Q-School holds key to Byrd’s future

Zack Byrd can brighten his future considerably over the next seven days.

The Murrells Inlet resident is participating in the six-round final stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament from Wednesday through Monday at PGA West in LaQuinta, Calif., with a chance to join former Coastal Carolina teammate Dustin Johnson on the PGA Tour in 2012.

It could be a life-changing week for Byrd, whose only taste of the PGA Tour was qualifying this summer for the U.S. Open at Congressional, where he missed the cut after two rounds.

“I feel good and we’re trying not to get too excited like I did at the U.S. Open,” Byrd said Monday. “By the time the first round rolled around I was exhausted.”

Just being among the 173 players to make the Q-School finals, which features 173 players who have advanced through one or all of pre-qualifying, first and second stages, guarantees Byrd at least conditional status on the Nationwide Tour.

The top 25 and ties earn PGA Tour cards for 2012. The next 50 players and ties earn full exempt status on the Nationwide.

“I’m not as nervous as I thought I’d be,” Byrd said. “The hard part is over. The hard part is second stage. Not that this week is easy, but at least I know if I don’t play well I’ll have somewhere to play next year. [Tuesday] it will probably sink in that it’s more of a tournament than I’m used to playing.”

In the 2010 Q-School finals, the 52 players that finished between a tie for 30th and tie for 74th earned full Nationwide status for the 2011 season.

Jason Kokrak tied for 127th at Q-School and managed to play in 16 Nationwide events in 2011, so opportunities are still there without a high finish. Players with conditional Nationwide status can improve their position if they play well early in the 2012 season.

Byrd arrived in LaQuinta on Friday. He played the Stadium Course on Sunday and Nicklaus Course on Monday, and intends to play nine holes Tuesday morning and practice in the afternoon, then relax.

“They’re good, wide-open type golf courses,” said Byrd, whose strength is his accuracy and ball-striking. “It’s not necessarily my game and the rough isn’t up as much as I’d like it, but that’s alright. You still have to get it in the hole.”

Weather conditions are expected to fluctuate during the week so playing conditions on the two courses will change.

Byrd expected to have Bobby Brown – Johnson’s caddie of three years through April – to caddie for him this week, but he said Brown texted him Friday with news that he couldn’t make it.

So Tom Sanderson, Byrd’s roommate in college, will caddie for him. Byrd finished fifth in the Colorado Open this summer with Sanderson on the bag. “Everything happens for a reason,” Byrd said. “I’ve got Tom, he knows my game and I’m comfortable with him, so we’re in good shape.”

In addition to upstarts hoping to fulfill a dream, numerous former PGA Tour players are competing with Byrd this week. They include major champions David Duval, Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel and Lee Janzen, as well as Tommy Armour, Daniel Chopra, Glen Day, Bob Estes, Steve Flesch, Carlos Franco, Robert Gamez, Jason Gore, Nathan Green, Richard Johnson, Jeff Maggert, Len Mattiace, Bob May, Scott McCarron, Daniel Summerhays, Vaughn Taylor and Boo Weekley.

While the PGA Tour’s purses are generally between $4.5 and $6.5 million for regular events, Nationwide purses are generally between $500,000 and $800,000. The Q-School final has a purse exceeding $1 million.

Holliday going strong

The George Holliday Memorial Junior had perhaps the deepest field in its 43-year history this past weekend, particularly in the age groups that competed for the overall boys and girls titles.

The Thanksgiving holiday event accepts players for age division from under 9 through 18. Of the 230 players who participated this year, 190 were old enough to compete for overall titles.

There were 129 boys ages 14-18 playing for the boys title, including 80 players in the 16-18 age division, and 61 girls ages 13-18 competing for the girls title.

“I think it’s the biggest fields we’ve had for both overall girls and overall boys titles,” said tournament director and Myrtle Beach National head pro Michael Burnside. “And a lot of the kids that were older had not played in the tournament before, so we definitely attracted some new players.”

Canada and 13 states were represented in the field, including some late registrants. The tournament peaked with 288 players a few years ago, but organizers have set the maximum well below that number now.

