Former OSU golfer Rickie Fowler has chance to get card, skip Q-school
Golf
By Doug Ferguson, AP Golf Writer
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Published: October 28, 2009
Rickie Fowler picked a good year to try to get his PGA Tour card without going to Q-school.
The former
Oklahoma State star tied for seventh in
Las Vegas, then lost in a three-way playoff at the
Frys.com Open in
Arizona, giving him $553,700 in two starts. He has at least one tournament left, the Viking Classic this week in Mississippi.
A year ago,
Martin Laird finished 125th on the PGA Tour money list with $852,752, a record amount required to keep a card. Fowler would have needed a runner-up finish at the Viking Classic to match that figure.
But the money is way down this year.
David Duval is holding down the 125th spot at $623,824. With two tournaments remaining, Fowler might be able to finish 10th at the Viking Classic and have enough money to get the equivalent of 125th, thereby skipping Q-school.
A year ago with two tournaments remaining, the 125th spot was at $795,320 — that’s $171,505 more than this year.
PGA Tour officials attribute the drastic shortfall in the loss of two tournaments from the Fall Series. The Ginn sur Mer Classic is no longer on the schedule, and the
Texas Open moved to the spring when the
Atlanta tournament couldn’t find a sponsor.
Total prize money on the PGA Tour for official events is $275 million, nearly $5 million less than a year ago (part of that includes a drop in the
British Open purse because of the exchange rate).
The difference is found at the bottom of the money list.
Vijay Singh won the money title last year at $6.6 million, mainly because
Tiger Woods only played six tournaments until knee surgery. This year, Woods has clinched the title with $10.5 million.
Otherwise, the distribution of cash looks very similar. Three players have earned over $5 million this year, same as 2008. Fourteen players have made at least $3 million, same as last year. And with two tournament remaining, 36 players already have topped $2 million, compared with 37 players in 2008.
Go farther down the money list, however, to find that 104 players made over $1 million last year. Only 88 players are over $1 million this year with two tournaments left.
Closer to where it counts — 125th on the money list — shows how much those two missing tournaments make a difference. It also shows up in a most peculiar way, highlighted by the playoff loss of Fowler and
Jamie Lovemark. Fowler became a special temporary member because he earned the equivalent of 150th on the money list in 2008 (
Todd Hamilton was 150th at $537,958).
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