The battle between Webb Simpson and Luke Donald for the PGA Tour money title (and probably Player of the Year) at this week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney is only compelling if you don’t look too closely.
Having banked $6.2 million this year (plus endorsements and FedEx money), Simpson has long since upgraded from hamburger to steak. Donald, who trails by $363,000 but added Disney to his schedule in an effort to catch Simpson, could buy some high-grade art between what he’s made here ($5.8 million) and in Europe ($5.3 million), where he leads the money list.
No, the other end of the food chain is where the action is as players make their final preparations for Disney, the final official tournament of 2011.
“It’s the bottom of the seventh in game seven,” said William McGirt, who at 138th in earnings needs to make a move this week in order to crack the top 125 and keep his Tour card. “Time to get it done.”
He paused for a moment.
“Well, I mean, maybe bottom of the eighth,” McGirt said, eliciting laughter. “At least I have finals of Q school.”
For all the players who haven’t hit enough fairways, who haven’t gotten into enough tournaments, who haven’t put four rounds togetherfor all those guys, this week is the last chance to either get it done or fall off the Tour.
“It’s kind of like knowing you might be the CEO of a company, and if you don’t play well you’re going to be the janitor,” said Robert Garrigus, the big hitter with the little putter, who was used to playing for his livelihood until he won Disney last year. Garrigus has been to Q school 10 times. He was such a regular he began to try to trick himself into not loathing it. He told himself it was “an eight-day vacation,” but such reimagining goes only so far. “Being 122 or 123 on the money mist coming in here,” he admitted, “it’s a stressful week.”
“It is a big deal and it’s your job, but it’s such a fluid situation,” said Bobby Gates, No. 124 on the money list, who will be paired with No. 125 James Driscoll.
“You know, one guys makes a birdie on the back nine on Thursday, and everyone wants to make it into thethat that’s the end all be all. It’s not. If it comes down to the last three holes Sunday, then, yeah, it’s pretty important. For now, it’s just have fun, make birdies, and what’s going to be is going to be. You can’t worry about what everyone else is doing.”
Gates called it somewhat “twisted” that he will be paired with Driscoll, but said he knows better than to think they’ll be locked into a zero-sum match. They could both play well and still lose their cards, or both play average and get lucky. At least Gates knows the Magnolia and Palm courses, having played the AJGA Polo All-American tournament there about six years ago.
“I don’t feel like a rookie this week,” he said. “I know not to stay on site. I know where to sleep and eat and how to get around. So it feels good.”
McGirt doesn’t have to go back too far to recall coming through in do-or-die situations. At Greensboro (T52) he played his way into the FedEx Cup playoffs, and acquitted himself so well at the Barclays (T24) he played himself into the second, the Deutsche Bank Championship (T42). He did the math Tuesday night and decided he’s safe to finish inside the top 150 no matter what happens this week, and a top-six would probably get him in the top 125.
“Who knows,” he said. “It’s Disney. Magic happens here.”
Garrigus says he’s hoping to finish the year in the top 30 in earnings. McGirt has the top 125 in his sights. And getting inside the top 150 exempts a player from the dreaded second stage of Q school, where those who fail to advance get nothing, not even Nationwide tour status, for the following year.
“This year is completely different,” said Garrigus, who planned to enjoy a low-stress week of fishing, with some golf mixed in. “Obviously I’ve made my money. I’ve almost madeI’ve made like $1.5 million. I’ve almost won a couple times. You know, I can feel what [Gates, McGirt and others are] feeling, because I’ve felt it. Pretty much every single year I’ve come here I’ve needed to finish in the top five to get my card. … Knowing that I don’t have to go to Q school for quite a while is going to be a nice feeling.”
Simpson: The people’s choice for POY?
Whether it’s because of a pro-American bias or because he’s a nice guy, a few players admitted they’re leaning toward Simpson for Player of the Year.
“I would personally like to see Webb win,” Gates said.
Donald and Webb will be paired together for the first two rounds.
