The Business of a Pro Golfer: Where Success (or Failure) Hangs in the Balance Every Week
There are a couple different ways to get on the PGA tour. I've already talked about trying to get there via Q-School, (the most grueling three months of my career thus far), and if you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you know that I'm trying to get there by finishing in the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour.
But there's another way you can try to leapfrog from just-turned-pro to PGA player: On Mondays, local PGA chapters throughout the country host qualifying events that let both amateurs and pros playing on mini tours try to qualify for a Nationwide tour event. If you place in the top 25 at the Nationwide event, you advance to the next one and as long as you keep finishing in the top 25, you can make enough money and get enough status so that you could very well move your way up the list and onto the PGA Tour. Now, this is by no means an easy route -- two weeks ago there were 200 guys going for four spots at the Nationwide tournament. Plus, if you finish 26th -- even just one spot off -- you start all over again.
A few weeks ago, 23-year-old Peter Malnati from my hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., managed to Monday-qualify. He placed in the top 25 in a tournament in Knoxville and then all of a sudden he was in Pittsburgh the next week playing with the rest of us on the Nationwide Tour. I caught up with him while we were there and it brought me back to my early days of playing on tour.
We met for a practice round and the first words out of his mouth were: "I have so many questions!" He didn't want to talk to me about golf though, because frankly he doesn't need any of my help on the game. He wanted to know about all of the things that no one really explains to you when you're a rookie: how to find and pay a caddy, handle the logistics of traveling every week, establish a relationship with a club rep, and most importantly, manage your own expectations as you play each week.
I've had lots of chances to learn -- and re-learn -- how to do that last one. When you miss the PGA Tour by one shot, it's the one thing that everyone keeps asking you about. Did it affect my game? Did I lose all of my motivation? No -- but missing by one shot does have a way of reorienting the way you think about success. You learn to play shot-by-shot (not day-by-day) and how to prepare without grinding your brains out. And you learn how to focus: For instance, if you want to ask me about my standing on the Money List, try me on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Once a tournament starts on Thursday, I don't pay attention to any list.
Unfortunately, after a strong start Peter missed the cut last week, so he's back to where he started, which is trying to qualify for a Monday event again and preparing for Q-School. Once you get to this level, your whole career becomes a series of these kinds of situations. Every time you play, you try to place higher so that you can keep on playing. But you're rarely far away from a humbling experience that can send you back to square one. And the sooner you learn how to deal with the stress this can create, the better off you are.
I wish I could say that now that I'm in the position of giving out some advice to a guy like Peter that means I'm no longer a rookie. But I know that I'm still 100 percent rookie.
On a side note, I'm happy to report that I have a new No. 1 fan in my hometown (sorry, Mom): Her name is Kennedy, she's seven years old, and she's an incredible golfer.