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Tweets We'd Like To Read In 2012

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 05:00:00 GMT

2011 was full of surprises, but we'd welcome these developments in 2012.

Compton in, Villegas out in last Q School

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:14:00 GMT

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- This was the last day of the last Q School, so maybe it was appropriate that Mac O'Grady was there to pay homage. A local resident, O'Grady was the standard bearer of Q School futility and an example the requisite perseverance.

None has persevered to the degree that Erik Compton has. Compton, 32, retained his PGA Tour exemption on Monday, even threatening the lead at one point, 4 1/2 years following his second heart transplant.

"Six rounds of tour school is hell week," said Compton, who played the PGA Tour this year, but finished 165th on the money list to precipitate a return to Q School, as the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament is called. "For me to be able to have a chance to win tour school, six rounds, four years after what I went through, you can't even dream a story like that. Maybe I made it look easy, but it's not."

Related: Tales from Q School

Compton shot 67 on the Stadium Course at PGA West in the last of six rounds and eventually finished tied for seventh, three strokes behind medalist Dong-hwan Lee. The top 25 and ties from a field of 172 earned PGA Tour exemptions for 2013.

Among them was Lee, one of three South Koreans to qualify, but not the most notable. That distinction goes to Si Woo Kim, 17, the youngest player in the field, who won't be eligible for PGA Tour membership until his 18th birthday, June 28, 2013.

Kim, who tied for 20th, can play as many as 12 tour events as a non-member (via sponsor exemptions or top 10s).

Si Woo Kim became the youngest Q School qualifier ever on Monday. Photo: Victor Decolongon/Getty

As is often the case, this Q School was at least as noteworthy for who failed to qualify as who succeeded. Included in the former group is three-time PGA Tour winner Camilo Villegas, who closed with a 69 on the Stadium Course, but came up two strokes short and tied for 32nd. He will have to rely on sponsor exemptions to play the tour in 2013.

"I still have conditional status, so hopefully I'll get in some tournaments next year," he said. "I've always tried to be very polite and good with sponsors, and if that's the case it'll be good. I'm going to need a little love from them. At the end of the day if you're good enough to be on the PGA Tour you'll be on the PGA Tour."

He called it a reality check, as it was as well for Patrick Cantlay, 20, once the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world. Cantlay tied for 95th here, which gives him conditional status on the Web.com Tour next year.

"It is disappointing," Cantlay said. "But it's just one week of golf. I just played badly."

England's Ross Fisher, meanwhile, tied for second, the difference a tee shot in the water at 18. Fisher is a four-time winner on the European Tour, who drew inspiration Monday from his playing partner, Compton.

"It's absolutely a privilege to play with such an inspirational player as Erik Compton," Fisher said. "When you think that times are hard or you're down you have to look at a guy like Erik."

To a lesser degree, one might want to draw as well on the example of O'Grady, who went to Q School 16 times before earning PGA Tour membership on his 17th attempt.

Heath Slocum, who has played the tour full time every year since 2002 and has won four times and more than $15 million, understands the equation, even if he failed to produce the correct answer here. He tied for 32nd, two strokes short.

"The best players find their way out there," he said pragmatically. "If I'm in that class, I'll be back out there soon."

The 26 players who earned exemptions:
Dong-hwon Lee
Ross Fisher
Steve LeBrun
Richard H. Lee
Billy Horschel
Kris Blanks
Erik Compton
Brad Fritsch
Jin Park
Fabian Gomez
Michael Letzig
Jeff Gove
Steve Bowditch
Matt Jones
Robert Karlsson
Eric Meierdierks
Scott Langley
Aaron Watkins
Derek Ernst
Si Woo Kim
Tad Ridings
Donald Constable
Bobby Gates
Patrick Reed
Henrik Norlander
Chez Reavie

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Trending: Erik Compton on 'Real Sports'

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 19:07:00 GMT

By Derek Evers

It's been an amazing year for golf; with Tiger's return to the winner's circle, Ernie hoisting the Claret Jug, and no less than a dozen of this year's PGA Tour winners coming from behind in the final round, it would be easy to call 2012 'The Year of the Comeback.' Yet as exciting as it's been on the course, the most remarkable comeback story on the Tour easily belongs to Erik Compton.

