Fall Series makes for abundant opportunities

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Condon/PGA TOUR

Vaughn Taylor begins this week as the money-list bubble boy, sitting uncomfortably at No. 125.

Steve Flesch could be the poster boy for the PGA TOUR's Fall Series.

He used his victory -- and its $1.080 million paycheck -- at the inaugural Turning Stone Resort Championship 52 weeks ago to vault from No. 70 into the top 30 on the PGA TOUR money list. As a result of that position, he earned a spot in the 2008 Masters and U.S. Open. He got to play in the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship and all the invitationals, as well.

The Fall Series, which began with the Viking Classic played opposite the Ryder Cup, offers a wealth of opportunities for players like Flesch. The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup are over. There are no more $10 million bonuses to dole out. So the focus shifts from points to money -- and there are plenty of reasons why.

Condon/PGA TOUR

Steve Flesch took advantage of the Fall Series in 2007 with a win at Turning Stone.

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"I know any time you get a chance to play for $1,080,000 first place everybody is going to be real happy about that," said Olin Browne, playing for the first time since serving as an assistant to Captain Paul Azinger at the Ryder Cup. "It's great to be here at this place.

"... I wish we had 52 tournaments during a 52-week schedule. I think it's great that the Fall Series exists."

The most pressing goal, of course, is to finish in the top 125 on the money list to earn playing privileges for 2009. Vaughn Taylor currently is the bubble boy with $645,466 -- and it's not surprising that he and the seven men who rank immediately behind him are playing at Atunyote Golf Club this week.

Also seeking shares of the $6 million purse, the largest during the Fall Series, are players like Browne, who ranks 212th on the money list, and Davis Love III. Love, a 19-time PGA TOUR winner, was poised to take advantage of the Fall Series a year go but was sidelined after tearing ligaments in his ankle when he stepped in a hole during a casual round of golf.

He's at Turning Stone this week ranked 155th on the money list. Love didn't get to compete in the Playoffs, so he's had a long break. He's not exempt for the Masters, or any of the other three majors, and his two-year exemption for winning in Greensboro in 2006 is up. He wants to play in next year's Presidents Cup, too.

So Love, who had that ankle surgery on Oct. 2, 2007 -- one year to the day the Turning Stone Resort Championship begins -- plans to play five of the next six weeks to set himself up for next year.

"(I have) big goals," Love said. "Fortunately for a long time I never did have to worry about that. ... Players do come and go on this TOUR, and if you don't play well, no matter what you've done in the past, you don't get in the big tournaments.

"... I don't want to be 150th in the world or the rankings, I want to be up at the top and talking to Fred Couples about how we're going to win the Presidents Cup by the end of next year. But I'm hitting the ball far enough and hard enough and striking it well, rolling the ball well.

"(I've) just got to get out of my own way and play golf, and that's what this fall is all about: going back and enjoying playing golf."

Even if the money is secure, though, there are other perks to chase. And momentum to build.

Victories earn a two-year exemption and an invitation to next year's Mercedes-Benz Championship. Just ask Daniel Chopra how nice that is -- he made the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro his first PGA TOUR victory last fall, then went to Kapalua and beat an elite field in the season-opening event in Hawaii.

Justin Leonard ended a two-year victory drought at the Valero Texas Open last year and went on to win the 2008 Stanford St. Jude Championship, as well as earn a spot on the Ryder Cup team. Canadian Mike Weir took the opposite approach -- beating Tiger Woods 1-up before the home fans at The Presidents Cup, then winning for the first time since 2004 at the Fry's Electronics Open last year.

Veterans like Weir and Leonard aren't the only ones to prosper, though. George McNeill became the ninth player to be the q-school medalist and then win the following year when he captured the Frys.com Open benefiting Shriners Hospital for Children. He jumped from the danger zone of No. 122 to 59th on the money list, in the process.

When McNeill landed in the top 70 on the money list, he also played his way into the 2008 Memorial Tournament and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Players like McNeill in the top 80 get into the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, too.

Farther up the food chain, a spot in the top 30 nets spots in the Masters and the U.S. Open like Flesch got. And everyone who retains their card for 2009 by finishing in the top 125 is eligible to play in the Verizon Heritage, AT&T National and THE PLAYERS Championship.

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