With two days to play, pressure starting to build

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Even PGA TOUR veterans like Jarrod Lyle know the test of q-school is a difficult one.

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Now the real fun begins, or at least the pressure anyway.

The old adage in golf is that you can't win a tournament on the first day but you can lose it. In the case of q-school, the only difference is that livelihoods are at stake.

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"The pressure's there," Jarrod Lyle said. "It's lucrative at the end of it because you get a good job, and I want my job back."

With just two rounds to play in what many consider golf's most grueling week, Lyle is in good position in a tie for 10th after a 73 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course on a windswept day at PGA West.

Not that Lyle, who missed 17 cuts in 29 starts with just one top-10 on the PGA TOUR this year, is ready to relax -- even if he is well inside the top 25 on the leaderboard.

"No different," he said when asked how he would treat the next two days. "There are 170 guys here who want to make birdies. It's just a matter of not making mistakes as well."

That's easier said than done, even when things are going well. Take Seung-yul Noh. He was cruising along at 5 under when he played his last two holes in 5 over.

Given the difficulty of scoring on Saturday, however, Noh dropped just two spots on the leaderboard into a tie for third.

Meanwhile, Ryan Yip, who shot 67 on the Stadium Course, moved from a tie for 107th to a tie for 21st. That's how quickly fortunes can change in the desert when the wind blows.

"It's [expletive] hard," said Lyle.

So is this tournament, especially as the week wears on. Brendon Todd can sense it.

"The big shots you play with more care the further along you get," said Todd, who shot 71 and is tied for sixth. "You realize par is good. Any easy birdie you can make is all you need to do. You don't need to force anything."

For those down the leaderboard, that's not necessarily the case.

Adam Hadwin, who began the fourth round in a tie for 19th, shot 76 and is now tied for 41st -- though he's still just two shots off the magic number.

Others aren't so fortunate.

Jason Gore is at 1 over and six strokes outside the top 25 after a 73 Saturday. Ditto Nicholas Thompson, who carded a 78.

Then there's Robert Streb. He shot a 63 in benign conditions Friday only to be blown away a day later with a 14-stroke swing the wrong direction. Rich Beem had a similar experience with an 80 on Saturday after a 67 the day before.

The worst swing, though, came from Brett Wetterich, who went 21 strokes the wrong way with an 85.

You can't win q-school in one day, but you sure can lose your job in it.

Others, like Todd, are trying to avoid such missteps and get to the finish line.

"It's a long week," Todd said. "We already feel like we played a lot of golf between 45 practice holes and six-hour rounds.

"It feels a lot like having a 36-hole lead in a four-round event. You're excited going into the weekend because you're playing well."

Some more than others.