Tuesday, October 31
By Bob Harig
Special to ESPN Golf Online
While Tiger Woods continues to sit atop the golf world, others cling to a small piece of the planet, hanging on to their place in the game. While Woods banks a bundle, others count pennies.
Dan Forsman does not need to make a fortune this week; he just could use some good fortune.
|  | | Survive or fail this week, Dan Forsman will not be going to Q-School. |
Woods was a mere eight years old when Forsman, 42, played the PGA Tour as a rookie. For 18 years, his skills were good enough to win four titles and always retain his playing privileges. He's closing in on $5 million in career earnings.
But today Forsman faces an uncertain future. While Woods and the other top-30 money-earners from this season play for a $5 million purse and a guaranteed paycheck at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Forsman will be slugging it out for one more week in Madison, Miss., at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, hoping he can find enough magic in his game to remain a fully exempt member of the PGA Tour.
Forsman is playing for the seventh consecutive week because he is in the 125th and final position on the money list with just one event to play. It is a nerve-racking spot, one fraught with distractions and hypotheticals. Play well enough this week, and Forsman is secure. Play poorly, and PGA Tour golf is no longer a guarantee.
"I find myself smiling and smirking as I drive down the road, going to the course, and from the tournament," said Forsman, who held the 125th spot last week, too, but was unable to better his position with a tie for 57th at the National Car Rental Golf Classic. He has $379,349, less than $12,000 ahead of No. 126 Pete Jordan. "I'm in my own world. Spinning.
"It doesn't mean anything to anybody else. A lot of people in China don't even know about the tour. To me in my world, my stomach is churning and churning. It's this ticklish feeling. I don't know how to describe it. You're on this bubble, and that's what you like. You really like it in a weird sort of way. That's what it's all about."
Forsman's best year on tour came in 1992 when he won once and finished second three other times to finish 10th on the money list. A year later, he led The Masters on the back nine, only to dump two balls into Rae's Creek on the par-3 12th hole on Sunday.
All the while, Forsman, who lives in Provo, Utah, never worried much about losing his job, always earning enough money to stay among the exempt players.
"I have empathy and sympathy," he said. "I know I've seen guys slip out of it, and you never see them again. And I've seen guys who slipped out and said, 'C'mon, I'm better than that.' And they go right back. It's a dichotomy, if you will, right now trying to figure out where Dan Forsman is. And in the future. This is a little bit of uncharted waters for me right now. I don't fear that, but it's definitely unsettling in some respects."
The reason is the uncertainty that comes for a golfer who is not exempt. Forsman will be able to get into his share of tournaments next year if he is not among the top 125. As a past champion, and based on his final ranking, he will likely find his way into 15 to 20 tournaments.
But there are no guarantees, no ability to set his own schedule. Tournaments he likes might not have room. Tournaments he doesn't might have space, so he'll have to play anyway. That's hard to take for a guy used to have his way.
Forsman, however, will not try to get back on tour via the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, if it comes to that. Last month, as the deadline approached for Q-School, Forsman began looking over the application.
"And it was really depressing," he said. "It was like I didn't want to go to tour school. I want to keep my card. That's just the way it is."
Talk about pressure. Forsman cannot rely on anyone else. If he fails to make the cut, he'll almost certainly drop back. The odds suggest that someone behind him will make a move and bump him out. Even if he makes the cut, Forsman needs to earn enough money to hold off the challengers behind him.
"I'm very much aware of it," he said. "I'm not dwelling on it. But I know I need to make something happen. I'm proud of the fact I've played 18 straight years without going to tour school. I'd like to make it 19."
Presidents Cup fallout
When the competition is played in South Africa in 2002, it remains to be seen whether the top players make the trip.
Australians Greg Norman and Steve Elkington suggested that the Americans owe it to the game to play in the Presidents Cup, no matter when and where it is played, especially after their victory over the Internationals this year.
"I don't believe that," said Scott Hoch, who was not part of the U.S. team this year. "Gosh, we play so much now. And it is a burden on the U.S. players, because we have this every year, whether it's the Presidents Cup or the Ryder Cup. And we don't have an off year like the other guys do.
"I don't think anybody should be obligated. It makes it tough. I realize it's a world championship and it needs to be spread around. But you have 22 of the 24 guys who play here in this U.S. on our (PGA) Tour. Shoot, why don't they have it in Orlando? Half of them live there. It would make things a lot easier."
The biggest blow for the Presidents Cup would be to not have the best player in the world. And Tiger Woods is not on board, at least not yet.
"Our calender year is getting pretty saturated, it's pretty full," Woods said. "Where do I put a few more here and there without compromising what I want to do in these big ones?"
Woods is in the midst of an eight-week stretch of golf. He played in the Presidents Cup, and is now playing the last three official PGA Tour events -- National Car Rental Golf Classic, where he finished third, this week's Tour Championship and next week's American Express Invitational.
Then he's got four offseason events in a row: the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand, the Grand Slam of Golf in Hawaii, the Williams World Challenge in California, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, and the World Cup in Argentina.
Slipping in
It came down to the final week, and the final nine holes. Chris Perry, who missed out on a spot on last year's Ryder Cup team and this year's Presidents Cup team, who barely lost to Rocco Mediate at the Buick Open, snuck into the final spot in the Tour Championship.
With a tie for 13th at the National Car Rental Classic, Perry bumped Mediate out of the final spot. Mediate had missed the cut, and Perry also passed Scott Hoch, who was in 31st position, to move into 30th place. That guarantees him a minimum of $80,000 this week in Atlanta. The winner receives $900,000.
"At least I accomplished one of my goals this year, finishing in the top 30," said Perry. "I was very disappointed that I didn't make the Presidents Cup team and didn't win this year. So at least I got one of the three.
"No offense to Rocco, but maybe it's justice since he beat me in the Buick tournament. But I'm pleased to be going."
Bob Harig, who covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, writes a column every Tuesday for ESPN Golf Online. |  |
