LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Rich Beem was slightly flummoxed by the term, which has often been ascribed to golf, where there are no guaranteed, multi-year contracts or player unions.
The game has usually been described the ultimate meritocracy, a $10 word that means players sink or swim according to their performance level.
|
|
| Well-connected veterans might cost Rickie Fowler some playing chances next season. (Getty Images) |
No need, since in a broad manner of speaking, the meritocracy notion comes with an asterisk or footnote. Because, depending on who you are and where you rank in the perceived pecking order, dog-paddling for a few years is a possible career option, too.
The biggest storyline at the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World is the PGA Tour money list, with this week's season finale serving as the last chance to cement tour cards for 2010 in the game's big leagues.
Yet last and chance are mutually exclusive terms for many. While finishing in the top 125 in earnings serves as the keys to the game's magic kingdom, and the tendency is to paint the scenario as a do-or-die proposition, there are subtle stages of finality with the tour, especially for guys with a few victories on the resume.
For better or worse -- and Beem admits both positions are defensible -- it can take years before some players run out of ways to keep a FootJoy stuck in opportunity's door. The rub is, sputtering veterans who manage to hang on for years arguably block the way of younger, rising players.
"My dad said a long time ago, once you've been out there for a couple years, it's easier to stay out there than it is to actually get out there," Beem said. "I tend to agree with that statement."
He's a walking, talking example, really. When Beemer won the 2002 PGA Championship, he earned a five-year exemption, valid regardless of some forgettable seasons he played in that span, which expired at the end of 2007. He failed to finish in the top 125 last season and has been writing letters to tournament officials asking for exemptions ever since. Beem makes friends easily and understands the importance of shaking hands and kissing babies, so the response was gratifying.
Beem half-seriously offered to "wash your car, I'll baby-sit your kids," but his writer's cramp paid off and he has a chance to keep his card. This week marks his 26th start of the season. Similarly, David Duval is making his 22nd start, though he hasn't finished in the top 125 in earnings since 2002 and has used a series of career money-list and other exemptions to stay on tour.
"A lot of the PGA Tour is about relationships and loyalties," Duval said.
| Links |
|
Lake Buena Vista: Tournament preview PGA Tour: Money list |
Somewhat to the confusion of fans, those loyalties frequently keep guys on the cusp from abruptly falling out of the game -- especially for prominent guys like Beem and Duval, the hot-seat boys of the moment on the money list. Odds are darned strong that even if they both fell out of the top 125, they'd play at least 20 times next year, although not always at the tournaments of their own choosing.
"Rich Beem and David Duval have won majors and earned their place out here, but for other lesser-known guys in that position outside the top 125, you are looking at a year on the Nationwide Tour," said Chris Riley, who stands 124th on the money list.
Yes and no. Riley, a former Ryder Cup player, has played out of three different eligibility categories since he was last fully exempt in 2006. Without getting needlessly detailed about the flavors of his changing exemptions status, suffice to say that he has still managed to play in 17 or more events in each of those years. Players finishing between Nos. 126-150 in earnings can expect to receive roughly a dozen starts the following year plus an automatic berth on the Q-school finals, where they have another shot at reclaiming their full status. So career mulligans feel as plentiful on the Disney horizon as the Florida mosquitoes.
A look at the field list this week underscores the fact that some guys can take forever to fade away -- which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Veteran Lee Janzen hasn't finished in the top 125 in earnings since 2004, but the two-time U.S. Open champion hasn't exactly been forgotten. He has played in 22 or more tournament every year since, and this year has finally cracked the top 125 again, entering the week at a bullet-proof 98th.
So who's to say when a guy has gone belly-up for good? Former Ryder Cup player Jeff Maggert finished outside the top 125 last year, burned his exemption for ranking among the tour's top 50 career wage-earners and enters this week still breathing at No. 127th.
This week provides excellent ballast to the argument over whether card-carrying players are too much of a protected species. Two players who left college early this year, Rickie Fowler and Jamie Lovemark, are in the Disney field. Ages 20 and 21, they finished in a tie for first two weeks ago and lost in a playoff outside Phoenix, proving they can play with the big boys at least occasionally. With no status on tour assured in 2010, and with some veterans eating up berths in fields, sporadic starts might be all they can get.
The number of PGA Tour events promises to contract. This year, there ended up being three fewer Fall Series events than in 2008, for instance. Players earning spots on tour via Q-school and the Nationwide Tour have complained that it's harder to get access to events. Moreover, full-field events seem like they are becoming the exception, not the rule.
Where's the balance? The playing field has long been tilted toward the old guys, perhaps deservedly. Davis Love, the defending champion this week and a player with 20 career wins, remembers sitting at No. 125 entering the Fall Series last year.
"It was a different kind of pressure because I knew I'd get some places to play," he said.
"Giving people the opportunity to stay around a little more would be more accredited," said second-year pro Kevin Streelman, a Duke grad. "But you also understand, I was one of those guys a couple years ago just clawing to get up here, so I'm one to try and get fresh blood as well.
"From a marketing side of the tour, names sell tickets, and they sell TV ads and stuff. I'd have to think about that for a while. I definitely understand both sides of the coin on that topic, but I think they've done a pretty good job, and history has shown that guys that are 126 to 150 have won PGA Tour events the next year."
It happens every year, actually. There are perhaps 20 guys stuck on the Nationwide who could win right now on the PGA Tour if the breaks fell their way and they were given a chance. Of course, the latter remains a big if.
Ideas have long been floated to create a tour model more akin to the European soccer model. Each year, bottom-rung teams are demoted from the English Premier League to a second-division tier, where they have to play their way back up the ladder. The tour could relegate those finishing between Nos. 126-150 to the Nationwide each year, while promoting the top 25 from the Nationwide and giving them unbridled access. It would certainly create more turnover and fresh faces.
However, you risk thinning the herd of guys like Duval, Janzen and Beem and having them replaced by unheralded players with a thin career CV. For the more casual fan who prefers to see Bob Tway over some unknown prospect with a presumably better short-term upside, the turnstiles wouldn't be moving much.
"How far can it go?" Beem said. "You got so many young players that are up-and-coming, you know, the Danny Lees, the Ricky Fowlers, the guys like that. Why wouldn't they want to give those kids a chance because they are up-and-comers, and who's going to challenge Tiger next, and blah, blah, blah."
So, with big-league opportunities potentially shrinking for rising players, there's merit in having the debate. Nobody needs a dictionary to understand that.
