In need of a good week, Quigley happy to be home
By Lauren Deason, PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Brett Quigley typically hits the sack early. He's a self-described "8:30-going-to-bed kind of guy."
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This week is a whole different story. Since The Honda Classic is being held just minutes from his home in Jupiter, Fla., he's got a huge group of family and friends following him on the course, rooting for him and keeping him up past his bedtime.
About 30 people came over to his house for a cookout on Thursday night, a few short hours after Quigley opened the tournament with a 67. Tonight, after shooting an even-par 70 in the second round, he expects to take a group of friends out on the boat.
"[We'll] kick around on the Intracoastal Waterway. Certainly not on the ocean. I don't want anybody throwing up on the boat," Quigley said with a laugh.
Most of his buddies have come out to the course to watch Quigley take on PGA National. They've been hooting and hollering for the Florida transplant who originally hails from Rhode Island.
"Any time I do something that's marginally good, they are pretty excited," Quigley said. "I get it airborne and they start cheering. It's great."
His gallery had little to cheer about at the start of his day. Quigley made three bogeys and no birdies during his first seven holes. He started on the back nine and drove it into the rough on Nos. 12 and 14 before eventually settling for bogey on both.
Quigley's tee shot on No. 16 found the fairway but his second shot with a 7-iron landed in a bunker to the right of the green. He got it up-and-down for what he called a "good bogey".
"I hit some good shots early and just didn't get much out of it. This golf course, these conditions, for me, I've almost got to be more patient instead of trying, bearing down. Some guys can bear down and that gets them going. But for me, it's almost care less than I do. When I get trying too hard, I start trying to force the issue, and can't do that out here," Quigley said.
A birdie on No. 18 settled him down and Quigley managed a two-birdie, no-bogey final stretch of holes. He'll play on the weekend for the first time in 2008.
That's a big deal for a few reasons. After suffering a medial meniscal tear in his right knee, Quigley had arthroscopic surgery after the 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship and couldn't return for any of the Fall Series.
He was granted a Major Medical Extension and had seven events in 2008 to earn $67,769. Since he made $717,411 prior to his surgery, close to $70,000 is all he needs to reach the equivalent of No. 125 on the 2007 money list.
But Quigley missed the cut at the FBR Open. He then missed the cut at the Northern Trust Open. All of a sudden, he only had five events to make up the cash.
"I started thinking about it when I missed the cut at L.A., you know, and I've got to make $63,000, and I had been kind of focused on that number," Quigley said. "[Instead] I've got to start playing well for '08 and start thinking about golf tournaments instead of just making the $63,000 or whatever I have to make.
" [I've] certainly had to just change my focus there."
Quigley is still looking for his maiden PGA TOUR victory, something he's been searching for over 10 full seasons. The Nationwide Tour alum earned two victories on that circuit but his best PGA TOUR finish has been as a runner-up twice.
To win this week near home and in front of family and friends would be special but he's not as familiar with the course as one might think.
Quigley missed the cut here in 2007. He did drive over to play PGA National this past Sunday but that was enough. He called it the "U.S. Open approach", i.e. he didn't want to psych himself out by taking a practice-round beating by struggling with the course's tough conditions.
"I can't think of too many courses that we play that are more difficult than this besides the majors. This has all the makings of it. If the rough was a little bit longer and the greens were a little firmer, it would be as hard as any major.
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