Wachovia Pre-Qualifier - Mission Accomplished
I played my first pre-qualifier yesterday in Charlotte for the PGA Tour Wachovia Championship. I have two reactions to the actual format. First, it’s one way to weed out people who shouldn’t be at the qualifier. Whether it’s the best way is highly debateable. Personally, I was paired with a player and his caddie who exhibited some of the worst etiquette you can imagine including walking through my line and through-line, rattling clubs and commenting on how hard my shot was before I hit it. This might be acceptable for a friendly round with your buds, but when it’s your job it’s another story. Had this been the actual qualifier, the distraction of this player could have put the other players in the group at a disadvantage. Fortunately, this was only a pre-qualifier…which brings me to my second reaction. These pre-qualifiers are really a joke. Although the wind was blowing pretty hard yesterday, the course was setup ridiculously easy and the qualifying score was still a whopping 78. Every hole location was about the easiest one on the green. The course was wet from overnight rains and we were playing lift-clean-place. The experienced players knew that a score in the mid-70’s would be good enough to skate through the pre-qualifier and, therefore, were taking absolutely no risks. I hit irons off most tees and played very conservative approach shots. I lag-putted just about everything. Even with this conservative approach, I finished 12th and only 4 shots off the low score.
I go back to the same course, Firethorne CC, on Monday for the actual Monday qualifier. 51 players made it through the pre-qualifier and I expect another 20-30 exempt players. So, there should be about 70-80 players competing for the 4 spots in the event. I’m playing well and I like my chances.