ON THE GREEN : Prospecting for Gold : Carrasco, Tapie Attempt to Win Senior Tour Cards, Take Shot at Big Money

Ray Carrasco and Alan Tapie went to Europe together last summer. Played some golf. Made some money.

They’re hoping to travel around the United States next year. Play a lot of golf. Make a whole lot of money.

A year ago, they were slogging through gale-force gusts and freezing rain blowing in off the English Channel during the European PGA’s senior qualifying school and earning two of the 10 spots on the tour. One hundred sixty-seven others didn’t.

Carrasco, a 52-year-old from Irvine and Tapie, 50, from Laguna Niguel, each earned more than $75,000 in Europe this year and took their families along for the vacation of a lifetime. But this week at Tucson National, they’re hoping to go from discovering a gold nugget in a stream to finding an unguarded side door at Fort Knox.

Carrasco and Tapie, who were each two-over and in the middle of the pack after Tuesday’s opening round of the Senior PGA Tour’s qualifying school, are among 110 of the world’s best golfers aged 50 and over who are here this week attempting to grab the golden ring--one of the top eight spots and a card for the 2000 senior season.

“I played pretty well today. I just had four iron shots that cost me,” said Carrasco, who had four bogeys and two birdies. “But I’m looking forward to [today]. Both Alan and I have to push it up a notch because some of those guys ahead of us are bound to get hot. But there’s a lot of golf left.”

Tapie, who had one birdie and three bogeys, missed a few birdie opportunities, so he’s eager to come back out today and see a few putts drop.

“The important thing is to stay close enough that you can still make a move with a couple of good rounds.”

Like so many of the men trying to keep their knees from wobbling and their hands from trembling over three-foot putts this week, Tapie and Carrasco were making their livelihood as teaching pros until they turned 50. And while it’s not a bad life, you don’t spend a lot of time fretting about what Alan Greenspan will say next.

So you would think that Tapie, who has a two-year exemption to play in Europe because of his victory at the Elf Senior Open in Chantaco, France, last July, and Carrasco, who is exempt next year thanks to his 16th-place ranking on the 1999 European money list, would be feeling a bit more relaxed.

“It is nice to have that option to fall back on and so you try not to make it a life-or-death situation,” Tapie said. “But let’s face it, there’s a night-and-day difference. The European tour is growing slowly, but the sponsors over there want big names to raise the purses and all their best players come over to the states to play because the money is literally 10 times better.”

Tapie, who finished second in regional qualifying at Rio Rico, Ariz., last month to earn the chance to play here this week, finished fifth on the senior money list in Europe last year, earning 91,648 euros (about $110,000.)

Gil Morgan finished fifth on the U.S. senior tour and pocketed $1.5 million. Obviously, the competition in Europe isn’t as stiff, but Harold Henning was 81st on the U.S. tour, never finished higher than tied for 23rd and earned more than Tapie ($117,737).

But Carrasco, who won his regional qualifier at Desert Dunes in Desert Hot Springs, is counting his blessings, not the dollars he might earn next year.

“I’m so lucky to be in this business, and more and more as I get older, I’ve come to understand that it’s not your golf game that determines your identity, it’s your relationships with people,” he said. “And for me, knowing how much I love to be a professional golfer and knowing I have a place to play, that does make it easier this week.

“But I love golf and I love the competition, so it’s not just about money, anyway. It’s about being in an environment where you’re playing against the best in the world. I bogeyed the first two holes on the first day at Desert Dunes because I really wasn’t into it. But then I stepped back and thought, ‘Let’s play some golf. Let’s win.’ It’s the spirit of the competition that motivates me more than the money.”

Carrasco, who went on to win the qualifying tournament by five strokes, should be in great spirits the next few days. The competition will be fierce and there’s no place for the faint of heart to hide from the hazards . . . water, sand and wilting pressure from within.

After two rounds, the field will be cut to top 60 and ties. And after Friday’s final round, the top eight get the keys to the vault and the second eight earn a “partial” exemption that will get them into 10-20% of the events next year.

The top 31 on the 1999 money list are exempt this year and 32 through 50--all of whom earned more than $320,000--will get into about 80% of next year’s tournaments. But those 19 golfers are eligible to play this week, raising the talent level yet another notch.

Some of those players, such as Lee Trevino, Dave Stockton, Bob Charles, Isao Aoki and Jay Sigel, are exempt because of their standings on the all-time money list. But others, such as No. 38 David Lundstrom ($501,491) and No. 46 Bob Dickson ($421,000), are here trying to ensure that they are able to play in every tournament they want to next season.

Carrasco, a teaching professional at Laguna Hills Golf Range for 16 years and now the touring pro at Strawberry Farms in Irvine, brought his family with him to Europe last year and they “had the time of our lives.”

“It was fantastic, a whole traveling entourage,” said Carrasco, a language major in college. “I had the Spanish and French tapes going all the time and we had enough breaks in the schedule to do a lot of sightseeing. We stayed in all these quaint bed and breakfasts and splurged one week in Spain and stayed in a miniature castle.”

Carrasco says he plans to return to Europe next year if he doesn’t earn his card, but Tapie, a teaching pro at Saddleback Driving Range who played on the PGA tour from 1975 to 1982 and finished a career-best 42nd on the money list in 1979, might consider staying home if he ends up between Nos. 9 and 16.

“I haven’t really thought that much about it, but it boils down to if you want to grind out a full schedule in Europe or get in maybe three or four tournaments here and then get into a few more through the Monday qualifying,” said Tapie, who took his wife and 8-year-old daughter along to Europe this year.

“The experiences we had over there were priceless,” he said. “I mean the whole point of going there is you have to enjoy the travel. But you could probably make more money here playing in just a handful of tournaments.”

Still, the European trip was a hit from the first tee. Carrasco shot a 65 on the final round of the first event to finish third in the Beko Classic in Istanbul. Tapie had a chance to win it, but had a lost ball on the 17th hole and took second after a final-round 69.

“We couldn’t believe it,” Carrasco said. “We walked out of there with about $50,000 between us.”

Tapie: “I was surprised we both played so well so soon and I had a chance to win the first tournament. On 17, I hit a driver into some really dense trees with a lot of undergrowth. I might have been able to find it, but I was afraid if I did, I’d try to be a hero. I took my bogey, but Tommy Horton [the European senior tour’s top money winner] birdied the hole and he won. But it was a great start.”

Now they’re both hoping for another new beginning. It’s going to be a tough few days, but the light at the end of the tunnel is the gleam of a platinum future.