Jobs? Vranesh has done them all; now he can add PGA TOUR

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Brian Vranesh has made it to q-school's final stage before, but this time, he got the ending he wanted.

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- The election is over, but Brian Vranesh has what he still calls a "Joe the plumber" resume.

He sold sandwiches at Subway. He delivered pizzas. He waited tables at Bobby's, a swanky restaurant and jazz bar in Scottsdale where he learned to drink fine wine. He even worked in his father's business making prostheses and orthotics.

All to pursue a dream,. A dream that was realized on Monday when Vranesh earned his PGA TOUR card.

"It's a crazy, crazy world," said Vranesh, his words coming in fits and starts as he fought back tears.

The 31-year-old from Los Angeles fired a 65 in the sixth and final round of the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament to move from 38th to 18th and, as it turned out, finish on the number at 19 under. Only the low 25 and ties at the end of 108 holes earned their TOUR cards, and Vranesh was one of only three to play his way in on the pressure-packed afternoon.

Now he'll join friends like Pat Perez and Charley Hoffman on TOUR in 2009. Vranesh always knew he was good enough -- "It's like pickup games in basketball, if you can compete with them, and they're already out there making $1 million a year, why can't you?" he said with a smile -- but getting to the big leagues was an uphill climb.

"You get frustrated, but you can't be jealous," Vranesh said. "Like my buddy, Pat Perez, says, 'I'll tell you what, any of you guys get out there, you can make money. You just got to get there. That's the hardest part. I can't tell you how to get there.

"But if you get there and you keep your head on straight, you're going to make money."

The $25,000 he earned Monday was more than Vranesh made for either one of his wins on the Gateway Tour this year. He stands to make much, much more next year, if he can follow Perez's advice. First, though, he wanted to savor the moment he shared with his family, his fiancιe and his cousin, Jon Garland, who earned a World Series ring with the White Sox and now pitches for the California Angels.

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"He's never even hinted towards (quitting)," Garland said. "He has a very, very strong mind. It wasn't even a thought to give up. I don't think he ever would have until he couldn't walk down the fairway or couldn't grip a club. He wasn't going to stop."

Garland, who has 106 career wins in the big leagues, followed Vranesh on Friday and came back again Monday for the all-important final round. The two are best friends, and they have talked often about how to handle pressure. Garland knows things will only get harder for Vranesh now that he's made that jump, and he'll be there for support.

"I've asked him have you ever thrown a perfect pitch and he'll go no, I throw a perfect pitch and a guy will hit a home run," Vranesh said. "It's not how good your good shots are, it's how good your bad ones are. You've just got to go with that."

Vranesh started playing golf when his uncle took him to a par-3 course when he was 10 years old. Neither of his parents were golfers, but Vranesh loved the game, so his mother dropped him off one summer and "gave me to the head pro" for lessons. As a junior golfer, he could play public courses all over Los Angeles for $12 -- "and they'd give you a hot dog, too," he said.

Vranesh's mother was a principal, but he'll be the first to tell you that school wasn't for him. So after a brief stint at College of the Canyons, he began to build his resume as that "plumber," working those restaurant jobs that would allow him to play during the day. He also started caddying at the prestigious Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

"Half the stories I can't even tell you, they're X-rated," Vranesh said, laughing, when someone asked if he had ever caddied for anyone famous. "But I caddied in Tiger's group one time in one of the pro-ams before his tournament. I watched him,, and I learned a lot."

Eventually someone believed in Vranesh enough to give him some seed money and told him to go play. He broke down as he remembered the moment, one of many times he had to compose himself during an interview just after he put the finishing touches on that 65.

"It was hard work to get here," he explained almost shyly between several deep breaths and a few sniffles. "It's just a good feeling."

Hoffman took Vranesh to the Butch Harmon School of Golf in Scottsdale, where he began working with Shaun Callahan. Vranesh admits to having an unorthodox, handsy swing which startled Callahan at first. The instructor gave him a tip, though, that allows him to work the ball from left to right on a consistent basis, and Vranesh began to gain more confidence in his swing.

This is the second time Vranesh had made it to the final stage of q-school. Two years ago, also in the desert, he finished three shots shy of the number that would have given him a full exemption on the Nationwide Tour. He had that "deer-in-the-headlights" look, Vranesh admitted, but the experience he gained was invaluable this week.

"I probably wouldn't be here if I didn't get here two years ago," said Vranesh. "I am so much more relaxed. Just playing in 13 Nationwide Tour events (with his conditional card) gives you so much to build on -- the cameras, the people. I only had about 5 or 10 people ever following me there, but inside the ropes it's nerve-wracking. You've really got to control your emotions."

Vranesh, who admitted he felt like crying as he walked down the 18th hole on Monday, knew he needed to play well in the final round. He started the day at 12 under, two off the number at the time, and he figured he would have been a lock at 20. He fired at every pin and didn't make a bogey. When he walked off the 17th green, one of his friends told him he was in by two.

"I probably would have been more nervous if I had been inside having to hold on," Vranesh said. "Putting the pedal to the metal, I'm pretty good at that. The tournaments I've won this year, I've come from behind. It's a lot easier because you have nothing to lose. You just fire right at it, and if it goes in, it goes in. if not, you go on to the next hole."

Or take the next step, which is what Vranesh will do next year.