Golf PGA

Rickie Fowler's dramatic play over the final month of the PGA Tour season makes him the player most likely to be watched through the offseason's qualifying progresses.

Fowler, 20, did not turn professional until late summer, but the former top-ranked amateur out of Oklahoma State, took advantage of three sponsor's exemptions to earn $571,090 in those three tries, a number that would have placed him No. 136 on the year's money list.

After finishing seventh and runner-up in his first two events, a strong performance at the Children's Miracle Network Classic could have put Fowler into an exclusive group of past players -- Tiger Woods is one of them -- to avoid qualifying school by finishing among the top 125 money winners as a non-member.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- A sure sign something outside the norm was in the works Sunday afternoon at the Children's Miracle Network Classic came when Nicholas Thompson rolled in a nine-foot bogey putt on the final hole that would leave him five shots out of a playoff eventually won by Stephen Ames and broke into a fist-pumping, arm-slinging celebration.

"It could have been a double," Thompson said. "And I knew if I missed that, I didn't have a chance and I'm going to qualifying school. I knew making it at least gave me a chance."

Sunday's big prize at Walt Disney World was not as much the tournament championship as it was a secure future. Ames shot a final-round 64 and won his fourth career title, outlasting George McNeill and Justin Leonard in two playoff holes, but on this day you didn't have to get a trophy to feel like a winner.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- George McNeill stepped onto the 18th tee with a two-stroke lead, and was surprisingly still feeling good after just making bogey.

That's because everybody else was struggling, too.

"It was funny. Justin Rose walked up on the tee and he says, 'Man, out of the three guys making 5, I think there's one guy that is actually happy about it,"' McNeill recalled. "I think he was right because Justin Leonard turned around and kind of gave him a look."

That was only the beginning.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Justin Leonard is one of the few players not feeling any pressure this week to secure his PGA Tour card next year.

He's already got that in hand. That much is clear from his play.

Leonard shot an 8-under 64 in the second round of the Children's Miracle Network Classic on Friday, surging to the top of the leaderboard in the final Tour event of the season.

"Any time I can come out and do that and play a nice, relaxed round where there's not a lot of pressure, I'm giving myself a lot of chances," he said. "It just makes the game easier."

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Justin Rose shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday in the opening round of the Children's Miracle Network Classic, edging upstart Rickie Fowler for the top spot on the leaderboard.

Rose was bogey-free on a breezy day where a steady morning drizzle and temperatures dipping into the low 50s made greens soft but tough to reach. Fowler, Greg Owen and Casey Wittenberg were one shot back at Disney World in the final PGA Tour event of the season.

The 20-year-old Fowler is making only his third start since turning pro from Oklahoma State. He can join Tiger Woods as one of the few players to go from college to receiving full status on tour in the same year by earning enough money on sponsors exemptions.

ORLANDO -- There are some places on the planet where I never thought I'd end up. The Oval Office and Jennifer Aniston's bedroom come immediately to mind.

But there's nowhere I belong less than on the first tee of a professional golf tournament.

With a club in my hand. And people watching. And my score actually counting. All in all, I'd rather have been in Whoopi Goldberg's bedroom Thursday morning. What was a hack like me doing in a place like the Children's Miracle Network Classic?

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Just like most every PGA Tour player, Will MacKenzie is happy to pass along helpful advice to amateur pro-am partners and fans.

One MacKenzie tip you may never have heard from anyone else: "If you are being chased by a bear, you're supposed to just get down in the fetal position and let him rip -- pop you for about 300 stitches real quick and hopefully then leave and not eat you."

It is sage advice passed along by a skilled professional. While MacKenzie, fighting to save his tour card this week at the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World, is no Jack Nicklaus, he does know bears -- Golden or otherwise.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The last (honest, they really mean it this time) tournament of the PGA Tour season, the Children's Miracle Network Classic that tees off Thursday at Walt Disney World, always provides an interesting scramble as golf's working class looks for one last seat on the life raft.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Kevin Streelman is 31 years old and playing his second season on the PGA Tour. After college golf at Duke, it took five years of mini-tours and other assorted minor-league labors before, in 2008, he advanced through all three levels of qualifying school to earn a place in the big leagues.

"Just four or five years ago, I didn't have much at all," he said. " About $400 in my bank account and pretty much ready to stop playing."

But on Sunday afternoon Streelman can become an instant millionaire. He'll get a freshly printed check to prove it.

"Definitely exciting," he said.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard and Ryan Moore. Those are just some of the elite names on the list of people that have bypassed PGA Tour Qualifying School because of elite play when they were youngsters.

Rickie Fowler has a chance to join that group with a top-10 finish this week at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, the last official tournament of the year on the PGA Tour and Fowler's lone shot to earn somewhere around $70,000 or more to make it in the top-125 and avoid the final stage of Q-School.

Some interesting components come about here. First, Fowler was playing his best golf the last two tournaments, finishing t-7 at Justin Timberlake's tournament and a playoff loss at the Frys.com Open in Phoenix. That means, if Fowler could somehow put together another high finish, he would have earned his card in three tournaments!

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