Berganio happy with his play -- but happier to be back
By Larry Bohannan, Special to PGATOUR.COM
LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Seven years ago, David Berganio Jr. came within a single shot of his dream of a PGA TOUR victory at the Bob Hope Classic. At 30-under par for 90 holes, Berganio fell victim to Phil Mickelson on the first hole of a playoff and had to settle for second place, his best finish on TOUR.
This week, Berganio is back at the Bob Hope Classic chasing dreams again. This time, though, the dream isn't to win a TOUR event, just to re-establish himself as a competitive and healthy player.
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Plagued by serious back problems that have limited him to just nine official starts in the last five years, Berganio is back on TOUR for what he hope will be his first full season since playing 15 times in 2003. And he's back with a double-barreled exempt status. At the beginning of this season, Berganio is on his sixth consecutive major medical exemption. He has five starts to earn $346,342 to secure a full exemption. That money, or at least a large chunk of it, could come this week in Palm Springs, where Berganio put together rounds of 63-64-68 to be tied for fourth place at 21 under through 54 holes, just four shots off the lead.
But if the major medical exemption doesn't work out for Berganio, the Los Angeles native at least has a back-up plan. In December, Berganio played in the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament right here at PGA West. With a tie for seventh in that 108-hole marathon, Berganio assured himself of a full season on TOUR.
"No one gave it to me," Berganio said. "I went out and shot 21 under at TOUR school and shot 64 to get to the finals on the number in the second stage. So I'm really enjoying myself."
When he was healthy back in 2001 and 2002, Berganio was easily a top-125 player on TOUR. But in 2003, a bulging disk in his back forced Berganio off the TOUR after 15 starts. He played just two TOUR events in 2004 and one in 2005, missing all three cuts. The major medical exemption began to build up as Berganio struggled to make just three or four starts on the PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour combined.
Now on his sixth consecutive major medical exemption, Berganio hopes his back pain has been controlled enough to where he can at least stay on TOUR.
"The last eight months it's really felt a lot better, " Berganio said. "It's something that is part of my life now that I have taken care of.
"The last probably three months, I haven't had a bad day," he added. "So I'm thankful for that. And like I said, I'm must enjoying myself right now, and I'm enjoying playing golf again."
Berganio certainly enjoyed the first three days of the Bob Hope Classic this week as he not only put himself in position to make his first TOUR cut since 2007 (he missed the cut last week at the Sony Open in Hawaii), but into the top 10 on the leaderboard as well.
"Well, no wind, perfect conditions, very loose out there with the entire amateur guys," Berganio said of his fast start.
If coming back from six years of a debilitating back problem seems like long odds, consider the odds Berganio faced in just getting to the TOUR the first time. Raised in one of the poorest areas of Los Angeles, Berganio took up the game after a neighborhood priest gave him a set of clubs as a young boy. That started a career that included the 1991 and 1993 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships before he broke through to make the PGA TOUR in 1997.
With all that in his past, Berganio is now looking toward his future.
"After being away from the game for five and a half years -- as much as I enjoyed it then -- being away from it, not on my own terms, has really made me appreciate what I have now," he said.
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