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 Valencia resident Jason Gore hasn't finished inside the top 125 on the PGA Tour since 2007 (PHOTO: Eddie Meeks). The second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School kicks off Wednesday, Nov. 18, at six sites around the country, one of which is Oak Valley Golf Club in Beaumont. The par-72 layout isn’t a brutal test, but it does feature difficult greens and plenty of par 4s that call for a fair degree of thought off the tee. Players who try to bomb and gouge their way around the Lee Schmidt/Brian Curley design will have their work cut out thanks to an array of mature trees and thick rough. (Read the course review here.) The 72-hole event is an excruciating exercise of skill and patience, and about 20 of the top players from the field of 79 will advance to the six-round final stage at Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., in early December. Most Southern Californians in the second stage are concentrated at Oak Valley, but a few are scattered at the other five sites. For instance, Long Beach native Peter Tomasulo, who struggled in his rookie year on the PGA Tour, is at TPC Craig Ranch in Texas, while South Africa native and current San Diego resident Tyrone Van Aswegen is playing at Deerwood Golf Club, also in Texas. The field at Oak Valley is composed of past PGA Tour winners, game youngsters and grizzled mini-tour veterans. Here are 10 players to keep an eye on as the event progresses. Check back throughout the week for results and analysis. Aaron Goldberg. Unfortunately, the former San Diego State All-American added an infamous chapter to the Q-School legacy last year when he was disqualified from a pre-qualifier after signing for an incorrect scorecard (he would have advanced). Goldberg, an Encinitas native, tied for 10th in this year’s first stage at Santee’s Carlton Oaks Golf Club to advance. Jason Gore. The Valencia resident was a darling on the PGA Tour in 2005, when he played himself into Sunday’s final pairing at the U.S. Open and won the PGA Tour’s 84 Lumber Classic after earning exempt status through a battlefield promotion on the Nationwide Tour. But that was almost five years ago. He has finished outside the top 125 on the Tour money list in each of the last two seasons. Brent Geiberger. With two PGA Tour wins under his belt, the son of Al “Mr. 59” Geiberger knows what it takes to succeed on golf’s biggest stage. But getting there has been a problem lately — since his two-year victory exemption ran out in 2006, he has battled injuries and struggled with inconsistent play. Jonathan Kaye. Once ranked as high as No. 14 in the world, Kaye missed all of 2007 after surgery on his right big toe and has yet to regain exempt status. The two-time PGA Tour winner has been a controversial figure in years past — he was suspended early this decade after a confrontation with a security guard at a Tour event. Bob May. Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of May’s epic showdown with Tiger Woods in the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. A Lynwood native, May hasn’t been a full-time PGA Tour member since 2007. Mike Miles. Once a talented 20-something in the 1980s, the PGA teaching professional at Long Beach’s Virginia Country Club has rediscovered solid form this year and qualified for both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. Dennis Paulson. In the last few years, the San Gabriel native and Encinitas resident has balanced his competitive schedule with a job working as an on-course reporter for Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s coverage of the PGA Tour. The 47-year-old won the 2000 Buick Classic. Brendan Steele. Born in Idyllwild and now residing in Irvine, the 26-year-old began to show consistent form toward the end of the 2009 Nationwide Tour schedule. Citing a productive short-game tutorial with two-time PGA Championship winner Dave Stockton and son Ronnie, Steele made his last four cuts, on the Nationwide, including a tie for seventh at the inaugural Soboba Classic in San Jacinto. Cameron Tringale. The Laguna Niguel native completed a banner tenure on the men’s golf team at Georgia Tech University this summer, and now he’s trying to quickly rise to the PGA Tour. Tringale tied for fifth in first-stage qualifying at Pinewild Country Club in North Carolina. Azuma Yano. He may not be a household name now, but don’t be surprised to see “Yano” on a PGA Tour leaderboard in 2010. The 32-year-old native of Japan finished second the 2008 Japan Tour money list, an accomplishment that earned him a spot in the field at the 2009 U.S. Open. Yano didn’t waste the opportunity, finishing tied for 27th after popping into contention after 36 holes. |
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