WHEN IS IT TIME TO TURN PRO?

It was about a year ago that a 20-year-old college kid from Georgia Tech woke up on a Saturday morning in June and realized he was two shots out of the lead halfway through the U.S. Open.

Now, this is the time when your options seem unlimited, when you come to terms with the fact that you are now standing in the all-you-can-dream line at the buffet table.

It’s when you discover that instead of merely going to class to listen to some lecture and then cram for your business management degree, you can actually live it instead.

You no longer measure putts in feet, you start measuring them in dollar bills.

This was Matt Kuchar’s predicament that weekend at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, where he would have to face up to a serious life choice.

Is it time to turn pro and run . . . or not?

It’s a decision that runs to the core of the golf game, namely commerce, which is sort of important since it’s all about how players are paid. It works like this: You turn pro, you sign deals, you make putts, you make money.

The concept of turning professional includes enough variables to fill a bunker. When is the right time? Is money the only thing that matters? What about those I left behind? Will I make it in the pros or will I be kicking myself about making the mistake of my life?

Usually, money answers most of the questions. Amateurs such as Kuchar are not paid. That means when Kuchar finished tied for 21st at last year’s Masters and then wound up tied for 14th at the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club, he received hearty congratulations, but no money.

Normally, this is not a big deal because everybody knows the rules. For instance, when you are in school like Kuchar, you play for old Georgia Tech. Then when you are on the pro tour, you play for old Matt Kuchar and his accountant.

As it turned out, Kuchar stayed at Georgia Tech and plans on staying there for his senior year in 1999-2000. He says he’s planning on graduating . . . on time. And if anybody doubts him, Kuchar says just check the clues he has left.

“Look, I’m taking 21 hours right now,” Kuchar said. “If I was going to leave school, I’d have only taken about 12.”

Good point. Why make it hard on yourself if you’ve already got one set of soft spikes out the door?

Anyway, when the U.S. Open begins today at Pinehurst’s No. 2 course, Kuchar is going to be right there again, keeping his eye on the future, but sure he has made the right decision.

Well, pretty sure.

“I don’t know what the right time is,” he said. “The decision [to stay at Georgia Tech] was the toughest one I’ve had to make because each side had so many great things tied to them.

“Turning pro, the timing seemed to be great, the different events I’d be able to get into, the different places I would travel. Everything seemed like it would work out perfectly. It seemed like my game was ready and the money was set up where I could be taken care of [and] I could just go out and play golf.

“On the other side, school, I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a place where I’ve done a lot of growing up. And then to have that degree is quite an accomplishment. So I was just torn.

“And finally, when it got down to the time when I had to say yea or nay, it got to the point where I was trying to look into the future and see, well, all right, if I turn pro, I could picture myself five or 10 years down the road, being kind of complacent out on tour, kind of happy with the way things are going, but wishing I had those two years back to be a kid. To sort of mess around and not worry about things. That’s really what it came down to.”

What it really comes down to, for everybody, is a matter of timing. When Kuchar turns pro, he’s going to be joining a new wave of young and talented players that is already part of the professional scene, experiencing a few different levels of success.

David Duval, Justin Leonard and Phil Mickelson are already out there and among the game’s elite. None left school early to turn pro, though, which is the path Tiger Woods followed.

The success level of Duval, Leonard and Mickelson was pretty high in college, and it hasn’t exactly taken a dive since they turned pro.

Leonard is the only one who has won a major--the 1997 British Open at Royal Troon--but many believe it’s simply a matter of a few more chances at the big ones for all to be multiple major winners.

If Woods, Duval, Leonard and Mickelson have made the turn from amateur to pro without much of a sweat, it doesn’t always happen that way.

For instance, for every sure-fire superstar such as Sergio Garcia of Spain, there is a struggling underachiever such as Justin Rose of England. They turned pro because, well, it was their time.

Garcia is called “El Nino,” which means “the child.” It is a nickname that has nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with his age, which is 19.

When he was 12, Garcia was the champion at his hometown club, the Mediterraneao Club de Golf in Borriol, Spain. His dad was the pro there. Sergio was a scratch player at 13 and played his first event on the European Tour when he was 15. He finished at four over par.

In 1997 and 1998, Garcia played in 21 amateur events and won 17.

Garcia has another year of high school left, but that didn’t prevent him from turning pro after the Masters, where he finished as low amateur.

Garcia tied for third at the GTE Byron Nelson Classic and won $144,000--his second tournament as a pro. He said he would like to play in Europe for a year or two before playing full time in the U.S., but he reserves the right to change his mind. That seems perfectly understandable.

It’s not as though Garcia isn’t going to get any opportunities to play. He can receive as many as seven sponsor’s exemptions to tournaments on both the PGA Tour and the European PGA Tour. He can have as many sponsor’s exemptions as he wants if he finishes with $174,470 on the PGA Tour money list--which is the amount the No. 150 player made in 1998.

