Commentary

End of season brings dramatic finishes

Updated: September 29, 2011, 9:19 AM ET
By Farrell Evans | ESPN.com

Fall Finish 9 To Watch

Now that the top players have earned the big bucks in the FedEx Cup playoffs, it's time to get back down to the reality of the PGA Tour, where the typical golfer is simply trying to hold on to his playing privileges for the next year.

Since 1983, the top 125 on the money list at the end of the year have earned full tour status, unless otherwise already exempt. Troy Merritt, last year's 125th player on the money list, earned $786,977.

Below is a list of nine prominent -- and not so prominent -- players fighting for their jobs in 2012 through the four Fall Series events, beginning this week in Las Vegas at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Steve Flesch, No. 122: After struggling for most of the year, the 44-year-old, four-time PGA Tour winner had a tie for third at the Reno-Tahoe Open. He's going to have to get a couple more good finishes to stay inside the top 125 by the end of the season.

Bob Estes, No. 127: A tie for second should usually secure a player's card for the next year. All you have to do generally is make a few cuts on top of the $528,000 that Estes got when Scott Stallings beat him in the playoff by at the Greenbrier Classic. But in his nine events -- he's playing off past champions status -- the 45-year-old four-time winner has made just three cuts.

Billy Mayfair, No. 128: After winning the 2010 PGA Tour Qualifying School, it looked like the 45-year-old, 22-year veteran would play well enough this year to keep his card. But so far he's missed the cut in almost half of his events: 12 MCs in 25 events. It seems like eons ago that he won the '95 Tour Championship, one of his five PGA Tour wins.

Justin Leonard, No. 136: It's difficult to fathom that a guy with more than $30 million in PGA Tour career earnings and 12 wins, including the 1996 British Open, could be in danger of losing his exempt status, but that's exactly what the 39-year-old former Texas Longhorn faces if he doesn't have some good finishes over the next four weeks.

William McGirt, No. 137: Few golf fans had probably ever heard of the 32-year-old rookie from Wofford College until he played his way through the first two events of the FedEx Cup playoffs. But he got everybody's attention when he shot a 7-under 64 to take the first round lead at the Barclays.

Ben Curtis, No. 142: His struggles began almost as soon as he came out of nowhere as rookie to win the 2003 British Open, but he proved that he was no fluke when he won twice in 2006. Then he made the Ryder Cup team in 2008 off the strength of a tie for second at the PGA Championship. But since then, he's had only two top-10s.

David Duval, No. 152: This 13-time PGA Tour winner and former No. 1 in the world has become a perennial member of the Fall Series chase since he began losing his game shortly after winning the 2001 British Open.

Boo Weekley, No. 157: The folksy 38-year-old southerner showed so much promise after winning in back-to-back years at the Verizon Heritage Classic in '07 and '08. And who can forget his good spirited antics at the '08 Ryder Cup in Kentucky. But he has looked like anything but fun and easygoing this year after eight missed cuts, two withdrawals and just one top-25 in 18 starts.

Shaun Micheel, No. 182: The 2003 PGA Champion hasn't done much since he hit his 7-iron approach to within inches of the cup at the 72nd hole at Oak Hill to hold off Chad Campbell and take the Wanamaker Trophy. He's so far back on the money list this year that's he's probably going to need a couple of top-10s to keep his card.

In contemporary times, tales of the rich, spoiled athlete have dominated our perception of many of our sports heroes. Agents, business managers and public relations machines choreograph their extravagant lifestyles. On the PGA Tour, there are some very rich players -- the ones that fly private and demand seven figures when they play abroad, the ones so consistent year after year that not making at least $2 million is considered a bad season.

But for the vast majority of professional golfers, making that top 125 on the money list at the end of the season is an attainable goal -- the everyman millionaire who plays around the cut line every week. As good as Bubba Watson has been all year -- winning twice at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans -- he told me that perhaps his greatest satisfaction is knowing that with those victories he's earned the right to play three more years on the PGA Tour. It means security and that's never given on the PGA Tour. Just ask a host of major champions from David Duval to Shaun Micheel to Rich Beem to Todd Hamilton to John Daly.

Last year in the season-ending Children's Miracle Network Classic in Orlando, Fla., 25-year-old Troy Merritt took that last spot on the top 125 with a final-round 67 to finish 30th in the tournament, edging out Johnson Wagner by $33,000. Wagner had that last spot locked up until he double bogeyed the par-4 16th hole.

Roland Thatcher needed a win or a solo second in Orlando to retain his card for this year. He had a four-shot lead going into the final round, but ended up losing by three shots to the eventual winner, Robert Garrigus. Although he blew the tournament, Thatcher saved his card by making a 5-footer on the 72nd hole to shoot an even-par 72 to finish second, ending the year at 122nd on the money list.

Merritt, who won the $1 million Kodak Challenge in a playoff after the end of play in Orlando against Rickie Fowler and Aaron Baddeley, will be in a field this week at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. The tournament is loaded with players trying to keep their cards for next year.

The Las Vegas event is one of the smaller ones on tour -- $4.4 million purse and $756,000 to the winner -- which probably keeps some of the top players away. The stars can still use the excuse of it coming immediately following a demanding six weeks from the PGA Championship to the Tour Championship.

Of the 28 rookies in the Shriners field, only Scott Stallings, Kyle Stanley, Jhonattan Vegas, Brendan Steele and Kevin Chappell have their cards locked up for next year. There could be a player out of that group of strivers to make a run this week. The tournament should favor a proven winner in the field such as Vegas resident Nick Watney and last year's winner here Jonathan Byrd, but anybody with a hot putter can win.

For the past two years, the TPC Summerlin course has been the easiest par-71 on the PGA Tour. The scoring average last year when Jonathan Byrd won with a 21-under par total was 68.956.

Still, there is a lot for the top guns to play for this week. The top 30 off the money list at the end of the year get into the first two majors of 2012. Presently, Y.E Yang is holding the 30th spot, but guys like Rickie Fowler are lurking just behind it. Last year, J.B. Holmes finished the season 31st, $1,439 behind Heath Slocum and as a result, Holmes didn't tee it up in either the Masters or the U.S. Open in 2011.

This year's event, hosted by Justin Timberlake, promises to be exciting. Byrd's walk off hole-in-one in the dusk at the 200-yard, par-3 17th was one of the most impressive shots of the 2010 golf season -- worldwide. And the week before, Rocco Mediate made eagles from all over the place to get his sixth career win at the Frys.Com Open, his first victory since 2002.

So we should expect more of the unexpected this week at the first of the four Fall Series events. Don't be surprised to see Watney, Ryan Moore and Byrd fight it out down the stretch on Sunday at TPC Summerlin. I have a hunch we might see more magic in the desert.

Farrell Evans covers golf for ESPN and can be contacted at evans.espn@gmail.com.

Farrell Evans

Golf
  • Senior golf writer for ESPN.com
  • Wrote for Sports Illustrated/Golf Magazine for 9 years
  • Played college golf at Florida A&M

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