|
 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
Final exam Tryon enters last 18 with shot at making historyPosted: Sunday December 02, 2001 6:02 PMUpdated: Monday December 03, 2001 4:16 PM WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The last day of PGA Tour qualifying will provide a final exam unlike anything 17-year-old Ty Tryon might face at his high school. Despite blowing birdie chances on the par 5s and missing another birdie putt the length of his golf bag, Tryon posted a 2-under 70 in the fifth round Sunday and then scrolled through the 49 names in front of him on the leaderboard. "At least I've got a chance," he said. "And I'll take advantage of it, I hope. I don't have any big game plan. Just play golf and make birdies." The leader with one round to go at Bear Lakes Country Club was Pat Perez, who had a birdie-eagle start on the Links Course and finished with a 65, putting him at 333 and two strokes ahead of Kenneth Staton. Tryon, who turned pro this summer before starting his junior year at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, was 15 strokes off the lead, but that isn't the target. The top 35 and ties after Monday's final round get their PGA Tour cards, and Tryon is only three strokes back of the cut line and in a tie for 50th. Should he succeed, he would be the youngest player ever to earn his PGA Tour card. In some respects, he already can claim success. "I think I've shown I can hang out here," Tryon said. "If I made it here, people can't say much because I've had to go through all three stages. It's not like I was exempt into the second stage or got into the third stage. If I make it, it's more than having one good week." Tryon knows that feeling.
In March, at 16, he became the youngest player in 44 years to make the cut in a PGA Tour event when he qualified for the Honda Classic and then tied for 39th. He also made the cut in the B.C. Open, where he was tied for lead after the first round. This week has been a bigger grind than he has let on. He arrived Tuesday with a severe bout of strep throat and was able to eat his first decent meal -- steak and salad -- on Saturday night. Still, the kid managed opening rounds of 70-69 and has never been too far from having a regular job next year. While the top 35 and ties are exempt on the PGA Tour, the next 50 get their Buy.com Tour cards. "It would mean everything to get my card," he said. "I had expectations of making it out here, but nothing unrealistic. It's tough to get in the first time, and that would be a good accomplishment." He'll need nothing short of his best round of the week on Monday, when he plays the tougher Lakes Course. Tryon had a chance to get into position Sunday until he ran into trouble on the back nine. He had to take an unplayable lie in the tall weeds on No. 5 and took bogey, failed to birdie either par 5 -- that's giving up a stroke with his length -- then missed the short birdie putt on his 17th hole. But he has avoided the bad rounds that can send players spiraling down the leaderboard. "I've been steady," Tryon said. "Same thing every day." Perez, meanwhile, has protected his lead since setting the course record with a 63 in the third round. Sunday was no different, especially when he went out in 30 and built a five-shot lead. "I'm firing at every pin," said Perez, who played for Arizona State's national championship team in 1996. "I feel like I can do anything with the ball, and I haven't felt that in a long time." Staton tied the course record Sunday with a 63, while Tommy Armour III had a 67 and was five strokes back at 338. Ian Leggatt of Canada, former Buy.com Tour player of the year Bob Burns and Pete Jordan were another stroke back. They have breathing room for Monday. Also safe is Gary Nicklaus, who had a 67 on the course his father designed and was in a tie for seventh. The winner of the Qualifying Tournament gets $50,000, and top finishers get higher priority for getting into tournaments on the West Coast next year. "My whole goal was to win this tournament," Nicklaus said. Tryon didn't set his sights that high, but it will be no less amazing should he simply get his PGA Tour card. Divots: Sunday's gallery included three major championship winners. Ian Baker-Finch and Greg Norman came out to watch fellow Aussie Aaron Baddeley, while Jack Nicklaus watched his son. ... Of the 15 PGA Tour title winners in the field, only three are in the top 35 going into the final round -- Tommy Armour III, Robert Gamez and Blaine McCallister. ... Paul Goydos, 2 under after four rounds, withdrew. Because he finished 132nd on the money list, Goydos still has conditional status on the PGA Tour next year.
|
