Come What May

Bob May has a back so badly strained that he hasn’t played golf in more than two weeks. The two bulging disks doctors diagnosed a year and a half ago flared up again and his back hurts so much he should probably rest it at least another month.

Still, May is playing this week at PGA West. He’s not doing it for the money -- this isn’t some made-for-television special event where even the last-place finishers walk away with fat paydays -- he’s doing it because he has to. This is the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament -- otherwise known as Q-school.

It’s six rounds of pressure-packed golf where one bad shot could mean the difference between playing among the world’s best on the ritzy PGA Tour and toiling in relative obscurity on the Nationwide Tour. If May doesn’t play -- if he doesn’t finish among the top 35 -- he won’t have full-time status on the PGA Tour next year.

That’s right, the same guy who went shot for shot with Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship only two years ago is back in Q-school. The guy who shares the PGA Championship scoring record with Woods after the two finished regulation in the 2000 PGA tied at 18-under-par 270 has to earn his way back to the PGA Tour.

Woods beat May by one stroke in a three-hole playoff that hot day in August 2000 at Valhalla Country Club in Louisville, Ky. One stroke separated May and one of the greatest players ever. One stroke kept him from a major championship and the automatic five-year PGA Tour exemption that comes with it.

Now he’s back in Q-school, playing 108 holes over six days trying to earn back the opportunity to compete with the world’s best. Such is the fickle nature of golf.

“I never thought I would have to come back here,” said May, 34, who overcame his back problems Wednesday and is tied for eighth after a first-round, four-under 68. “Not at the time of the PGA. But that’s golf.”

Q-school will be played over the Jack Nicklaus Tournament and TPC Stadium courses at PGA West. The final round will be Monday, after which they will hand out PGA Tour cards. At Sherwood Country Club 150 miles away, the biggest PGA Tour stars are playing for a $1-million first prize and a guaranteed $130,000 in the Target World Challenge. Here at Q-school, 171 players ranging from former U.S. Amateur champions to former NCAA champions to former PGA Tour winners are playing for their careers.

There are always young, unknown hotshots among the players scrambling to make the big tour, but this year there are a surprising number of accomplished players such as May trying to earn back their cards. Steve Pate, Scott Simpson and Bill Glasson are among a group of 19 former PGA Tour winners in the field who have combined for 51 tour victories. There are 59 former Buy.com Tour winners in the field.

Pate is a six-time PGA Tour winner and a member of two Ryder Cup teams, including one as recently as 1999. Simpson, winner of seven PGA Tour events since 1980, won the 1987 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club. Bill Glasson, another seven-time PGA Tour winner, and Ken Green, a member of the 1989 Ryder Cup team, also are in the field. Andy Miller and Matt Weibring, sons of former PGA Tour stars Johnny and D.A, are playing, as is Casey Martin, the man who made the golf cart famous.

All are gunning for another shot at glory.

“It’s incredible, the caliber of this field,” May said. “You’ve got young players coming out of college, superstars. It’s a wide variety of players, but it’s not like ‘who’s this guy or who’s that guy?’ The guys who get through this are gonna earn it.”

It’s difficult to tell a player who made $407,778 on the 2002 PGA Tour that he had a bad year, but that’s what happened to May. He finished 138th on the money list and lost his unconditional status. Only the top 125 retain full playing privileges.

There are other exemptions. May, for example, has conditional status because he finished among the top 150. That means he could get into about 20 events, but he wants more.

“[The PGA Tour] is where I want to play,” May said. “It’s the only thing I want to play on, but if I don’t make it, it’s not the end of my life. I’ve still got a great family, a beautiful wife and beautiful kids. But it’s a way of making a living for me. I wouldn’t want to do it any other way if I have my choice.”

May is hoping to survive six rounds. He first blew out his back during the 2001 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic here. He took 12 weeks off before returning to play and finished 94th on the money list. This year, playing through the pain, he didn’t fare quite as well. In 30 tournaments, he missed 13 cuts and had to withdraw twice. He didn’t have a top-10 finish.

Two weeks ago in a tournament in China, May felt as if his game was coming back. He finished fourth, a few strokes behind winner Colin Montgomerie. The following Monday, on the sixth hole of the pro-am for the same tournament, his back gave out again. He could barely walk and had doubts about playing in Q-school this week.

“With my back, I’m just happy to make it around and get back to the clubhouse without being brought back in a golf cart right now,” May said. “I don’t know if my back will last or not.

“At times I’m holding back, I’m afraid to rotate. I’m afraid it’s not going to last for six rounds, but I’ll get over it. I gotta get over it.”

After all, this is Q-school.