Young Q-school grads won't be satisfied with just being there

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Brent Delahoussaye took a deep breath, then another, and tried to keep from squirting geysers of emotion out of his tear ducts as he described his mood at the moment.

Many before him had tried and failed on Monday.

"I've never been that nervous in my life," Delahoussaye said. "I'm overwhelmed. This is the best feeling ever. I mean, it's a dream that started when I was 7."

Troy Merritt gets a warm welcome after his win. 'The trophy is to get to play next year with the big boys,' he says. (Getty Images)

Impressive as that sounds, for Delahoussaye and eight others who will play on the PGA Tour next year as rookies, age 7 wasn't all that long ago.

Leading a surge of youngsters in an event that traditionally has favored veterans, retreads and graybeards, the 2005 Clemson graduate led a rookie charge that will infuse the 2010 with plenty of fresh faces.

Rookies claimed an amazing nine of the 25 cards at the final stage of Qualifying School finals at Bear Lakes Country Club, all of them age 27 or younger. As a group, they have made a career total of 17 starts on the PGA Tour, none as members.

Nothing against former tour winners Chris Riley, Neal Lancaster or Jeff Maggert, but those guys have been there, done that. Or as it relates to their performances over the past few seasons, not done that. Or they wouldn't have been here this week in the first place.

Leading the kid corps was Troy Merritt, who was the medalist at 22 under and led all week in the tour's annual six-day grind. Merritt played in semi-anonymity compared to some while at Boise State, where he won seven times as a senior, including five in as many starts at one point.

Where some guys were just happy to earn their card and call it a week, Merritt clearly wanted the victory -- an aggressive mindset that was shared by about half of his fellow rookie class. Eight of the nine were Americans.

Merritt won $50,000 and won't receive a trophy, but he held off a field that included several former major and multiple tour winners. "The trophy is to get to play next year with the big boys," said Merrick, 25.

If the rookies are little guys at the moment, I like their chances of making some noise next year. Three players who left or finished college this year made the grade, led by heralded Californian Rickie Fowler, who has played in eight PGA Tour events and nearly won the Frys.com Open in suburban Phoenix earlier this fall.

Based on the way he has played in his short pro stint, it would have been a disappointment if he the 20-year-old hadn't sailed through, but he held up fine and finished in a tie for 15th.

"I've had to deal with expectations for a little bit now," said Fowler, a former Player of the Year who left Oklahoma State after two years. "I've learned to deal with it, I guess."

Billy Horschel and Cameron Tringale, stars who completed their careers at Florida and Georgia Tech this year, also sailed through with relatively few bumps, which was no great surprise, either. Both are former Walker Cup players who rolled up multiple All-America awards.

Tringale, 22, was outside the top 25 and watching the scoreboard too often with two days left when he got a text message from his college coach, Bruce Heppler.

"Go win the last 36 holes," it read.

Tringale shot 69-67 and cruised into the big leagues. Horschel, who turned 23 Monday, also had little to sweat about. Unlike Tringale, he kept his head down and didn't look at the scores much at all.

"That's the way I do business," Horschel said. "If I do my deal, I'll be fine."

The fresh meat next year includes another guy from Boise State, native Canadian Graham DeLaet, the lone international to make it as a first-timer. He broke down sobbing after finishing, probably as much out of relief as anything.

He's played on five different tours this year, from Europe to South Africa to Canada, and last week represented his country at the World Cup in China. He took a flight Sunday night from Shenzhen to Miami, arriving Monday. Then he somehow endured six days of this emotion-sapping slog.

"I'm tired, but I think it's more emotional than physical," said DeLaet, 26, who played four years ahead of Merritt at Boise. "I'm wiped."

Speaking of which, it looked like Brian Stuard was headed for another wipe-out, and he's had far too many of them lately. Stuard was in sixth place with a day remaining at the Q-school finals last year and shot 74 on the last day to blow his card. A month ago, he had an eight-footer on the last green at the Nationwide Tour finale and missed, costing him the final PGA Tour card awarded to those finishing 25th or better on the money list.

He bogeyed three holes early on his back nine Monday, then knocked a wedge to within a foot on the 17th for a kick-in birdie, and almost holed a 7-iron shot from 170 yards on the 18th to close it out in style. He finished T19.

It was a miserable 12 months, but it didn't kill him, so it made him stronger, as they like to say.

"Hopefully, it made me a better golfer," said Stuard, 27.

Chris Wilson, a 2007 Northwestern graduate, was one of five of the rookies who went through all three stages of Q-school.

"I think the most satisfying part was playing well the last day," said Wilson, who closed with a 69 to finish T12. "To do it when it really matters most."

Nobody outdid Martin Flores in that regard. The 27-year-old Oklahoma alum shot 65 and didn't have a bogey on the card, which means he perspired not a bit Monday despite the 80 percent humidity.

"I was looking to put my foot down and keep moving forward," he said.

That could serve as the overriding sentiment of the fresh-faced rookie Class of 2010. At an event where most are happy just to survive and advance, rookies including Horschel, Merritt, Tringale and Fowler hardly sounded like a group predisposed to sit back and cruise next year.

"I want to win," Horschel said. "That's my mentality. If I finish fifth and am complacent with it, I will quit the game."