In the aftermath of the PGA Tour's Qualifying School Finals in 2004, Brian Smock compared his total score to those of the golfers who earned their tour cards that week.
Union-Tribune file photo
Coronado High alum Brian Smock has come close but never earned his PGA Tour card at Qualifying School. He'll try for a fourth time this week in Indio.
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He was outside the magic bubble by four shots, and considering the Finals are a six-round grind, it was painful to have his lifelong dream be denied by fractions.
“Half a shot a day,” Smock said.
Actually, it's .67 shots per round, but who's counting, right?
For about a half-shot per round, players can wonder if a different breakfast might have made a difference. They can ruminate on the number of inches by which they missed putts. They can lament single gusts of wind.
It's part of the deal, but just once Smock would like to be on the other side, standing with the guys who gained that half-shot and didn't lose it.
“I feel like it's in my grasp,” Smock said. “I just need to go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity and have a good week.”
When the 2008 Q School Finals commence tomorrow on PGA West Stadium and Nicklaus courses in Indio, Smock, of Coronado, will be trying for the fourth time to get his tour card. He was admittedly unprepared the first time he tried and failed at the age of 23, and then didn't get back until 2004, when he was 31.
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Q Rating
There are quite a few recognizable names trying to get through Q School Finals this year:
Chris Riley
Tying for medalist honors in the Second Stage last month has to be encouraging to the San Diegan, who is making his second straight Q School Finals appearance, just four years after playing in the Ryder Cup. At Q School last year, Riley finished only 129th, but got into 17 PGA Tour events this season. He made 10 cuts, and tied for third in Milwaukee, Riley's best showing since finishing in a tie for fourth in the '04 PGA Championship.
Todd Demsey
Torrey Pines High alum reached the tour for the first time since 1997 by getting through Q School last December. But he struggled most of this season and finished 197th on the money list.
Ricky Barnes
The former U.S. Amateur champion has his PGA Tour card for next year after grabbing the last qualifying spot (25th) from the Nationwide money list. But he wants to improve his position.
Notah Begay III
Four-time PGA Tour winner, who once shot 59 in Nationwide event, has battled back problems and depression the past three years. Qualified for European Tour in 2007, but played sparingly after reinjuring his back.
Mark Brooks
Winner of the 1996 PGA Championship is playing in Q School for the first time since 1987. He is two years away from playing on the Champions Tour.
Jason Day
Aussie, 21, figured to be a rising star in 2008 after becoming the youngest winner on the Nationwide in 2007. But he made the cut in only 13 of 28 events and finished 138th on the money list.
Tommy Gainey
Best known for being the winner of the Golf Channel reality series “Big Break,” Tommy “Two Gloves” is back at Q School after getting through all three stages last year. He missed 17 of 23 tournament cuts before finishing second to Davis Love III in the season finale last month.
Robert Gamez
Won in '05 for the first time since two victories in 1990, but he finished 190th on this year's money list. He can play next year on past champion's status, but a good finish this week would give him better position.
– TOD LEONARD
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He played badly in the 2006 Finals, and now he's 35, with a wife, a 6-month-old son, and the signposts of time passing more obviously than ever.
“You can't look back,” Smock said. “There's no sense in thinking, 'I should have done this or that.' But I'm 35 years old now, not 25. The only place I haven't played golf is on the PGA Tour. It's always been my dream. As a kid, you don't grow up hoping you'll be on the Nationwide Tour.”
A 1991 graduate of Coronado High, Smock is one of those local legends who everybody assumes will make it to the big-time sometime. He was a terror on the mini-tours after he turned pro at 21, and he's had three seasons of 15 tournaments or more on the Nationwide.
This year, Smock was hoping to live up to a sponsorship deal afforded him by the Sycuan Resort & Casino, which was paying all of his golf expenses in exchange for 30 percent of his winnings. But a bad back forced him to miss four cuts and withdraw twice in the first seven weeks of the Nationwide.
Once healthy, though, he came back strong in the second half, with three top-7 finishes. In Utah in early September, Smock got into the field as an alternate, shot 66 twice on the weekend and notched a career-best tie for second.
“I had a really good stretch of golf there,” he said. “I wasn't making it very difficult for myself.”
Then, with two events to go, Smock hurt his left thumb and had to shut down the season. He made $89,000 to finish 76th on the money list, but the top-70 got an exemption from the Q School's First Stage.
Smock had to start – again – from Square One.
He opened with a 63 to easily get through the First Stage in Hollister, and in the Second Stage at Beaumont, Smock scored three straight 70s and closed with a 69 to tie for 10th and make it to Finals.
This will be the third straight time he plays for his card at PGA West, which hosts Q School in even-numbered years. Florida courses host on the odd years.
“The biggest obstacle out there is that there are only 25 spots,” Smock said. “You have to have a really, really solid week. In '06, I got off to a solid start, but had a bad third day. I put myself behind the 8-ball, and it's not a week where you want to play catch-up.”
With Smock's age has come some wisdom. At midseason this year, after shooting four rounds in the 60s in Wichita, Smock sought the help of an Orange County sports psychologist, Neale Smith. The Aussie was the 1992 co-medalist at Q School and works with a handful of tour players, including Hunter Mahan.
“I tend to start working on my swing too much,” Smock said. “Neale gave me a systematic way of going about preparing for tournaments.”
After working with Smith, Smock didn't miss a cut.
Smock said he feels more prepared than ever for the 108-hole challenge of Q School. Late last week, he wasn't grinding over practice balls on the range, but goofing around in a reunion of the Coronado High golf team at the Coronado Golf Course.
“Knowing myself a little better, I'm resting up,” Smock said. “It's not like I'm going to lose my game in a week. If anything, I've been overprepared in the past.”
Now, if only those half-shots will go his way.
Tod Leonard: (619) 293-1858; tod.leonard@uniontrib.com
