Fall Series provides shot at exempt status
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Mark Calcavecchia decided to play the final four weeks of the PGA Tour season for one simple reason.
"Sheer boredom," he said.
Really, there isn't much else for him to worry about these days.
He's one of the headliners this week in the Ginn sur mer Classic, the Fall Series event that opens today on the Arnold Palmer Course at Tesoro Club.
Only a quarter of the top 100 earners on tour this season are in the field, which is mostly made up of players trying to find their way into the top 125 on that money list -- and earn exempt status for 2008 along with it.
So there's no Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk or Vijay Singh this week.
Instead, here comes Tripp Isenhour, Paul Gow, John Huston, and Jaco Van Zyl.
"It's nice not to see Tiger and Phil and Furyk and Vijay and all the same guys every week, actually," Calcavecchia said. "Kind of exciting showing up knowing that if you play well you don't have to dust off the top 10 in the world to have a chance."
This year, he has had a chance just about every time out, no matter who is playing.
Calcavecchia, 47, already has a victory this season (the PODS Championship) along with five other top-10 finishes, has earned nearly $3 million in 2007 and tied for second at the Tour Championship last month.
Yet, he isn't ready to see 2007 end, evidenced by this being his third straight start on the Fall Series schedule. He plans to play in the season finale at the Children's Miracle Network Classic in Lake Buena Vista next week as well.
"When I said I was going to play the last four, I wanted to win another one of them and turn a great year into a really great year," Calcavecchia said. "So I've got two left. I'm going to play next week at Disney and I'm looking forward to a couple big weeks … I hope."
This year was a turnaround of sorts for Calcavecchia, who was 120th on the money list last season and had only one top-10 finish in 27 events.
Winning would do more than validate things to most in this field -- it'd get them tour cards for 2008.
The top 125 on the money list after next week's event earn full playing privileges for next year. Brett Quigley is 126th with $717,411; he's not here this week. But everyone else from No. 111 (Cliff Kresge, $858,349) to No. 134 (Kent Jones, $574,040) is entered in the field.
Or, for the likes of Ken Duke (No. 44, $1,754,478), a spot in the Masters is there for the taking.
"If you finish top 30 on the money list you get into an Augusta and maybe the U.S. Open, too," Duke said. "That's what I'm shooting for. If I win, I think it would take care of it, no question."