There never was any question that Garcia would turn pro as a teen, only when it would happen.

Like Woods, there were few areas left to conquer for Garcia. He won more than 70 titles as an amateur, including the British Amateur. He still doesn’t have a driver’s license, but he does have awesome potential. You don’t need a high school degree or a driver’s license to pick up a trophy.

Garcia might even play his way onto the European Ryder Cup team, possibly as a captain’s pick.

Former European captain Seve Ballesteros thinks Mark James should select Garcia.

Said Ballesteros: “New mind, new blood, no fear.”

Garcia, who was 37-2 in match play as an amateur, became the first European to be low amateur at the Masters. He turned pro a week later.

Garcia is managed by Jose Marquina of Miami, who recently signed him to a five-year deal with Adidas-Salomon AG to endorse the company’s footwear and clothes.

Marquina said it’s a very nice deal.

“He doesn’t have to worry about making birdies to put money in his bank account,” Marquina said.

Yes, turning pro, well, it really is a matter of timing. Marquina said Garcia has been ready to make the move for a couple of years as a player, “but not as a person.”

To make his point, Marquina said that after Garcia led one of the rounds of the Argentine Open in November, he went back to his hotel room and watched cartoons.

And Garcia also has kept a close watch on another European young star, Rose, who has experienced none of the success Garcia has since he turned pro after finishing fourth at last year’s British Open.

Rose holed out from the fairway on the 18th hole on Sunday at Royal Birkdale to the sound of boisterous cheers from his English countrymen, then announced he was turning pro at 17. Rose hasn’t made a cut in a European PGA Tour event since.

In fact, it has been getting worse.

In his last European Tour event, Rose shot an 81 in the second round when he turned in a 45 on the back. On his last hole, Rose made a quintuple bogey nine after he mistakenly thought he had lost his second shot in a water hazard. He dropped a second ball, failed to declare it a provisional, then walked up and found his first ball on dry land.

It was Rose’s ninth consecutive missed cut in 1999 and his 20th in a row since Birkdale.

For his part, Kuchar has been following Rose’s misfortunes as well. But he has no doubt that Rose made the correct decision to turn pro.

“It was the right decision for him,” Kuchar said. “Over there, it’s different. You don’t have the same university system as we do here. Whether you take on a job or go professional in a sport is really accepted after high school.

“He was going to turn pro after the British Open regardless of what happened . . . and he just happened to have a great tournament. I’m sure he’ll turn things around.”

Some experts contend that Kuchar could have earned $5 million to $7 million over five years if he had turned pro after last year’s U.S. Open.

Bruce Heppler, the Georgia Tech golf coach, said he thought there was a period of time last fall when Kuchar was close to leaving school.

“I kind of had the impression he was done,” Heppler said. “Consider the contrast between college and the pros. You know, 36-hole days, let-me-get-you-a-sandwich in between, switch scorecards . . . versus caddies, balata balls on the range and all that.

“I knew he would do what was best for him and take into consideration his teammates, his coach and Georgia Tech at the same time.”

When Kuchar shows up at the Open today, he won’t be alone. Georgia Tech teammate Bryce Molder will be there too. Yellowjackets in arms, they will be. Soon, Molder will have to make the same decision Kuchar is facing. But Kuchar’s is coming more quickly. And despite Kuchar’s comments that he is returning to Tech in the fall, Heppler urges caution.

“Today he says that, but if he is the 1999 U.S. Open champion? Things can change,” Heppler said. “Matt has done more things for this program than most guys do for their programs in four years. If he changes his mind, I’m not going to hold him to it. He won’t be wishy-washy. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad kid.”

No, only a new pro. It has to happen sometime, and you don’t have to have a degree to know that.

1999 U.S. OPEN

* What: 99th U.S. Open golf championship.

* When: Today through Sunday.

* Where: Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, No. 2 Course, Pinehurst, N.C.

* Defending champion: Lee Janzen.

INSIDE

BE VERY CAREFUL: This is the first U.S. Open at Pinehurst, and the tricky No. 2 course could make for conservative play. Page 3

STRANGE OUTLOOK: Curtis Strange’s 10-year exemption as a past champion runs out afterthis year, but he is confident he will return. Page 3

OPEN CHALLENGE: Defending champion Lee Janzen believes the difficult courses for the U.S. Open make him rise to the occasion. Page 5

COOTS GETTING OLD: Chasing coots off golf courses is a very difficult task but a necessary evil since these birds can hamper play. Page 7

THE PRO CHOICE: Tiger Woods had conquered all the amateur events, some more than once, so it was an easy choice for him to turn professional. Page 8