Almost nothing is certain as Tour Championship hits weekend  PGATOUR.com Correspondent LAKESIDE, Calif. -- Buckle your chin straps. Get ready for a teeth-rattling, head spinning, do-the-math ride.  Scott Sterling is No. 20 on the money list now, but faces a nerve-wracking weekend. (Horner/WireImage) • Chart: The Race for 'THE 25'
No other way to explain what's in store for the final two rounds of the Nationwide Tour Championship at Barona Creek on Saturday and Sunday. It will be 36 holes of anything-can-happen golf in what promises to be one wild, wacky weekend, taut competition where a bad bounce, a violent lip-out or an 11th-hour birdie could affect as many as eight to 10 lives in 2008. Here's what we knew when dusk settled at Barona Creek Golf Club on Friday. Michael Letzig is No. 26 on the money list but a runaway No. 1 on the tournament leader board with an astonishing 36-hole total of 16 under par, four shots better than Richard Johnson and five better than leading money winner Roland Thatcher and No. 27 Tom Scherrer as the field jockeyed for position for the race to Sunday's 2007 finish line. Even if Letzig could have been handed the hardware and the first-place check Friday, that doesn't mean the tournament will be lacking for action and drama. Depending on a player's perspective, there's either an eternity left in this $775,000 event or the last grains of sand are funneling through the hourglass at the speed of light. The possibility of some serious upheaval among the players ranked from 21st to 25th among "THE 25'' certainly exists. Only the top 25 players on the season-ending money list receive PGA TOUR cards for 2008. For example, at one point during Friday's second round, the top five spots on the leader board were occupied by players on the outside looking in at "THE 25.'' That raised a bevy of eyebrows as well as hundreds of heart rates of players, their immediate families and supporters. It made stealing a glance at the scoreboards an extremely difficult proposition. "If I look, I'm going to get nervous,'' Scott Sterling said after shooting a 67 that put him in a tie for 21st on an accessible track where 68 -- rather than the scorecard's 71 -- was more like par for the course. Understandable since Sterling came into this chase for $139,500 first prize in 20th position on the money ladder. Under normal circumstances, he would appear to be safe since no more than two players have ever been bumped out of the annual class that graduates to the PGA TOUR. And that happened just four times in the 14-year history of the Nationwide Tour Championship. Nevertheless, a nervous Sterling hit the sack Friday evening knowing there was a mathematical possibility -- however remote -- that several financial miracles could make for a gloomy Sunday evening. One thing was certain. This was a good week to have your PGA TOUR card locked up. Patrick Sheehan, at No. 9, and Kyle Thompson, at No. 14, are two of the fortunate ones. They knew the score after the second round and had a grasp of the implications of the jumble of players on top. "Things are looking kinda crazy,'' said Thompson, who is the only player in Nationwide Tour history to lose out on the final weekend twice. "It's nice to be watching and not sweating it out.'' The situation sent shivers down Sheehan's spine as he recalled a similar set of circumstances in 2002 when he used the Nationwide Tour as an avenue to the PGA TOUR. "They gave out only 15 cards back then and I came into the tournament 10th,'' he said. "At one point during the second round I was out and Curt Byrum (of GOLF CHANNEL) said it on the air. My wife (Pamela) was freaking out. But that the beauty of this tournament. There's always so much going on.'' Sheehan laughed. "Those guys out there now have to be puking their guts out,'' he said. "And it's only Friday.'' Scherrer, professing to be unaffected by his tenuous position, has intimate knowledge of Sheehan's point. He finished 22nd on the money list in 2005 when 21 cards were awarded. It came down to an approximately $2,000 difference -- basically one shot -- between he and Bubba Watson. "To come so close, that's hard to swallow,'' he said after a 64 Friday. "Normally 22nd isn't a bad year. But . . .'' Scherrer, a 15-year veteran, hopes to call on his experience in the final rounds. Nevertheless, he knows mediocre rounds will not get him where he wants to go. "I can't shoot 144,'' he said. "I need a couple of rounds in the 60s. But that's what this Tour is about. It forces you to keep the pedal to the metal. You've got to keep on going.'' There's no doubt Thatcher and Johnson will be favorites among the players between 20th and 25th. The more money they make, the less is on the table the guys chasing the dollars. And if they can't secure a lion's share of the loot, there is at least one other method that can get a player over the top. The prospects of the possible changes had Sterling's wife, Stephanie, seeking some divine intervention on her husband's behalf. "Keep saying your prayers,'' she said to a well-wisher. |
