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By Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

Imagine a year of living futilely -- at least in the professional sense.

Imagine qualifying for the Nationwide Tour in your first attempt and then experiencing the agony of defeat at every turn.

Imagine peeking at the Tour's earnings list and seeing zero, zero, absolutely zero attached to your name like a scarlet letter.

Welcome to the out-of-whack world of Ted Potter Jr. circa 2004. Potter, 24 at the time, was a card-carrying member of the Tour that fateful season. And darn if professional golf, a game that can be cruel and capricious, didn't pitch a shutout at him.

Ted Potter Jr. tied for 12th in his only Nationwide Tour start so far in 2007. (Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

Potter came to the first tee with high hopes 24 times. He left each and every tournament site disappointed at some point Friday afternoon, slamming his trunk and damning his bum's luck on the golf course.

As improbable as it seems, Potter went zero-for-24. He missed every cut. He failed to collect a paycheck, not one red cent.

"Suffice to say I never expected that at all,'' Potter said. "I started in Louisiana (the Chitimacha Louisiana Open) and felt good. I hit the ball well, but didn't make it. Then it kind of snowballed. I started to get down on myself. It was hard to pick myself up. Toward the end of the year I was a golf psycho.''

Now there's an understatement of the highest rank. But give Potter credit. He never lost his want to. It was impossible not to be down, but make no mistake, he was not out.

That's why the first Nationwide Tour event of 2007 was cause for a celebration for Potter, who spent 2005 on the Moonlight Tour and 2006 on the Hooters Tour sharpening his game and gaining invaluable experience. Back at it on a stage that beat him down three years earlier, Potter made a cut. Then he made a check, a nice one at that for finishing in a tie for 12th in the Movistar Panama Championship.

Now here's the kicker. Potter did not arrive at the first tee in Panama with his streak on his mind -- never crossed it in fact. He was focused on something else, winning.

"I was so much more comfortable this time around,'' Potter said, laughing. "You can't go out there thinking I want to make a cut.''

That, Potter said, simply will not cut it. Nevertheless, he pulled no punches when he said how he felt when that fateful Friday afternoon and he was tucked safely inside the 36-hole cut number.

"After the year I had in 2004 it was a relief,'' he said, laughing again.

Potter also was moved by the reaction of some of his Nationwide peers, who obviously felt his pain in 2004.

"A lot of those guys who were around then came up and said, 'Good job,' '' he said. "That was really nice. I appreciated the gesture.''

So one would surmise Potter would be incredibly eager to get to the first tee of the next Nationwide Tour event and keep the positive momentum going. But it turns out Potter was not hot to globe trot, given that the next two Tour events were scheduled for Australia and New Zealand. Those 18-hour flights were not appealing.

"I'm not big into flying,'' said Potter, a native of Ocala, Fla. "Besides, there are plenty of tournaments left (28 remain, including the Nationwide Tour Championship, where the top 60 players on the money list compete) and only about half the field over there are Nationwide Tour members. (Those tournaments are co-sponsored by the Australasian Tour.)''

Potter figured the only thing he sacrificed was position on the money list. He slipped from tied for 12th into a tie for 40th with the same guys -- Tim O'Neal and Omar Uresti -- whom he was tied with after Panama. They also skipped the around-the-world trip.

Meanwhile Potter bided his time by playing in the Hooters Tour Winter Series, returning to the place where he found his game in 2006. Potter dominated last year, making the cut in 16 of 17 events, while winning twice and racking up seven top-10 finishes. He won $102,609, the first time a player cracked the $100,000 mark on that tour, and was named player of the year.

Fortunes began turning for Potter on the Moonlight Tour the previous season. That's when the lefthander decided something had to change in his game, given the nature of his results from 2004. The final answer was ball flight. Potter always played from left to right and he did a 180.

"I had to do something different,'' he said, opting to play a gentle fade. "There was no way I could stick with what I had.''

The fade, he said, allowed him to hit more shots at pin positions that called for shots with a high degree of difficulty. It worked as Potter learned more and more about course management and game management as well.

"I discovered I didn't have to birdie every hole,'' he said of his maturation process. "Sometimes par is a good score, but I didn't know that when I first turned professional.''

That was back in 2002, when he made the decision to bypass college. This is now, a far cry from then. And Potter is more seasoned and ready for the challenge the Nationwide Tour provides.

"I've got so much more confidence,'' he said. "I honestly think I can make the Top 25 and I'd like to win at least one time.''

Imagine that.