Professional golfers from all over the world will use their skills and experience acquired over numerous years spent playing on various tours as they try their luck at the PGA Tour Qualifying School over the next three weeks.
I was recently reading an article written by a golfer who has experienced the PGA Tour Qualifying School, who says that, “unless you’ve been there you have no idea what it’s like.” According to him and many other professionals who have tried their luck – some like Arjun Atwal and Daniel Chopra have succeeded while millions others have either tried and given up or are still trying to turn their dreams into reality – there is no pressure like playing to earn a card to play on the PGA Tour. Apparently, not even the pressure a player feels while sinking a six-footer to win a major championship or millions of dollars is comparable, as the Qualifying School can change your whole life.
This is the place where real life stories are written – the one about a great player who never qualified but resorted to caddying. And he has numerous PGA Tour titles and Ryder Cup appearances under his caddy hat. Some who have succeeded by failed to retain their form and now play in Asia or other smaller tours, still qualifying each year in the hope of getting back where they would rather play. And then there are those like Ted Purdy, who is famous for having played alongside Tiger Woods in college. However he failed to keep his card on the PGA Tour after qualifying and played the Asian Tour for a while. But he earned his card again, played the tour and is back playing the final qualifying yet again this year!
This just proves that qualifying for the tour is not enough. Each player on the tour – any tour in the world for that matter – needs to make enough money or win some tournaments in order to secure his card for the following year or its back to Qualifying School.
This is exactly what Arjun Atwal will be facing this year. He missed qualifying through the second stage by just one shot and only time will tell where he will ply his trade next year.
However, while it has not been a memorable year for Atwal, Daniel Chopra has taken over where Jeev Milkha Singh left off last season. While Jeev ended 2006 with three victories – winning the biggest tournament on the European Tour and two events in Japan, titles, which he is currently defending – Daniel became the first player of Indian origin to win on the PGA Tour last month. He used this good form and confidence to his advantage and was back in contention in Melbourne, Australia where he is currently playing and lost on the fourth hole in a play-off to card a second place finish at the Mastercard Masters last weekend.
Daniel has finished the season ranked 48th on the PGA Tour Money Leaders and is now busy playing events around the world as the PGA Tour is officially over for the year. His bank balance has probably never looked better but what is more important is that his confidence is riding high and he is among the rare group of people who can sleep at night knowing that they have realized their dreams.
