown; Beth Sherry-Downes; Erin Laissen; Bob Socci; Pete Van Poppel; Omar Nelson (okay, Omar?); Frank DaVinney; Eric Ruden; Scott Strasemeier and Chet Gladchuk (who proved definitively last year he is anything but a fair-weather friend); Billy Stone; Mike Werteen; Chris Knoche; Andrew Thompson; Joe Speed; Jack Hecker; my hero, Dick Hall; Steve (Moose) Stirling; Jim, Tiffany, and James Cantelupe Jr.; Derek and Christina Klein; Anthony and Kristen Noto; Pete Teeley; Bob Zurfluh; Vivian Thompson; Phil Hochberg; Al Hunt; Bob Novak; Wayne Zell; Mike and David Sanders; Bob Whitmore; Andy Dolich; Mr. Monday Night, Tony Kornheiser; Mike Wilbon; Mark Maske; Ken Denlinger; Matt Rennie; Jim Rome; Travis Rodgers; Jason Stewart; Mike Purkey; Bob Edwards; Tom and Jane Goldman; Jeffrey Katz; Mark Schramm; Kenny and Christina Lewis; Dick (Hoops) Weiss and Joanie Weiss; Jim O’Connell; Bob Ryan; L. Sandy Genelius; Jennifer Proud-Mearns; David Fay; Frank Hannigan; Mike Butz; Mike Davis; the fabulous Mary Lopuszynski; Jerry Tarde; Mike O’Malley; Larry Dorman; Marsha Edwards; Jay and Natalie Edwards; Len and Gwyn Edwards-Dieterle; Chris Edwards and John Cutcher; Joe Valerio; Dennis Satyshur; Mike Muehr; Andy North; Joe Durant; Bob Low; and John Cook.