Golf: Geary an innocent victim of player resentment

Kiwi golfer Josh Geary. Photo / Getty Images

Josh Geary is spending many more hours than he wants driving a battered, rusting hulk of a car along the many byways and highways in the United States.

The New Zealand golfer is clocking up the miles in a 1998 Oldsmobile Alero in search of some action as he chases the Monday qualifiers on the second tier Nationwide Tour.

He may well enjoy the varied scenery along his personal route 66 but Geary is both frustrated and not a little peeved after an administrative oversight saw him land in north America in late March under the clear impression he had playing rights on the circuit.

Instead, the 24-year-old was galled to learn within a week of his arrival that the US$70,000 ($118,990) he won in the tour's two co-sanctioned events here in March, the New Zealand PGA Championship and New Zealand Open, counted for nothing.

PGA Tour officials in New Zealand at the time said Geary's performances, in which he tied for second and then finished fourth equal a week later, were more than good enough to earn him tour status when the player re-rankings were completed at the end of April.

But his name was conspicuously missing from the long list of tour players despite the fact his earnings from the two tournaments would have placed him as high as 14th on the revised moneylist.

Tour officials were apologetic when breaking the news to Geary, who had been led to believe he could hone his game for the remainder of the year on the flourishing Nationwide Tour.

The messy affair arose because Geary was not a tour member at the time he had the best two weeks of his professional career, in Christchurch and Queenstown.

As such, his efforts counted for nothing in terms of getting him regular tournament starts in the US.

Officials say a notice was posted for player perusal at the three Nationwide venues used in Australia and New Zealand, but Geary and others did not see it.

"They never told us and we never asked, so it's no one's fault, I guess," Geary said.

Geary is essentially a victim of player resentment. No one will say so officially, of course, but tour officials changed their player status rules in 2008 after American players voiced concern about the growing number of Australasians who have graduated on to the PGA Tour through their exploits at Nationwide level.

"I don't know why they would make it harder for us but I guess so many guys have come through that way and they don't like the fact they haven't had to play Q school in America," he said.

"But whatever you have done deserves to be rewarded in some way because you are playing against really good fields no matter what. I don't know why it is such a big problem."

Since the Nationwide Tour first ventured to Australasia in 2002, Australasians have won 32 Nationwide titles, 10 of them in co-sanctioned events held in this neck of the woods.

This year alone 22 Australians are plying their trade on the Nationwide merry-go-round with New Zealand's sole fulltime representative being Brad Iles.

Jeff Adams, the Nationwide Tour's director of communications, today explained the reasoning behind the amendment to the eligibility rules at the start of last season.

"Due to the unique co-sanctioning agreement and split fields in place, the PGA Tour policy board and Nationwide Tour membership felt the change was the most equitable arrangement."

The change means those wanting to play on the Nationwide Tour can do so only if they are former PGA Tour players, reach the final stage of the tour's annual qualifying school or through special temporary membership.

Geary has the latter, but it entitles him only to battle it out among fields of 100 and more for seven places available in any given week's tournament.

"It is a tough situation," he said of three failed Monday qualifying efforts, one of them at PGA Tour level in last week's Texas Open, when he double bogeyed the last hole to miss out on a tournament start by one stroke.

"It is pretty cut-throat. There are a whole heap of guys out of college, all the main tour players plus Nationwide guys. You basically have to shoot five to seven-under on strong golf courses to get through.

"If you miss out on the Monday you are in limbo for the rest of the week and you have no rhythm to your game," said Geary, who continues to train hard as he awaits a break.

"It is not easy but I am sure it will happen for me. I'm sure it's not far off, I just need to strike it hot on the right day.

"If I can pre-qualify and make a cut, a top-30 result would be enough to earn me a ranking."

Geary shares a house with fellow Bay of Plenty product Iles at St Simons Island, a golfing enclave in Georgia, and estimates he is spending close to US$1500 a week to cover his everyday expenses at present.

Until he can get a start and make a cut there is no income source to help meet those costs, so he is very conscious of his outgoings.

Such as filling up his beloved Oldsmobile Alero.

- NZPA