Few treats awaiting many on money list bubble

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Happy early Halloween. I am already in the goblin spirit. Perhaps that's because there have been so many guys on the PGA TOUR this year masquerading as someone other than themselves.

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For the last couple of weeks, Davis Love III has been doing his best Tag Ridings impression. Or has he been pretending to be Kent Jones? Kent has spent so many seasons pulling late rabbits out of his hat to secure his card that his friends back home call him Mr. October. I often wonder why you see so many rich kids dressed up like hobos on Halloween -- maybe Davis is just re-living his childhood. (By the way, at my house the hobos and the cats get the "fun size" candy bars, the big ones go to the more imaginative kids.)

All I know is that the Grim Reaper is looming in the shadows of the 2008 season for some folks and there isn't likely to be a bag of goodies splayed on the floor in early November. No, for some the grim reality is that there will be no harvest at all, just a trip to q-school. While there will be plenty of success stories in the Fall Series like Davis, who has moved to 115th on the money list, and Sunday's winner, Cameron Beckman, who received a two-year exemption, there are a far greater number of players eating sour grapes this time of year.

For a guy like Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey, who had his best finish of the year last week, it was like finally getting a candy bar just as your parents have said it's time for bed after raisins and fruit were dispensed at every other house. While the trick has been on Tommy this year, there is still a little time left for a treat --- just not much.

Many other players have been getting Charlie Brown rocks in the trick-or-treat bag for most of the year. Players who once dressed up as Ryder Cuppers like Vaughn Taylor (No. 129), Chris DiMarco (142), and Jesper Parnevik (144) are all harvesting less this year than in previous years. There are players who have worn the mantle of major champions whose years have left them wanting -- although for Tom Lehman (No. 137) and Bob Tway (132) the games they have displayed this year are considerably younger than their 49 years. Both are on the cusp of golf's greatest mulligan, the Champions Tour, but both say that they would love to wear a younger man's clothes for a while longer.

For other major champions like Lee Janzen (152) it could be another story. He has struggled the last few years but the truth is that every time he stands on the first tee the announcer says, "Please welcome two-time U.S. Open champion, Lee Janzen." Having those trophies in your plastic trick-or-treat pumpkin can probably earn a lot of sponsor's exemptions.

Rich Beem's (137) five-year exemption for winning the PGA Championship ran out last year. Although he is likely to finish in the top 150 and have some status next year there is no substitute for being fully exempt. Todd Hamilton (149) still has another year of exempt status for his British Open victory. While the money list may not be on his mind -- this year -- he would certainly like to find the form that brought him the Claret Jug.

By Friday night when the ghosts and goblins, super heroes and princesses take to the streets nearly half of the field in the Gin sur Mer Classic will have been eliminated by the cut. For a lot of those players, it will just be another in a string of missed cuts and disappointments this year. There will be no surprises for them as there was last week when Cameron Beckman vaulted from No.175 on the money list to the winner's circle.

There has been absolute proof this year that at any given time any player on TOUR can break through. A number of players who were still trick or treating in their own neighborhoods when Tiger was a rookie managed to win this year. And, of course, an even greater number of veterans will be edged out into the cold of non-exempt status on the PGA TOUR.

The ancient Celts used to wear costumes to their annual harvest festival to fool the evil spirits and ward off bad luck. As time went on, the costumes became more elaborate in hopes that the evil spirits would be so confused no ill would befall the families or towns. I don't know if that will work with the golf gods but I think that some of the current TOUR players should consider the tradition this Halloween.