Nov. 17--PANAMA CITY BEACH -- The Bad and The Ugly courses at the Hombre
Golf Club aren't the only grounds Jarrod Lyle is exploring this week.
He's never had to go through tournament qualifying school.
The 28-year-old Australian is in his sixth year as a professional and has spent four of them alternating between the
PGA and Nationwide tours,
most recently finishing well below 125th on the PGA Tour's money list, the cut off to automatically qualify for a card in 2010.
So, Lyle found himself preparing for a practice round Monday morning at Hombre for the second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School, a four-round tournament that sends the Top-20 finishers plus ties to Q-School Finals. Once there, golfers will duke it out for a tour card, and a guaranteed spot in all the tournaments except majors.
First, Lyle and the other 78 golfers who paid $4,500 to play this week, must conquer Hombre.
"Obviously, I'd much rather be playing PGA full time," Lyle said. "I can't put my finger on what the problem is when I get out there, but that's just a matter of finishing events.
"It's frustrating to have to keep sort of coming up and down, up and down. But you just have to find that one thing that keeps you up there and keep working on it."
Most of the field arrived in Panama City Beach on Monday for two days of practice rounds and the remainder will be here today to familiarize themselves with the course.
Ben Bates, a Pace native, played on the Nationwide Tour this season and made five of 17 cuts, but it wasn't enough to finish in the Top 25, which automatically earns a tour card. But Bates has an advantage over most of the field. He's played Hombre. A lot.
The golfers who walked or played the course Monday were all in agreement that Hombre isn't just a runway to launch a golf ball on.
"I think a lot of the guys that have been around for a long time that have played here know that the golf course will stand up to the test," Bates said.
"A lot of places you go to now, the golf courses are wide open and it's just pretty much about how far you can hit it. This is about what I call playing golf.
"Some of the other places are not really what I call playing golf. This is true golf. You have to hit your drive in the fairway. You have to hit your next shot precisely on the greens, and the greens are an adventure, too."
Just by walking through the course Lyle understood what Bates has long known.
"The greens are small, but you miss them in the wrong spot you're going to be in trouble," said Lyle, who made 11 of 21 cuts on the PGA Tour, earning $275,195. "The way the greens are, you don't have to shoot lights out. You just have to get yourself in a spot where you can get a look at the green and keep yourself out of trouble."
Steven Alker doesn't have to worry about qualifying for the PGA Tour as much as most of the field, because he has a guaranteed card for the Nationwide Tour next year, he said. While that's giving him a little confidence this week, his approach isn't any different. Score birdies.
"The mentality is almost conservative-aggressive," Alker said. "You don't want to do anything stupid but at the same time you got to keep making birdies. Just don't hurt yourself and keep looking for birdies at the same time."
Pairings for Wednesday's first round: Starting from hole No. 1
7:45 a.m. Pat Bates, Peter Lonard, Kris Blanks 7:55 a.m. Gary Christian, D.J. Brigman, Scott Sterling 8:05 a.m. Mark Carnevale, Joe Daley, Rick Price 8:15 a.m. Brian Guetz, Russell Knox, Michael Smith 8:25 a.m. Josh Broadaway, Kevin Warrick, Andrew Georgiou 8:35 a.m. Chris McCartin, Sal Spallone, Dan McCarthy 8:45 a.m. Christopher Griffin, Brian Unk, Kyle Willmann 8:55 a.m. Keith Huber, Clayton Rask 9:05 a.m. Ryan Benzel, Shaun Micheel, Paul Claxton 9:15 a.m. Nolan Henke, Andrew McLardy, Casey Wittenberg 9:25 a.m. Jon Rusk, Ty Harris, Dustin Cone 9:35 a.m. Ryan Baca, Rafael Gomez, Justin Smith 9:45 a.m. Manuel Inman, Michael Jensen, Santiago Rivas 9:55 a.m. Steve Gilley, Alex Aragon, Jeff Rangel
Starting from Hole No. 10
7:45 a.m. Garrett Osborn, Steven Alker, Ben Bates 7:55 a.m. Jim Herman, Jonas Blixt, Dicky Pride 8:05 a.m. Ryan Armour, Skip Kendall, Robert Gaus 8:15 a.m. Chris Devlin, Ryan Cobb, Jon Curran 8:25 a.m. Blake Sattler, Grant Leaver, Brent Delahoussaye 8:35 a.m. Sonny Skinner, David Morland, Jeremy Pope 8:45 a.m. Nicolas Geyger, Brian Noonan, Chris Wells 8:55 a.m. Jaxon Brigman, Chris Gallagher 9:05 a.m. Daniel Barbetti, Jarrod Lyle, P.H. Horgan 9:15 a.m. Pete Jordan, Paul Gow, Guy Boros 9:25 a.m. Justin Peters, Vaughn Snyder, Randy Leen 9:35 a.m. Will Claxton, Alan Morin, Brad Kennedy 9:45 a.m. Tommy Rymer, Bret Guetz, Travis Hampshire
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