Pressure of the money race now front and center in Fall Series  PGATOUR.COM Contributor VERONA, N.Y. -- Call it the curse of the text message.  Matthew Goggin is 118th on the TOUR money list. (WireImage)
About 30 minutes after the Turning Stone Resort Championship winner is determined Sunday afternoon, the PGA TOUR will text each one of its members with how much he made this week and where he stands on the money list. Even those who stayed home. For players battling to claim one of the top 125 spots on the money list and an exemption for next season, that text's arrival penetrates whatever psychological barriers they've erected to ignore the reality of the money race. "Can't avoid it," shrugged Mathew Goggin, No. 118 on the earnings list. "It says, 'You earned zero and are going backwards in money ranking.'" Goggin will make a check this week unless he misses his starting time Sunday afternoon or breaks his leg during the round. He was five under through eight holes Saturday and tied for the lead. Then he three-putted three times on the back nine, shot 70 and stood 11 under par for the week, eight strokes behind leader Steve Flesch and a footnote. Everywhere except his bank account. With the seven-week Fall Finish opening at Turning Stone, the TOUR's focus switches from FedExCup points and millions in deferred payments to guys trying to scratch out enough dollars to fight another season. Saturday's third round typified the tournament within a tournament that makes the race to 125 so compelling to the game's cognoscenti. Twenty-four players began Saturday within five shots of Flesch's lead. Sixteen needed at least one big check to land a card. They ranged from Goggin (118th at $640,386) and Bill Haas (126th at $559,760) down through Michael Allen (154th at $312,297) and rookie Chris Stroud (167th at $269,545) to guys like Tag Ridings (205th at $87,250) and Matt Hendrix (220th at $54,748). Even if they couldn't win the $1.08 million first prize, the second money of $648,000 would result in a text saying their worries had evaporated. Until then, they make every effort not to recognize the financial elephant on the green. For many Friday night hopefuls Saturday disintegrated into too much thinking, too much pressure, too many strokes. By nightfall, the top 24 had only eight men outside 125th. "If I get out ahead of myself I'm screwed, I've got no chance," admitted Craig Bowden (157th at $301,390) after a second 70 this week left him in the 10-way tie for seventh. "If I start thinking about (125) I might as well go home." Just as no one knows beginning a week what score ultimately will win a tournament, there is no mathematical calculation that divines what dollar figure will claim 125th on the money list at season's end. Or, to quote the pessimist's bank-account-half-empty view, what figure will place 126th. Last year Darren Clarke was No. 125 at $660,898, a nifty bankroll for someone who barely kept his job ($2,673 ahead of Rich Beem). The two years prior, it took a smidge over $620,000 to crack 125th. The slivers by which players make the top 125, and avoid the annual Qualifying Tournament, can be maddeningly small. Six years ago Woody Austin finished 125th with $406,352, nudging out Bradley Hughes. The difference was beans: Ninety-four dollars and no cents, or a grande latte per start. Figuring in this year's purse bumps and everyone's propensity to play a bit more in the scramble for FedExCup points, it'll probably take in the neighborhood of $700,000 to $715,000 to get to 125 this season. That means the top 109 guys on the money list, down to Brett Quigley's $717,411, probably could spend the Fall Finish with their feet on the ottoman and not bite their fingernails to nubs. Then again, there's no such thing as long-term job security. "I wouldn't say I'm safe," said Briny Baird, No. 107 with $722,951. "I don't want to jinx myself by saying the wrong thing. Let's just say that if I'm not safe, I'm very close." Jinx? It helps to know Baird's history. Two years ago he was Mr. 126, a whopping $2,545 behind Nick Price. He went to the Qualifying Tournament and missed a card by one shot. So he knows that if he can keep his place at Turning Stone, tied for 17th at 10 under par, he'll pocket a mid-five-figure check. Parker McLachlin is still blissfully unscarred by the race to the top 125. The UCLA product landed his first TOUR card at the end of 2006, tying for 16th in the crucible of Q-school. "In the beginning of the year it was like, wow, I can't believe I'm on the PGA TOUR, this is awesome," he said. "And then the middle of the year you start grinding it out and it's like, man, this is hard work." McLachlin knew the 125 line existed yet averted his eyes. He gets the texts, he knows the score: 156th in money, $303,032 in hand. Thirty-one rungs up the ladder but it will require more than he's made in his first 21 tournaments. "If you think about Q-school and top 125 and all that stuff -- it doesn't do me any good," he said like a weathered cowhand. "I'm just trying to keep my head down on each shot." It's working so far this week. McLachlin went bonkers Saturday, a 65 that left him solo fourth at 13 under, six behind Flesch. It brought back memories of early July when he ducked down to the Nationwide Tour for a week, shot 17 under through 54 holes and led the National Mining Association Pete Dye Classic by seven. He concluded with a 77 and tied for fourth. The $26,400 he collected spends easily enough but it doesn't make the tiniest blip on the TOUR's official earnings list. A tie for fourth this week makes $288,000. Third is $408,000. Will either of them be enough to secure McLachlin's card for 2008? You do the math. For McLachlin and his peers the texts will arrive soon enough. |
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