“I’ve made my mind up,” Garrigus said. “I would vote for Webb. I mean, he’s had such an unbelievable year. If you look at how many top-10s he’s made [11], it’s almost more than some guys have played in tournaments. What has he made, $6 million? That’s Tiger money, and that’s pretty special.”
Lunde closes in on $1 million
Bill Lunde is 126th on the money list, but that’s not the only thing that has him on edge at the Disney. He leads the $1 million, winner-take-all Kodak Challenge by two, meaning second-place Cameron Tringale would have to eagle the 485-yard, par-4 17th hole at the Magnolia Course in order to tie Lunde. There have been just two eagles on that hole in the last 13 years.
There have been many important shots for Lunde, but the most memorable may be the eagle he made on the 16th hole at TPC Summerlin, home of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children in Las Vegas. The eagle came the day after he made the most deflating birdie of his life.
“I had this like 50-footer, 60-footer, whatever it was, and it looked like it was going to go in,” Lunde said. “It just barely caught low side of the cup and kind of just barely lipped out with no speed. I was just heartbroken. I kicked my putter in the water because I just thought I made it. I make birdie and we’re walking off the green and Rocco [Mediate] goes, ‘Dude, man, you just made birdie. That was a hell of a putt. What are you so mad about?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, Rocco, there is kind of a side thing going on here.’
“I didn’t really want to say it,” Lunde continued. “He kind of thought about it, and he was like, ‘Oh, my god. That was like a million dollar putt!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s why I almost actually kicked my putter in the water.’ He was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. You’ll make eagle tomorrow.’ Sure enough, I made eagle the next day.”
English closes in on spot in Nationwide Tour Championship
When he turned pro after the Walker Cup last month, Georgia product Harris English naturally had $0 in 2011 Nationwide earnings. But after his third-place finish at the Miccosukee Championship in Miami last weekend, Englishwho also lost in a sudden-death playoff since turning prois all the way up to 61st on the money list. He trails No. 60 Andrew Buckle by $1,900.
This week’s Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open at TPC Sawgrass, Dye’s Valley Course, marks the final full-field event of the 2011 Nationwide season. The top 60 on the money list after this week go to next week’s Nationwide Tour Championship in Charleston, S.C., where everyone will have a mathematical chance to finish in the top 25 in money and earn a PGA Tour card for 2012.
English already had secured status on the Nationwide with his victory at the Children’s Hospital Invitational in July, when he was still an amateur.
Jacksonville’s Bud Cauley, who has made $735,150 in eight starts on the PGA Tour since he left Alabama early, becoming the sixth man to go directly from college to the Tour (bypassing Q school), will play in the Winn-Dixie.
With his win in Miami, Jason Kokrak, who leads the Nationwide with 320.6 yards per drive, became the fourth two-time winner in 2011. Mathew Goggin, J.J. Killeen and Ted Potter, Jr., are the others.
Gavin Hall, winner of the Junior Players Championship, not only got into the Winn-Dixie field, he’ll be staying at the home of Fred and Sharon Funk.
Short game: Yani Tseng, who already has been named the LPGA’s player of the year, goes for her seventh victory of 2011 at the inaugural Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship at 6,390-yard, par-72 Sunrise Golf & Country Club. The field includes 27 of the top 30 on the money list. … Three Champions Tour pros will tee it up at Disney: Michael Allen, Mark Calcavecchia and Tom Lehman. … Fred Couples’s 54-hole total of 23-under 193 in Houston shattered the previous record on the Champions Tour, Mark McNulty’s 18-under 195, set in 2004. … Hale Irwin, 66, will return to the Schwab Cup Championship for the first time since 2007 after finishing the final full-field event at 26th on the money list with $599,811. He’s the oldest player to qualify for the tournament. Gil Morgan was 63 when he qualified in 2009. … The PGA Tour released its 2012 schedule and Disney will be moved back to Nov. 5-11. … Matteo Manassero, who at 17 became the European tour’s youngest winner last year, will defend his title at the Castello Masters at Sergio Garcia’s home course, Club de Campo del Mediterraneo. Garcia won the ’08 Castello Masters.
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