Thursday, December 9, 2010

Ben Martin Leads the Long Haul That Is Q-School

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Ben MartinWINTER GARDEN, Fla. -- Now, on to the bonus rounds.

As if the rigors of competing for a job next year isn't sufficiently stressful, the PGA Tour's final stage of qualifying adds another two miles to a marathon, an extra month to the final semester and more potholes on an already bumpy road.

After four days and 72 holes of play of Qualifying School at Orange Country National -- a full tournament week by anybody's measuring stick -- the finish line remains two rounds and 36 holes into the distance.

"Your brain is definitely fried," Jeff Quinney said. "We've got two rounds to go. It's amazing we've still got that much golf to play."

Yes it is.

Pretty much anywhere else in golf, Ben Martin would be in full celebration right now. The 2009 U.S. Amateur runner-up from Clemson University shot a fourth-round 69 Saturday to finish 72 holes 16-under and one shot clear of the field. Except this week isn't normal golf. It's the process that qualifies only the top 25 players (and ties) from an original field of 166.

So the beat goes on.

"Playing the fourth round today felt like it should be the last day," Martin said. "All day I was trying to think of it as the second round because there's two more to go. There's not many tournaments like this.

"So I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing -- hitting it solid, rolling it good. It's just another golf tournament. At least that's got to be my mindset."

Martin, of course, knows that's not really true because after 72 holes, 36 more still remain.

 

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Source: http://golf.fanhouse.com/2010/12/04/ben-martin-leads-the-long-haul-that-is-q-school/

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