It’s a Green Day at PGA Q-School

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Ken Green was smiling Monday afternoon, and for good reason.

In the final round of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament at PGA West, he shot four-under-par 68, climbed 28 spots in the standings into a tie for 26th, and earned back his playing privileges for the first time since 1996. The top 35 earned tour privileges for next season.

Green, 44, a member of the 1989 Ryder Cup team and the winner of five PGA Tour events from 1985-89, gradually fell into a deep depression through the early and mid-’90s. He described the last three years of his PGA Tour stint as “a state of hell” because of mood swings and his inability to make shots.

“I was full of fear,” Green said. “I was like a little puppy with its tail between its legs. I couldn’t pull the trigger on any shots. It was three years of total fear.”

Sleepless nights haunted Green from 1995-97. He went on eating binges, then wouldn’t eat at all. Sappy moments on television made him cry. He finally sought therapy after a failed relationship in 1997. Doctors diagnosed depression, wrote a prescription, and Green was a changed man.

“It’s a weird disease,” Green said. “I just assumed I was having a hard time battling life’s problems, but the doctor told me I better get on some medication or I was going to be in trouble.”

Green missed the cut in five 2001 PGA Tour events, made one in four tries this year and played a limited schedule on the Buy.com Tour. He was encouraged by his performance at Q-school, known for its gut-wrenching pressure over six grueling rounds. “How I got through this is amazing,” Green said. “I’m proud of myself.”

He wasn’t the only interesting story of the day.

Despite a final-round one-over 73, Jeff Brehaut finished at 16-under and was the tournament medalist. Woody Austin made birdies on his final three holes to make the cut by one stroke. Jason Caron holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole to sneak in by a shot.

Cameron Yancey, a 23-year-old from rural Virginia who has never taken a golf lesson, finished at eight-under-par and paced the 18th hole for nearly two hours before learning he made the cut. Yancey learned to play in Blackstone, Va., on a beat-up nine-hole golf course that used to be a cow pasture. He picked his Q-school caddie in the course parking lot -- because he was wearing a Virginia Tech hat.

Fan favorite Casey Martin started the day in good position at 10-under, but made double bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14, shot 77, and finished at five under. He will have a full exemption on the Nationwide Tour.

“It was a bad day,” Martin said. “This hurts, but it’s not the end of the world. I need to get better.”

Martin, who has a birth defect in his right leg and sued the PGA Tour for the privilege of riding a cart, said he had pain in his leg, but didn’t make excuses.

“It wasn’t feeling great, but that had nothing to do with how I played,” he said. “My leg was going downhill pretty quick about five or six years ago, but now it’s kind of leveled off.”

Other notables who will be on the Nationwide tour next year are six-time PGA Tour winner Steve Pate, and Bob May, the runner-up to Tiger Woods in the 2000 PGA Championship. Scott Simpson, the 1987 U.S. Open champion, was even lower on the list and will have conditional status on the Nationwide Tour.

The biggest swings of the day were by Carl Pettersson and Barry Cheesman. Pettersson began the day tied for 64th, shot 66 in the final round, and earned a PGA Tour exemption. Cheesman was tied for 11th at the start of the day, shot a final-round 82, and fell to the Nationwide Tour.