Taste of Tour Makes Sanday Hungry

With three PGA tour appearances in the last 1 1/2 years, Jeff Sanday of South Pasadena has been dubbed “The Qualifying King” by some of his friends on the various mini tours in professional golf.

But the 6-foot-1, 220-pound graduate of Cal State Northridge knows there is a big difference between qualifying for a PGA event and playing well in one.

“Qualifying doesn’t mean a whole lot,” said Sanday, 28. “It’s only one round and it doesn’t really prove anything, except that you happened to shoot real well on that particular day.

“I can beat a lot of professional golfers for one or two rounds, but to do it for four rounds is another story.

“You’re not really playing golf when you play in the qualifying tournaments. It’s more like a race. Everybody is shooting for the pin on every hole because of the format. It’s not like you’re picking your spots, deciding when to go for it and when to lay back, like you would in a regular tournament.”

Sanday, 1995 California Amateur champion, made his first PGA appearance in the 1998 Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla.

After firing a 63 in qualifying, he duplicated that feat in the first round to finish one stroke off the lead.

Sanday had rounds of 72 and 73 after that, but his 208 total tied him for 16th in the rain-shortened event and produced a career-high $30,450 in earnings.

He qualified for the Nissan Open at Valencia Country Club three weeks later, but missed the cut after a two-round total of 148.

He qualified again for the Nissan Open this year, but his two-round total of 144 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades failed to make the cut.

“The odds of qualifying [for a PGA tournament] are sick,” Sanday said. “You’ve got about 125 players out there going for two spots, so the odds are heavily stacked against you.”

Sanday, who spent the first 2 1/2 years of his professional career on the Hooters, Golden State and Teardrop tours, has nonexempt status on the Nike Tour this year.

The Nike Tour is golf’s version of triple-A baseball, but it’s not easy to make the jump to the majors by earning a PGA Tour card.

There are two ways to do that.

The first is to finish among the top 15 players on the Nike Tour.

The second is to be among 35 golfers to make it through the PGA Tour school that runs from late October through early December each year.

Sanday likens tour school to taking the bar exam 14 times, considering that approximately 1,000 golfers are pared down to the lucky 35 through three stages and 14 rounds of play.

Sanday, who has never made it past the second stage of tour school, ranks 175th on the Nike Tour after playing in eight of 20 tournaments. But his play has improved since he returned from the Hershey (Pa.) Open five weeks ago.

Working on his game has paid dividends. He defeated Jeff Freeman of Palm Desert in a playoff to win the Long Beach Open at El Dorado Park Golf Course on July 25 with a 66-66-66-71--269 total, earning $26,000.

“I felt like I was just starting to play well at Hershey,” Sanday said. “And things really went well at Long Beach.”

Sanday plans to return to the Nike Tour when the Fort Smith (Ark.) Classic begins at Hardscrabble Country Club on Aug. 16, but his ultimate goal is to play full time on the PGA Tour.

“It’s the top of the top,” he said. “If I make it to there, I could actually say I’ve really made it.”

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WORTH THE WAIT

* Steve Ballard of Westlake Village sank a seven-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at Apple Valley Country Club to qualify for the

99th U.S. Amateur Championship on

Aug. 16-22 at Pebble Beach. Ballard was ready to go home after shooting 73-67--140 because he didn’t think it would be good enough to earn one of two spots available, but his caddie, Steve Richman, convinced him to stick around.

* Leaderboard and Tee Times

Coverage, Page 12