Maginnes: You don't know his name  PGATOUR.com Correspondent I don't know Reid Edstrom. Chances are you don't either. I can tell you that he is from Auburn, Ala., and has spent some time on the Tar Heel Tour. I can also tell you that last Saturday, he had the round of his life. Any time you make a double eagle, it is special. Any time you break 30 on nine holes in competition, it is amazing. But to do that and shoot 62 in the final round of the second stage of q-school to earn a spot in the finals boggles the mind.  Hunter Mahan during the q-school finals at Orange County National in December of 2005; Mahan performed well on the PGA TOUR in 2007. (Greenwood/WireImage)
He started the day in the "also ran" category. He was in the bottom half of the field at The Woodlands through three rounds. When he teed off at 9:20 a.m. on the par-4 10th hole, he couldn't possibly know that he was about to change his life. Even after he birdied the 11th hole - his second hole of the day - there could not have been much hope that he would go crazy. Maybe after he holed his second shot on the island green par-5 13th, he started thinking that this could be special. Certainly, when he made eagle two holes later, he started to realize that he had an outside chance at going really low. But there is a lot of danger on The Woodlands. Water hazards dot the landscape, and bulkheads secure the greens. Any miscue under these circumstances and Reid's hopes would disappear. But he birdied the difficult par-4 18th hole and turned 7-under par. The he birdied the par-5 first hole and certainly had to realize the situation. When you are qualifying, everyone has a guess as to what the number is going to be. By the final round, you can lay pretty good odds on the predictability of that number. So Reid knew that at 8-under par for the day - and even for the tournament - that he still had some work left to do. His birdies on No. 7 and No. 9 were just enough. The 10-under-par 62 landed Reid at minus two for the tournament and tied for 19th place. The top 20 and ties advance. For a day or two, he can breathe a little more easily knowing that he has a place to play next year that is at least a few steps up from the Tar Heel Tour. But golf's version of hell week starts next Wednesday on the rolling hills of Central Florida. (I know, hills in Florida, came as a shock to me too.) And Reid is just one of the nearly 200 players who have given themselves a shot at glory. The two courses at Orange County National are tough. Often wind swept and long, they are a fair and punishing test for the year's most grueling week. Each player will play three rounds on Crooked Cat and three rounds on Panther Lake. Panther Lake is decidedly the more difficult of the two. Crooked Cat is a straight-forward course with slightly smaller greens than its more ferocious feline counterpart. Strategy at Crooked Cat is similar to any other modern course. Find the fairways and maintain your composure, and you should be fine. The greens have a significant amount of contour, but if you find the middle of the green, you should have a reasonable chance at birdie.  Fran Quinn hits out of one of the treacherous bunkers at Orange County National during the December 2005 q-school finals. (Greenwood/WireImage) For Reid and all the others in the field, Crooked Cat is your best opportunity to go low. If you can break 70 all three days at the cat and break par every day at Panther Lake, you will earn a trip to Hawaii in five weeks. But breaking par at Panther Lake is easier said than done. The greens on this difficult layout are tricky. Each green is multi-tiered. Basically, you have to look at it as if there are three or four greens on every hole. Playing safely to the middle of the green can actually leave a nearly impossible two-putt. But, miss the green in the right spot, and you may have a better chance of birdie or par than if you had hit the green. Panther Lake is one of those rare courses where traditional course management ideas don't work. It is for this reason that you often see players who played exceptionally well at Crooked Cat struggle at Panther Lake. At Orange County National, you actually have to change your game plan and your strategy each day depending on which course you are playing. There will be many familiar faces at the Final Stage next week. There will be players with multiple PGA TOUR titles, and there will be even more players - like Reid Edstrom - that golf fans have never known before. But for every story of triumph, there will be five more stories of disappointment. That is the nature of the week. All those competing should be congratulated for making it to the finals regardless of how they qualified. So far, no Q-School story is better than Reid's, at least not yet. Maybe, at this point next year, we can all say that we knew him back when. |
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