For players on bubble, it's time to sink or swim

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Like everybody else, he had his oversized golf bag loaded with 14 clubs of various compositions affixed to the back of his electric cart.

He had a graphite-shafted rod of another sort in hand, too.

Jason Gore: 'I'm over stressing. I've done the stressing in the past and it hasn't worked out.' (Getty Images)

Troy Matteson was heading out to play a practice round at the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Disney World and had heard the tales about the massive bass that inhabit the lakes on the resort's two tournament courses. So he brought along his fishing pole, too.

"I heard that this course might have the bigger fish," he said, pointing toward the Palm Course layout. "We'll check it out."

Plenty of his tour partners will be checking out after this week, some of them permanently. For them, as it relates to their status as full-time tour players, this week stands as the big one that got away.

Disney marks the final event of the 2008 PGA Tour season, the last chance for the rank-and-file to salvage their tour status for next season by finishing in the top 125 in earnings. So, it represents the terror-filled terminus for roughly 50 players with a chance of staging an 11th-hour miracle, and there couldn't be a more bizarre place for it to happen.

Happiest Place on Earth, is it?

"It's paradoxical isn't it?" said 2006 Disney winner Joe Durant, who is buried at No. 143 and is looking at a return trip to Qualifying School unless he rallies. "You'd think it would be the most relaxed atmosphere possible, but a bunch of guys out here are in agony."

Put another way, when the faint whistle blows on the Disney World Railroad as it passes nearby, it feels a lot more like the Johnny Cash tune about Folsom Prison. Playing with the executioner's ax poised above their heads is no way to make a living and those who finish 126th or higher are looking at reduced status for next year or the six-round rigors of Q-school.

"Leave it to me," said Jay Williamson, No. 132 in earnings. "I'm mister precarious. I've been here before. And I'll probably be here again."

Williamson, 41, finished No. 125 on the button six years ago, eking his way under the wire on the last day of the season. Jeff Overton is the man who currently occupies that unenviable position, having moved up one spot last week after finishing 18th at the Ginn sur Mer Classic in nearby Palm Coast.

Overton, a third-year pro, had his appendix removed two weeks ago in emergency procedure and is risking a hernia by playing, but doesn't have much choice. Last week, Patrick Sheehan started the week at No. 125 and missed the cut, dropping four spots. No play, no pay, so he slapped a pain patch onto his belly and whaled away.

"Day by day, I'm feeling a lot better," Overton said.

Hey, at this point in the season, nearly everybody is listed as day to day. Attitudes and latitudes will change with regard to where some of these guys will be playing in '09.

"I've made my bed and I've gotta sleep in it," said Jason Gore, who is 136th in earnings and looking at a possible return trip to the Nationwide, a tour where he once won a record three consecutive starts. "I'm just going to go play hard and add it up at the end.

"I'm over stressing. I've done the stressing in the past and it hasn't worked out."

Signs at the resort that serve to welcome the players and customers read, "Where dreams come true." Actually, for the first half-dozen winners in the tour's Fall Series, that has already been the case. Last week, former Disney winner Ryan Palmer became the sixth player in as many fall events to win a title after starting the week at No. 125 or higher in earnings.

It offers a glimmer of hope for those in despair, to be sure.

"I need to do what everybody has done in the Fall Series," Gore said.

The tour has many exemption categories that often are confusing for even the most studious fans. And, occasionally, players.

Shane Bertsch is No. 124 on the money list and by no means out of harm's way, but when he was approached about his stress level, he laughed.

"You want to know why I'm not worried about it?" he said.

Well, yeah. Bertsch played this year on a 28-tournament medical extension granted because he had vertigo in 2007. He was required to match the dollar amount of the player who finished No. 125 last year to keep playing.

Which he did, reaching the total at the Turning Stone event five weeks ago, which he believed cleared him for all of 2009.

Oops.

However, the medical exemption is for 2008, not 2009. Flatly put, like everybody else, he needs to finish in the top 125 this week to keep his card for 2009.

A tour official had to call Bertsch on Tuesday night to break the bad news that he had misinterpreted the rulebook. Worse, Bertsch skipped playing last week, too, passing a possible check that could have padded his total.

Forget the vertigo. His head must really be spinning now. But at least he knows his true standing.

A couple of guys who were on the wrong side of the bubble last week of the Gin sur Mer Classic showed up this week with smiles that could have given the Cheshire Cat a run for its money. Former Ryder Cup player Vaughn Taylor finished tied for second last week and leaped 29 spots to No. 100, his place on tour secure for another season.

"It kind of hit me yesterday and today," said Taylor, who was practically beaming. "It's such a huge weight off my shoulders. Not that it's life or death, but it feels like it sometimes."

Indeed, players who finish in earnings slots 126-150 still have lesser status next year and can expect to play in 15-20 mostly second-tier events next year and accent an unlimited number of sponsor exemptions. They also get to skip the final stage of Q-school if they elect to play. Those finishing outside the top 150 have to play in the second stage of Q-school, which begins next week. That's where the pressure is worst, since those who fail to advance to the Q-school finals have essentially zero status for next year. Desperation comes in several flavors this week.

"I'm mostly just hoping to avoid going to second stage," said Kevin Stadler, dogpaddling at No. 147 on the list.

How much upheaval we can expect come Sunday night is tough to say. Last year at the Disney season finale, Stadler was the lone player to move inside the top 125 after starting the event outside the number. Last week at the Ginn event, however, the earnings number at the 125 position shot up $50,000, a big jump this late in the season, and three in the top 125 were bumped out. Patrick Sheehan, who missed the cut after starting the Ginn event on the magic 125 number, dropped four slots and has never made the cut at Disney in his four career starts.

"This is the third time I have been in this position, so it's just another little something to think about," said Sheehan, who played on the Nationwide last year and reclaimed his '08 big league card. "Just go out and play like you are at home with your buddies."

The difference being, many of his buddies out here are trying to climb into the same overcrowded life boat -- plus the water is icy and the Titanic is going down fast.

Palmer was No. 143 before he won last Sunday night and he's been warmly embraced by his brethren on the practice tee this week, although he's found it hard to celebrate much in their presence. Too many of those same fellas are in the same stressful position he was in last week.

Thus, he knows the telltale symptoms well.

"You know, you can just sense it," Palmer said. "Visibly, they're good on the outside, but I can't imagine what they're going through on the inside."