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Q school is LPGA's own reality show
VENICE, Fla. -- Whoever said winning isn't everything must have been talking about the first stage of LPGA Q school, held last week at Plantation Golf and Country Club. With 30 spots available for the final stage of qualifying, Oct. 9-13 in Daytona Beach, and no guaranteed jobs on the LPGA Tour for next year, surviving was the name of the game. Last week, I headed down to muggy Florida to caddie for Stephanie Keever, one of the most decorated players in the field (according to the local writer on hand). But even if you're a four-time All-American from Stanford who represented the U.S. last year in the Curtis Cup and who finished second in the Futures Tour event the week before, there are no gimmes at Q school. In fact, there is even more pressure, because everyone, including that writer and your father some 2,500 miles away at home, thinks it's a foregone conclusion that you will advance.
Only at Q school would you see someone like Indonesia's Ina Saptaria make a 15 on No. 13 on the Panther course and then walk off four holes later because she had run out of balls. (By the way, her count for the day was nine.) Only at Q school would you see someone like Amanda Molte-Leth arguing with her playing partner in the scoring tent about what she made on one particular hole. Only at Q school would you see someone like Korea's You Jin Kang, who made the 36-hole cut but posted a score so high in the third round that she decided to rip her scorecard into little pieces. Former Oregon standout Angie Rizzo best summed up what all of the 169 players on hand were feeling. "I just want to throw up," she told a group of friends waiting for her off the 18th green on Friday afternoon. Rizzo, who lives in Coon, Minn., felt this way despite finishing tied for second behind 18-year-old Natalie Gulbis, some 12 shots ahead of the score needed to advance. Well, after Tuesday's first round, Keever probably wanted to throw up, kick something and start all over; she posted a disappointing 5-over 77. A combination of nerves and an untimely double bogey on a par-5 meant her chances of not even making the cut were high. Her father, Larry, sequestered by his daughter in his home in Las Vegas, was just bewildered. "What happened to the 69-68-68?" said a frantic Larry, referring to Stephanie's scores at the Betty Puskar Futures Tour event in Morgantown, W.Va. As he ranted and raved for about 10 minutes, I quickly thought to myself, No wonder she asked him not to make the trip. Fortunately, the number to make the cut at one of these events usually skyrockets faster than the price of gasoline in New York City. The magic number ended up being 8-over par. After losing a brawl with a tree on the 12th hole, which resulted in another double bogey, Keever stood 9 over with three to play. She decided not to go for the par-5 16th hole in two, eschewing the eagle opportunity, then failed to record the birdie. That meant her last chance could come on the 17th hole, a short par-4. Keever showed off the ice in her veins by sinking a 25-foot putt. The ball barely trickled into the center of the cup, but that was good enough to live for another day. In the third round, the decorated player that everyone expected finally showed up. Keever would hit 16 greens, make five birdies, post a 68 and move from 61st to a tie for 15th. Larry was calm again. And he should have been, because, just like the cut, the number to finish in the top 30 was rising. The projected cutoff was at 8 over. Rick Price, a Buy.com Tour player and husband of Melinda Daniels-Price, reminded me Friday morning, "All you need is 76 or better." Price is an expert, having attended the PGA Tour's Q school some 12 times. The tension during that final round was so thick that you needed a chain saw to cut through it. While I normally don't get nervous, on the first tee I caught myself thinking, Please just hit it in the fairway. Keever did. But a few holes later, I, too, had a second taste of my IHOP pancakes. A missed two-footer for par on an easy par-5 and a double bogey on the fifth hole, and suddenly we were reeling. The tough part of these Q school events is that you get caught up playing conservatively, trying to avoid a big number. This middle-of-the-green approach resulted in two more bogeys, leaving Keever back where she had started two days ago -- 8 over and right on the bubble. A birdie on the 15th hole allowed me to breathe without the help of an oxygen tank, but that relief only lasted a hole; we proceeded to bogey another par-5, our nemesis for the week. Coming up on the final two holes, two of the toughest on the Bobcat course layout, Keever played like a seasoned veteran and not a 22 year old fresh out of college and looking for her first job. Two perfect drives, two birdie opportunities -- both foiled. Now she just had to sit and wait. While I was pretty confident that her score was golden, her mother, Mary, who was allowed to make the trip because of her low-key approach, looked concerned. "I'm not saying we're in until it's all said and done," said Mary, a special-education teacher. When it was all said and done, Keever was in. But unlike at other tournaments, there were no high fives, no champagne, no oversized checks, no trophies. There was not one sign of a celebration anywhere. This was just the first step, and there is another gut-wrenching tournament to go. A few players did pose for some group photos. But these were the only keepsakes of this epic battle to join the LPGA Tour. Tom Hanson, a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section, is a longtime caddie on the LPGA Tour. Click here to send him a question or comment.
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