2005 PGA Tour Qualifying School...59 Days On the Road

Word count: 59,735

Mileage: 9,253

Expenses: $2,017.20

From Oct. 8 through Dec. 5, I penned a daily journal from PGA Tour qualifying school. My travels took me from Pittsfield, Mass. to Bogart, Ga. to Lutz, Fla. to Florence, SC. to Orlando, Fla. to Panama City Beach, Fla. to Dade City, Fla., and, nearly 7,000 miles later, to finals in Winter Garden, Fla.

The thrill of seeing Jeff Martin and Bobby Gage, two people I consider friends, grind out their final few holes to advance to finals was matched by the empathy I felt for players who narrowly missed moving on. Players such as Rob Oppenheim, the Cleveland Golf Tour player of the year, who followed his third round 65 at Lake Jovita with a closing 76, thanks in large part to a triple-bogey on no. 16, that left him three shots shy.

Most notably, my experiences enabled me to land a job as a Production Associate with The Golf Channel, where I began working January 16th. I currently live in Winter Garden, Florida, with two Rick Reilly books, an alarmingly empty refrigerator and a growing hatred of Orlando traffic.