ESPN.com - Golf Online - Bubble watch: Winning hands in Vegas

By Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, October 15

Top 30 (Tour Championship)
Rank	Player	Earnings
26	Nick Price	$1,385,266
27	Carlos Franco	$1,357,425
28	Rocco Mediate	$1,320,278
29	Bob May	$1,312,542
30	Scott Hoch	$1,296,062
31	Chris Perry	$1,293,849
32	Rory Sabbatini	$1,256,145
33	Tom Scherrer	$1,249,898
34	Shigeki Maruyama	$1,179,354
35	John Huston	$1,114,695

Billy Andrade did more than win the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas on Sunday. He won himself a job for the next two years on the PGA Tour.

Andrade, in danger of returning to Q-School before the Las Vegas event, made one of the biggest leaps of the year on the money list, jumping from 159th to 43rd thanks to the $765,000 paycheck. Cracking the top 125 and earning exempt status for 2001 was his goal, but the win carries a two-year exemption for Andrade.

But he wasn't alone in winning a job for next season. Four other players hovering around bubble had great weeks in Las Vegas to secure their playing cards for 2001. And while nobody made big leaps into the top 30, a few players edged forward in the race for the Tour Championship field.

Mike Weir played well for the second consecutive week, moving from 27th to 23rd on the money list. That should solidify his Tour Championship invitation. Rocco Mediate and Bob May, meanwhile, crept a little bit closer toward an invitation.

Mediate moved off the bubble at No. 30 to No. 28, and May moved back into the field from No. 31 to No. 29. The new standings place Scott Hoch on the bubble with two tournaments remaining -- Tampa Bay and Disney -- but his lead over No. 31 Chris Perry is just $2,213.

Of the players just below, Shigeki Maruyama is in the most dangerous spot. He has slipped to 34th on the list but will play the Presidents Cup next week instead of chasing a paycheck in Tampa Bay.

Top 125 (Exempt for 2001)
Rank	Player	Earnings
121	Robin Freeman	$374,630
122	Tommy Armour III	$371,179
123	Pete Jordan	$367,680
124	Dan Forsman	$367,481
125	Bob Burns	$366,535
126	Joe Ozaki	$353,816
127	Craig Spence	$341,049
128	Bob Tway	$338,511
129	Kevin Wentworth	$327,205
130	Brandt Jobe	$324,177
131	Rick Fehr	$313,701
132	Sean Murphy	$303,980
133	x-Gabriel Hjertstedt	$296,189
134	K.J. Choi	$292,058
135	Dave Stockton Jr.	$283,371

The real winners in Las Vegas, in addition to Andrade, were four other players who secured their cards for 2001:

John Cook, who tied for fifth, moved from 117th to 88th on the money list.

Scott McCarron, who also tied for fifth, jumped from 123rd to 94th. It was McCarron's second top-10 finish of the year, both coming in Nevada.

Shaun Micheel, also in the logjam for fifth, moved from 130th to 98th and will get a second season on the PGA Tour. It matched his best finish of the season.

Tom Byrum, who had been on the bubble at No. 125 for three weeks, tied for ninth and secured his card by moving up to 103rd.

The new man on the bubble this week is Bob Burns, who rests at No. 125 with $366,535. That's a significant number, because it is more than $36,000 higher than the week before Las Vegas. That means players like Kevin Wentworth, Brandt Jobe and Rick Fehr, who were within striking distance last week but missed the cut in Las Vegas, now find themselves $40,000 or more away from a playing card.

Two other names worth mentioning this week are Stewart Cink and Dudley Hart. Cink, who tied for third in Las Vegas, became the eighth player to crack $2 million in earnings this season. Hart, who finished in the middle of the pack, became the 40th player to crack $1 million in earnings this year. Both figures are records on the PGA Tour and will undoubtedly climb higher before the season is complete.