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By Dave Lagarde
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

If Sal Spallone were a traveling salesman, the reading on the odometer of his 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe might be understandable at 101,000 miles and change.

But Spallone is a professional golfer, not some guy peddling his wares from sea to shining sea. So shouldn't he be living the high life, driving either a low-mileage extravagant vehicle or a plush tournament courtesy car from hotel to golf course?

Sal Spallone has got clubs and will travel. (Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

Not exactly. That is not the way the majority of professional golfers who are running down the road chasing a dream exist. That lap-of-luxury life of unlimited perks and multi-million-dollar purses is for only a select few hundred inhabitants of the PGA TOUR. The other daydream weavers, Spallone among them, live in another sort of fast lane. For Spallone in 2006, that was the left lane of an Interstate as he cruised from one Nationwide Tour tournament pit stop to another hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

Spallone, 28, suffered through golf's version of purgatory last season because the only status he owned was on a brace of mini-tours. But he had a whole lot of want to and was convinced he had the right stuff to carve out a niche on a bigger stage. Hence his Nationwide Tour golf odyssey.

In effect, the former American Junior Golf Association star and TCU Horned Frog paid his dues. And his food bills. And a steep price for gasoline as well as the sizeable numbers he rang up on his credit cards.

Oh, and let's not forget those pesky roaming charges on his cellular telephone. After all, Spallone had to do something as the miles upon miles of asphalt monotonously passed beneath his SUV's wheels.

"I probably should be sponsored by Verizon,'' he joked.

The end result? Spallone was another year older and deeper in debt to his father, Sal Jr., as well as the Vero Beach, Fla., men who helped sponsor him.

"I haven't been in the black yet,'' said Spallone, who turned professional after graduating from TCU in 2001.

But to repeat: Spallone has no quit in him. So his steely constitution carried him to 25 of the 31 Nationwide Tour events last year, where he attempted to be one of the 14 players to get into tournament fields by Monday qualifying, the equivalent of banging your head into a brick wall.

To say the odds are against a player is to make a monumental understatement. On any given Monday there are more than 150 hungry competitors vying for those 14 precious spots. Spallone went seven for 25, missing another seven by a solitary shot. But once in an event he virtually struck out, surviving to play the weekend just once.

"I felt a lot of pressure to do a lot of damage once I got into a tournament,'' Spallone said. "So I played aggressive golf. It didn't do me much good to just make a cut.''

His Nationwide earnings for '06 -- $1,525 -- didn't do much for his bank account either. Spallone is truthful when he says he "wouldn't wish'' his plight "on anyone,'' yet in a strange way he enjoyed the experience.

"I love the road,'' he said. "I love to travel. I love competing. It's all about the journey.''

The journey will be much more comfortable for Spallone, who believes he found his once lost game by working "my butt off'' for the last five years, come April. He finished well enough in the 2006 finals of PGA TOUR Qualifying School to earn conditional status on the Nationwide Tour this season. That conditional status got him into the first three events in Panama, Australia and New Zealand. He made two of three cuts and finished tied for seventh in New Zealand. His earnings of $22,070 are more than enough to give him a Nationwide Tour exemption when the reshuffle occurs before the Athens Regional Foundation Classic in Athens, Ga., in mid-April. So needless to say he is quite eager to hear the raindrops of an April shower. Spallone, affectionately known as the Iron Man for his willingness to play in any mini-tour event available, will have found a home after locating his confidence with his seventh in New Zealand.

"That reassured me that all the work I've been doing on my game is finally paying off,'' said Spallone, who admitted to losing his way in golf after his sophomore season at TCU. "I know I'm capable of playing out here and I'm really anxious to be able to set a schedule and see where it all leads.

"I guess you could say I have a narrow mind. All I think about is making birdies and my next tournament.''

Unfortunately, his next event will not be this week's Chitimacha Louisiana Open in Lafayette. Normally any player who finished in the top 25 of a Nationwide Tour event is given a free pass into the next tournament. But that feature is waived for New Zealand since the tournament is co-sponsored by the Australasian Tour.

So where was Spallone on Monday? Back in some old familiar surroundings, attempting to Monday qualify for the Lafayette event, where more than 240 players took a long shot at those 14 spots. Spallone didn't get a sniff after shooting a 72, but he left undaunted, knowing his time is coming.

He also took some time to reflect on the muddle that once was his golf career. His game went south, he said, when he spent too much time in college "trying to make it look pretty.'' His was twisted like a pretzel when he finally realized "pretty'' wasn't for him and he has dedicated himself to finding his old swing since his epiphany.

"I know so much more about myself and my game now,'' he said, referring to the time spent on the road and the range. "Some people might have become fed up, but I'm not the kind of person who gives up. I honestly believe it's only a matter of time before I get out (on the PGA TOUR). Whether it happens this year or when I'm 32 really doesn't matter.''

Spallone feels fresh, like a certain Hyundai Santa Fe, despite what the odometer says.

The SUV, he said, "runs like a gem. It's all highway miles.''

And, of course, it's all about the journey.