PGA Tour QSchool Time

Yeap, its that time of year again. Pre-Qualifying for QSchool is just getting under way. Follow along here: http://www.pgatour.com/qschool/

I've got a couple good friends and some acquaintances playing at the PGA West Norman course. Sam and Damian Yi are my good buddies, then there are a bunch of other Golden State Tour players at this site as well. Let's see what the next three days brings...

Good Luck!! Watching the last round of Qschool is one of my favourite events to see every year.

Just checking some of the scores.

Those friends of Ben's are doing OK.

The thing that really amazes me is that there is obviously a huge difference in abilities, from guys who presumably play off 0 or plus handicaps. Quite a few are close to 90 and many into the 80s

What was that quote....... "Getting a PGA Tour card is a licence to lose money"?

I can understand people doing it for the experience, to test themselves, to see what kind of game they really have under pressure - I get that, but.....

There must be so many guys who the average player would think are fantastic players who have dreams of making it as professionals, but are going to end up very disappointed and frustrated.

I am sure that a lot of these players are realistic - but the amount of financial backing they need to have puts pressure on them too.

Every time I look at the world amateur rankings I think that of the top 100, most probably have dreams of making it as pros, but maybe 4 or 5 might.

My point is that most of us should perhaps be glad that we aren't as good as we'd like to be - we'd probably enjoy our game less!!

By those standards I should really be enjoying my game.

I'm loving mine!

Yeah, this game is supposed to be fun, but when players at our level start slipping we question ourselves, and what we're really doing out there. Its the case with Sam. The first two days he was losing it, +5 after those rounds. He said he was really struggling last night after the round. The same happened last month at US Am qualifying when he was losing control of his last round. He  managed to banish those thoughts from his mind and made it to the US Am and pulled together a solid round today to make it through pre-qual.

I'd like to think it has to do with having me on the bag :) He had is dad caddying for him the first two days, but he had to leave for business and couldn't caddy today, so, I came in, and we kicked ass! I was also there for the 36 holes of US Am qualifying.

Damian slipped a little today too, he didn't have to win, just make the top 37, but being tied for second after the second day, I'm sure he had a few thoughts of self-doubt today as well. Anyway, both my horses are through. Depending on where Sam gets drawn for first stage, I'm sure I'll see some time on his bag.

I don't think professional golf would be fun if your playing bad.  You can't just quit the hole and go sit on the next tee.  Playing for a living would be really hard when things aren't going well, your not making any money, and you have no idea where the ball is going.  My guess every pro except the elite are there at some point in there career.

Best of luck to your boys.

Well, my buddy Sam put up a fight, but got knocked out after with First Stage bout.

Damian is currently in First Stage in NorCal. He's through two rounds and lingering around the cut with two rounds to go. It's Damian's time though. He's in there for sure. Other Golden State Tour guys I've played with are Eric Meichtry, Dillon Dougherty, Blaine Staggs, Mark Warman and Jason Cook (John Cook's son...) http://pgatq.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgatq11/event/pgatq1130/contest/1/leaderboard.htm

Just one buddy playing in Georgia. Blake Moore, yes, unfortunately know as the Big Break hothead...But, he's right in the mix: http://pgatq.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgatq11/event/pgatq1120/contest/1/leaderboard.htm#

And the local site, Oak Valley, where there are a ton of guys I know playing...http://pgatq.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgatq11/event/pgatq1119/contest/1/leaderboard.htm# John Huh, Gin Kim, Mike McCabe, Justin Itzen, Berry Henson, Sam Cyr, Eugene Choe and Brian Locke.

The one guy I know that is playing isn't doing so well, T67... hopefully he'll have better luck the next time around.

The one person I actually know that's playing in q school is leading after 3 rounds at the Pinewild (Magnolia) site. His name is John Hahn. Helluva player from Kent State University

I know a guy that went to Q School last year, believe he got knocked out of the final round.  He's managed to play several Nationwide events this year under a sponsor's exemption.  Good golfer but seems to struggle to pull it together when under real pressure.  Unfortunately, his earnings probably do not even remotely cover his travel costs let alone anything else.

Was thinking the same thing when I saw Ken Tanigawa's name at one of the Stage 1 venues.  He was a hot shot So Cal Jr when I was growing up...didn't have an outstanding Collegiate career and I lost track of him only to see now that he made a handful of PGA starts and was part time on the NW (Nike) and Japanese tours a couple of years in the 90s with more missed than made cuts.

I'm following a kid, Danny Wax from my dad's club who made 6 of 7 cuts during 2009-10 on the NW/PGA before being consistently in the middle of the pack as a full time NW player this year- a lot of missed cuts with a high score for the year of 75 and under 40 K of earnings.  He is t11 after 3 rounds at Kinderlou Forest, so hopefully he can get back to the Finals again.