David McKenzieMichael Cohen
ORLANDO, Fla. - David McKenzie is an old pro at the PGA qualifying school, the series of tournaments that can mean so much to so few.
This week, 165 golfers made the "alpha list" to play six more gruelling rounds to try to finish in the top 25 and get a card to play on the PGA.
Several miles away the LPGA is playing on the lush course at the Grand Cypress designed by golfing great Jack Nicklaus. And it is grand, with its rolling hills, sparkling lakes and tropical vegetation. But PGA wannabees get the Orange County National Golf course, "out in the boonies," as it's described, out where the vegetation is scrubby and the horizon sight lines are unremarkable.
"The what list?" McKenzie asks. "The alpha list?"
McKenzie's face is tanned and his temples are greying, and he's still slugging it out at age 43, trying to regain that glory year of 2006 when he earned his PGA card through good play on the Nationwide Tour. It's always tougher to slide down from PGA tour to Nationwide. He's happy he has a place to play on Nationwide, (he's played on it for 15 years), but not so happy that he misses out on the perks and the paycheques from the PGA Tour.
McKenzie has had a slow start to the final key tournament and despairs after doing the math: he'll have to shoot 15 under in the final three days to meet his goal. There's a look on his face that suggests it's too tall a task this time.
"I have to play hard the next couple of days," he said. "There are about as many smiles here as you'd see at a funeral...It doesn't seem to me that a lot of people are having a lot of fun out here this week."
There's a mix of emotions at Q-school, he said: older players who see the glory slipping away, younger players with nothing to lose, who are happy to begin their careers on Nationwide, should they fail to get that PGA card.
The Australian-born McKenzie - who has a Canadian mailing address because he married a Canadian woman several years ago - said it was an enormous boost to him when he earned his PGA card in 2006. In 2004, he was among the top 20 on the Nationwide tour but he got bumped in a season-ending event and missed getting his PGA card by one shot.
Off he went to Q-school in California, and missed by one shot again.
In 2007, he was within the top 25 on the Nationwide tour again, and once again, was bumped in the final tournament.
"I've had my share of near-misses," he said.
He's had friends who spent five years on the PGA, and when their fortunes fell and they returned to Nationwide, reality hit home; there were no limos to pick them up at the airport for a tournament; there were no courtesy cars to get to the course; there were no large crowds: you had to begin a practice of penny pinching to survive.
It is possible to survive financially on the Nationwide Tour only if you finish among the top 40 or 50, McKenzie said. If so, you can break even on expenses. It's a little tougher for McKenzie, because he travels back and forth to Australia in the off-seasons to play on the Australian PGA Tour and his wife comes along.
McKenzie says he needs to make $3,000 to $4,000 a week to pay airfares and hotel accommodation, rental cars and food. Over the years, he's become adept at finding the most reasonable hotels (He aims for $80 to $90 a night hotels, but not if they're in a bad area, and it's a bonus if they have a kitchen. He looks to cook his own food, to not only save money, but to eat healthy.)
And it's cheaper and more reasonable to rent cars than to fly to destinations, if the drive is only six or seven hours away. Last year, McKenzie spent $8,000 to $9,000 on rental cars. "I'm a member of the highest executive elite until 2037," he says with a tired smile.
McKenzie says he's fortunate that he has supporters in Canada, including the Lambton Golf and Country Club in Toronto, where he plays when he's in the country. "I feel very much at home, when I'm a long way from home, in Toronto," he said.
He exhales, he said, when he crosses the border into Canada. His wife sees a Canadian flag and gets a tear in her eye.
PGA card or no, McKenzie won't be seeing Canada until at least the spring. As soon as the Q-school finishes on Monday, he's hopping a plane for Australia. He'll arrive on Wednesday and tee up for an Australian PGA event on Thursday, hoping for better.
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