If you're not familiar with Compton's story, you should get so. The 32-year-old PGA Tour pro was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy at the age of nine, starting him on a journey that's included two heart transplants. What makes his story remarkable -- aside from the fact he's still alive and well 20 years after receiving his first donated heart -- is that Compton not only returned to competition a mere five months after his second successful transplant, he eventually secured his 2012 PGA Tour card with a victory at the Nationwide Tour's 2011 Mexico Open. It's a story that's larger than golf and sports itself. The kind that seems almost too good to be true. Too 'made for TV.'

Cue HBO.

Last week, the new season of 'Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel' premiered with a feature on Compton. And though Gumbel himself wasn't on hand, it gave a great behind-the-scenes look at Compton's first full season on the PGA Tour, with exclusive access and interviews along the way. It's not only worth watching to learn more about the trials and tribulations of Compton's health, but that of a touring pro.

Obviously HBO doesn't have the full video available for non-subscribers, but this promo clip compels as much as it teases. Seriously, could they have cut it at a more suspenseful moment? Wait for it...

Follow @derekevers

My Town: Erik Compton's Miami

E. Michael Johnson — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Variety is the spice of local life for this Tour rookie and South Fla. native.

Tweets We'd Like To Read In 2012

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

2011 was full of surprises, but we'd welcome these developments in 2012.

U.S. Open Preview Video: Q&A With Erik Compton

Golf Digest — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Golf World's Tim Rosaforte interviews 1st time U.S. Open Qualifier and heart-transplant recipient Eric Compton.

Monday Qualifier: Nick Watney Emerges As Top American

John Strege — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Nick Watney emerges as the U.S.'s unlikely leading man

Monday Qualifier: Yani Tseng Is LPGA's Latest Dominant Player

John Strege — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Yani Tseng follows Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam as the LPGA's next dominant player.

Monday Qualifier: Long Time Coming

John Strege — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Win at Match Play helps Luke Donald shed underachiever tag.

Plenty to follow at pressure-packed Q School

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:46:00 GMT

The grueling and potentially life-changing event known as the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament is underway and as always, there are no shortage of subplots. This year's Q School features a field of 162 players hoping to put together one good week in order to vault to the game's highest level for the 2011 season.

From recent college graduates, to former winners on the PGA Tour, to career journeyman, the crop teeing it up at Orange County National Golf Center in Winter Garden, Fla., is as diverse as ever. Some of the more noteworthy names are two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, former teen phenom Ty Tryon and 2008 U.S. Amateur champion Danny Lee.

In all, there are 16 former PGA Tour winners playing this week. The top 25 and ties after the six-day event will earn their PGA Tour cards for next year, while the next 50 and ties will have playing privileges on the Nationwide Tour.

Billy Mayfair and Scott McCarron are among that group of former winners having to try to earn their tour cards again. McCarron, who made news early in the year with his less-than-flattering remarks regarding Phil Mickelson using old Ping Eye 2 wedges, was in position to lock up his tour card for the next two years with a win at the Reno-Tahoe Open in July, but a final-round 81 dropped him to a tie for 35th place.

Then there's the amazing story of Erik Compton, who continues to follow his PGA Tour dreams despite having had two heart transplants. Compton already got through one qualifier this year when he earned a spot in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

As for Tryon, who became the youngest player ever to make it through Q School in 2001 at the age of 17, he was never able to stick on the PGA Tour. Lee, a New Zealand native, became the youngest winner on the European Tour at the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic at the age of 18 (A record 17-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero recently broke), but hasn't produced much since either.

For players like Tryon and Lee, there is still plenty of time to find their games again, even if it doesn't come this week. For others like PGA Tour veteran Briny Baird, who opened with a disastrous 79, the chances of finding success are starting to fade.

One golfer in his infant stages of being a pro, former Clemson University star Kyle Stanley, got off to a fast start on the first day of the pressure-packed tournament with a seven-under 65 to grab the early clubhouse lead. But as Baird and others who have been through this long and arduous process can attest, it's only going to get tougher over the next five days. As Janzen tweeted after opening with a 74: "Qschool. Nothing fun about it!"

-- Alex Myers