PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Here comes the most fascinatingly brutal golf event you will ever find, the PGA Tour's annual Qualifying Tournament, affectingly know as "Q School," where careers come to be launched, wrecked, prolonged or, often times, just forgotten.
A field of 170 golfers will gather in South Florida at Bear Lakes Golf Club on Wednesday to begin six rounds -- that's 108 holes -- of competition that will reward the top 25 finishers and ties with exempt status for next year's PGA Tour schedule.
There are no bad players entered; two previous stages of qualifying having already eliminated all but the finest candidates. The remaining hopefuls are a mix of up-and-comers seeking to fulfill destiny, veterans trying to hang on, or unknowns hoping to make it to the big tour for the first time.
And in the end, those who do and some who do not will likely endure some of the most bizarre, mind-numbing, head-throbbing bounces and events than can't even be imagined.
Why? Because that's what happens at Q School.
"I've heard horror stories," said University of Southern Cal All-American Jamie Lovemark, preparing for his first taste of the weirdness. "I really have. I've witnessed it on The Golf Channel. The guys showed (the) final stage a few times, and I've seen some crazy things happen.
"I'd probably say 50 percent of the guys out there can get through third stage every time they play, but you gotta be mentally strong, and you can't be afraid of anybody or anything, which is hard to do."
- Jamie Lovemark "If you're strong mentally, you have no problem getting through. A lot of guys have the game. I'd probably say 50 percent of the guys out there can get through third stage every time they play, but you gotta be mentally strong, and you can't be afraid of anybody or anything, which is hard to do. It's easier said than done."
So what makes the week so strange?
A little bit of everything.
The golf is not like any other tournament. The difference is, there is no next week.
Qualifying comes along only once a year. And while the eventual tournament winner collects $50,000, no one is playing for the money. They are playing for a chance to play next year's schedule for the money.
Yes, all players who have advanced to the final stage are rewarded with at the very least partial playing status on next year's Nationwide Tour. But 2009's top money winner on the Nationwide Tour earned $644,142. Second best was $415,114. By comparison, 91 players on the PGA Tour went over $1 million.
One of the most enduring examples of the mysteries of Q School came at the expense of Joe Daley in 2000, at the time attempting to qualify for his third season on the PGA Tour.
In the fourth round of the final stage of Q School in 2000, Daley had a four-foot putt that he holed dead center -- only to see the ball mysteriously jump out of the hole. The cup liner, which is supposed to be set at least an inch beneath the surface of the green, was put in crooked. Daley's ball hit the top edge of the metal liner and hopped out. Daley, naturally, missed earning his PGA Tour card by a stroke.
He has not made it past the developmental Nationwide Tour since.
Another often-told "only-at-Q-School" tale took place in 2000 in Palm Springs, Calif. During the final round Cliff Kresge, while trying to read a menacing long par putt, backed up just a little too far and tumbled backwards over railroad ties into a lake.
Kresge climbed out, missed the putt and made bogey. But after trotting quickly back to the clubhouse to put on rain pants, he finished the 108 holes of competition at 18-under par and earned his tour card.
This year's field includes a varying mix of players who will most likely produce stories of their own.
There are proven PGA Tour players like David Duval (top), Tim Herron, Joe Ogilvie, Jesper Parnevik, Tom Pernice, Todd Hamilton, Jeff Maggert and Chris Riley trying to return to full-time status after failing to finish among last year's top 125 money winner.
There are the up-and-coming college products like Lovemark, Oklahoma State's Rickie Fowler (right) and Florida's Billy Horschel hoping to go directly from campus to the big tour.And, finally, there are others who have labored through years on mini-tours and minor-league circuits, slowly inching their ways to this one big chance.
"Six rounds of golf," said Fowler, who came close to finishing on the top 125 money winners and skipping qualifying on the strength of three strong sponsor's exemption tournament appearances. "You know, it's a long week, and it's really just, you have to stay consistent and mentally make it through the six rounds.
"I feel like my game's good enough to where if I just go out and kind of do my thing and stay away from the big mistakes and keep the ball in front of me, I should be fine. But you know, there's always the little things that can happen."
The last time the final stage was played at Bear Lakes, in 2001, the week was a parade of weirdness.
There was Roland Thatcher, needing a par on his final hole to crack the top 35 and secure his card. His drive landed in a fairway bunker, then his approach shot flew the green, ricocheted off the cart path and onto Bear Lakes' clubhouse roof.
Thatcher actually considered playing the ball off the roof, but ultimately had to drop into a pampas bush and made a triple bogey. Two more years passed before he finally made it to the PGA Tour.
Another player that same day stepped on his ball in the rough and was waylaid by the penalty stroke.
Q School takes, but it also gives.
Last year's qualifying tournament gave the tour Y.E. Yang. That's the player who beat Tiger Woods in a final-round duel in the PGA Championship. Yang tied for 18th in the qualifying finals last year, earning exempt status for this year. Once on tour, he went on to win two tournaments and become the first player to ever run Woods down from behind in the final round of a major championship.
