Hawaii – It only takes a few good weeks to change fortunes on the PGA Tour.
Cameron Beckman and Marc Turnesa were on their way back to Q-school until winning late last year, and now they are watching rainbows pour into the Pacific Ocean as they start a new season with the other PGA Tour winners at Kapalua.
Such swift turnarounds even apply to someone like Davis Love III.
Despite earning over $35 million in 23 years on the PGA Tour, he was on the cusp of having to use a one-time exemption from the career money list just to keep his card. Three weeks later, he won the final PGA Tour event of the season and became a lifetime member with his 20th victory.
“It’s nice to be 180 or 170 on the money list, and all of a sudden you’ve got a lifetime exemption,” the 44-year-old Love said. “That was pretty good.”
Only in the two months leading to his trip to Maui did he realize how good.
First came the phone calls to congratulate him, one from longtime friend and NBC Sports analyst Bob Murphy, another from Furman Bisher, the 90-year-old columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Then the tour sent him a scrapbook of messages from fans who had posted their congratulations on the Web site.
“It’s that thick,” Love said, holding his fingers 2 inches apart. “And it’s not one per page — it’s two or three. It’s incredible how many people acknowledge 20 wins. And that’s not counting my Web site or my office. It’s pretty amazing. I was just working hard to try to get another win, try to get in the Masters, not have to do 36-hole qualifying for the other majors.
“It was in the back of my mind, but not the front.”
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