What is it about life on the edge that seems to annually attract at least one PGA Tour player with strong Colorado connections?
Just about every year at this time, as the official Tour season draws to a close, someone from the local contingent finds himself right on the bubble as far as remaining fully exempt for the following year. The top 125 money winners for the season keep their Tour card, while finishers 126-150 receive the much less desirable “conditional” status.
The Tour season wraps up this week with the Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and this year it’s David Duval of Cherry Hills Village who enters the tournament No. 125 on the money list.
Duval’s presence continues a strong trend of Colorado players finishing around the 125 bubble in this decade. In all likelihood this will mark the eighth time in the last 10 seasons that at least once local player has ended up in the 120-127 range on the money list.
A year ago today (Nov. 9), former Colorado State golfer Martin Laird finished 125th and Parker resident Shane Bertsch was 126th in perhaps the most dramatic local down-to-the-wire battle for the top 125. In previous years this millennium, here is how the Colorado bubble contingent has fared in the final money standings: Kent Denver High School graduate Kevin Stadler (124th in 2007); Bertsch (123rd in 2006); Castle Rock’s Esteban Toledo (125th in 2003); Evergreen’s Craig Stadler (127th in 2002), and Kent Denver grad Brandt Jobe (124th in 2001 and 120th in 2000).
To be sure, all it not lost for players who finish just outside the top 125. Typically, a golfer in that situation will get into about 20 events the following year — less than normal, but not bad. However, the ability to be choosy about tournaments largely goes by the wayside, especially in the fall. A good example is Kevin Stadler, who finished in the 126-150 category last year and has gotten into just one tournament in the last two months.
Duval, once the No. 1-ranked player in the world, would be in better shape than most should he finish out of the top 125 because of his stature in the game a decade ago (he won 13 times from 1997 through 2001, capped by a British Open victory). But he’d still have less playing options on the PGA Tour in 2010 than anytime since becoming a full-time Tour player in 1995.
Duval, who turns 38 today, played this year on Tour thanks to a one-time exemption for being in the top 50 on the Tour’s career money list.
Due almost entirely to a runner-up finish in the U.S. Open in June — his best showing on the PGA Tour since 2001 — Duval has won $623,824 this year on Tour. The player currently No. 126, Chris Riley, stands at $613,027.
Despite having conditional status even if he should fall out of the top 125, Duval said recently that he has entered PGA Tour qualifying — he’s exempt into the final stage — as a fallback plan.
“I just figured it was best to have that option,” Duval told Golf Digest. “”¦ I would like to think I could play 15 or 18 events off exemptions, but you never know. It’s not something you want to do necessarily. I’m in a unique position, though, because I could conceivably not be (fully) exempt on the PGA Tour next year, but I would be in the first three majors (thanks to his finish in the U.S. Open). It’s kind of a funny situation.”
With Duval having missed six cuts in seven events since the U.S. Open, Golf Digest noted that the Coloradan recently rehired Mitch Knox as his caddie. Knox looped for Duval for every one of his Tour victories, but hadn’t worked for Duval since 2004.
Depending on the circumstances, staying in the 125 can prove pivotal to a player’s career. Just ask Laird.
Exactly one year ago today, the former CSU golfer made an 8-foot par putt on the final hole of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic to overtake Bertsch on the money list. With Laird remaining fully exempt by finishing No. 125, and Bertsch falling into the conditionally exempt category by falling to No. 126, the careers of the players have gone in opposite directions the last 12 months.
Last month at the Justin Timberlake tournament in Las Vegas, Laird won for the first time on the PGA Tour, earning a two-year exemption in the process. He also gained spots in some prestigious invitationals, including last week’s World Golf Championships event in China.
Meanwhile, Bertsch broke his foot late last year and didn’t compete on the PGA or Nationwide Tour in 2009 until September. Bertsch, 39, is in the field for this week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic — just his second PGA Tour event of the year — but at the very least he’s expected to receive a medical extension that will allow him to play a limited schedule on Tour in 2010.
One other player with Colorado ties, Golden native Leif Olson, is on another bubble going into the Tour finale. He enters this week No. 153 on the money list. He’s won $412,966 and needs to move into the top 150 (currently $437,120) to keep his PGA Tour status for next year. The Tour rookie would probably require a top-three finish this week to get into the top 125 and remain fully exempt.