“Everybody that applied got in this year,” Burnside said. “I try to keep it around 220 just for comfort levels. We try to keep it around 110 per course just so we can get them around. Pace of play has really been the only beef with the tournament. We’re trying to make it a quality three days.”

CPGA makes move

After calling Myrtle Beach home since 1976, the Carolinas PGA Section headquarters has moved to the Greensboro, N.C., area. The office at the Grande Dunes Resort Course closed Nov. 17 and the headquarters opened Nov. 21 in a temporary office outside Greensboro.

The CPGA is awaiting the completion of a permanent building in Bryan Park Golf Club and Conference Center. The organization had been leasing office space at Grande Dunes since late in 2006, after it sold its corporate office on two acres on S.C. 9 in Little River to Loris Community Hospital.

Strand pros empty-handed

The Grand Strand’s 100 or so courses were shut out this year from the CPGA’s 10 annual awards for club professionals.

The 10 honorees were all nominated by their peers and selected by the CPGA’s Special Awards and Honors Committee, and will be recognized at the 19th annual Special Awards and Honors Ceremony on Feb. 19 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

The CPGA Professional of the Year is Bill Sampson of Old Tabby Links in Spring Island . He was the recipient of the CPGA’s 2007 Bill Strausbaugh Award and the 2010 President’s Plaque, was the Hilton Head chapter’s 2007 and 2010 pro of the year, and was ranked second among South Carolina teachers by Golfers Digest in 2007-08. The Palmer Maples Teacher of the Year is David Orr of Campbell University’s PGA Golf Management Program .

Chad Newton of Pinewood Country Club in Asheboro, N.C is this year’s Horton Smith Trophy winner. The award recognizes a commitment to the development and improvement of golf education for the PGA pro. This year’s Bill Strausbaugh Award winner is Jeff Nichols of Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, N.C. The award is given to the PGA member who has made an impact on the game and business through the mentoring and assisting of other pros.

The Junior Golf Leader is Chris Haarlow of Precision Golf School in Greensboro, N.C., and the TaylorMade-adidas Assistant Pro of the Year is Josh Wagaman of Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course.

Del Ratcliffe, owner of Ratcliffe Golf Services in Charlotte, N.C., is the President’s Plaque recipient. The plaque is awarded for becoming a leader in player development. He has served as the section’s Growth of the Game Chairman for the past 10 years, is on the national Play Golf America Committee, and previously won the President’s Plaque in 2006.

Merchandisers of the year are Gary Hobgood of Happy Valley Country Club in Wilson, N.C., in the public sector, Rich Parker of Benvenue Country Club in Rocky Mount, N.C., in the private sector, and Jeff Minton of Wild Dunes on Isle of Palms in the resort sector.

A super game

Some superintendents in the area can do more than grow grass. They can play on it a bit as well, and none are better than Jim Knaffle of the International Club of Myrtle Beach.

Knaffle, 40 and a plus-1 handicap, won the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association’s annual championship by three strokes on Nov. 14 with an even-par round of 72 over 6,677 yards at the River Club.

It was the Maine native’s first win in the tournament, which attracted 316 players from the 1,800-member trade association. Higher handicap players competed at Litchfield Country Club and Willbrook Plantation.

Knaffle was four shots clear with five holes to play but stumbled with a double bogey on the par-3 14th His closest challenger, Steve Agazzi from Turtle Point at Kiawah Island Resort, made birdie on the following hole to cut the lead to one, but Knaffle birdied two of the three closing holes.

Knaffle advances to the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America’s national championship at the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West in Palm Springs, Calif., in February.

Redding seeking students

Brad Redding of the Grande Dunes golf academy, one of Golf Magazine’s top 100 instructors in America since 2001, is looking for two new students for a seminar he is holding on Monday, Dec. 5. He’s hosting a Teaching for Teachers seminar, which includes live lessons with two golfers that he has never instructed in the past.

The first lesson is from 12:30-1:30 p.m. and the second is from 1:45-2:45 p.m. The lesson rate is $70, which is half Redding’s normal hourly rate. Anyone interested can call the golf shop at 843-315-0333 or email brad.redding@bccompany.com.

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