Final stop crucial, but not urgent, for bubble players
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The whistle from the fabled choo-choo train can be heard in the distance. The overhead monorail zips past folks in the parking lot across the street.
On the golf property at Walt Disney World, where the PGA Tour is staging its season finale this week, the popular sentiment is that about half the field is preparing to ride a hot rail into obscurity.
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| Briny Baird has seen his share of the bubble and says making the top 125 isn't vital -- but it doesn't hurt, either. (Getty Images) |
Not to blow holes in the fantasy, but now more than ever, the taint of desperation, the stench of failure, the sink-or-swim mindset that once pervaded the finale at the happiest place on Earth no longer really applies.
Veteran Robert Garrigus enters this week at No. 122 on the money list -- the exact spot he occupied last year entering the Children's Miracle Network Classic finale. Garrigus took a header, missed the cut, and was one of two players who were displaced in the top 125 in the final week of 2009.
Depression set in, but only briefly.
"I thought that last year, having missed the cut and gone back to Q-school, it would be awful," Garrigus said on the Disney range this week. "I found out it wasn't that bad. This is my 21st tournament this year, so I am not really that worried about it."
Actually, it's his 22nd. He's not just whistling in the graveyard, either.
This week won't necessarily separate mice and men: Data supplied by the tour indicates that even for those characterized as occupational failures or fringe players, a surprising number are still getting a full season of at-bats in the big leagues.
It wasn't long ago that players who finished between Nos. 126-150 on the money list could expect to receive perhaps 16 starts in a season. This year, of the players in the top 165 in earnings headed into Disney, the overwhelming majority have made 20-plus starts. Almost without exception, those who didn't either were injured or splitting time as members of multiple tours.
Of the 21 guys between Nos. 126-150 from 2009's money list who haven't moved on to the Champions Tour or sustained an injury, only three made fewer than 20 starts this year. Nine had solid seasons, improved their standing on the tournament pecking order through the year and made more than 25 starts.
Thus, this week represents the '10 season finale, but that doesn't mean finality is assured. By way of example, Briny Baird is the man on the bubble this week at No. 126 in earnings, which is exactly where he finished on the money list in 2005. He made 25 starts the following year and got his card back.
As for the member dismemberment often associated with the final event and the resulting stratification of the money list, "I think it's tremendously overstated," Baird said.
No question, finishing in the top 125 has plenty of benefits. Players can generally plot out their playing schedules for 2011 in advance with nary a worry. Those who don't are left to fight over what's left over. But still, it's a great time to be a U.S. tour pro.
"I'm not going to downplay it, " Baird said, somewhat contradicting himself. "There's a significant difference. I mean you're going to get in, you get to pick and choose your tournaments, and that's huge."
Yet seemingly everybody fed freely from the money trough this year -- or at least had a knife and a fork and ample opportunity to dig in. According to the tour, those from the top 125 in 2009 already have averaged 26.95 starts. The last guy to earn his card out of Qualifying School last fall has managed 21.
In all, the top 25 players promoted from the Nationwide after the 2009 season and the top 25 from Q-school last fall have averaged 25.85 starts. Damned right it's the land of opportunity.
Thus, Baird is hardy agonizing over his status, having gone down this road before. The potential potholes aren't really that bad.
"I know if I play well given 18 to 20 starts next year, if I play the way I know I'm capable of playing, that's going to be plenty of starts," said Baird, who has over $11 million in career earnings. "If it's not, it's not.
"The great thing about this sport is there's room for a select number of people. This is the cream of the crop. This is the best players in the world playing on the PGA Tour, and you have to put up every year."
But that's not the greatest thing, mind you.
"There are probably 200 guys that have access to the PGA Tour," Baird said. "When I say access, that's guys that'll play 15 or more events. You only have to beat 75 guys. So to look at it in a positive way, you really don't have to beat that many guys."
Sorry to let some of the dramatic air out of the week's balloon -- which happens to be the logo of the title sponsor. Many of those finishing outside the top 125 will return to Orlando in two weeks for Q-school finals in an attempt to reclaim their status for 2011, but even those who flunk out, so to speak, aren't necessarily expelled for good.
"I think the hardest thing on the PGA Tour is getting on the PGA Tour," Baird said. "It's not staying on the PGA Tour. At least, that's my take on it. "
Right now, the opportunities for taking are pretty good.
