This week's q-school at Bear Lakes can't top 2001 event

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Ty Tryon was just 17 when he earned his PGA TOUR card in q-school at Bear Lakes in 2001.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- David Duval, the former No. 1 player in the world, is here. So is former major champion Todd Hamilton.

Rising star Rickie Fowler is in the field, along with more than a dozen former PGA TOUR winners, at this week's final stage of the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament at Bear Lakes Country Club.

Still, when the first round begins Wednesday, the 170-player field will be hard-pressed to match the multiple, crazy story lines that emerged the last time the PGA TOUR held the final stage at Bear Lakes, in 2001.

That was the week we were introduced to a small-town golfer named Thomas "Boo" Weekley, who wore rain pants and tennis shoes, chewed tobacco, rubbed his belly on the tee for good luck and said things no professional golfer had ever said before. But he also birdied the final hole to clinch his card to leave golf's oblivion behind.

"My caddy told me after my final shot that that was a million-dollar swing," Weekley said. "I told him I didn't understand what he meant. He said, 'You will soon enough.' "

That was also the week when the lucky ones -- the top 35 and ties -- became the top 35 and Ty. We're referring to Ty Tryon, who at 17 became the youngest player in TOUR history to make it through q-school. And he did it in style, firing a final-round 66, just eight months after he became the youngest player to make a cut on the PGA TOUR in almost a half-century. Who knew that Tryon would last on the TOUR just two illness-filled seasons?

Speaking of child prodigies, also earning his card at Bear Lakes that week was Gary Nicklaus, whose famous father followed his son on every step of the two courses the elder Nicklaus had designed.

That was the week when future European Ryder Cup ace Luke Donald made his first mark on the PGA TOUR by qualifying. Ditto for Shaun Micheel, who two years later won the PGA Championship.

All told, nine future PGA TOUR winners emerged from that q-school class (Donald, Micheel, medalist Pat Perez, Bob Burns, Ben Crane, Tommy Armour III, Russ Cochran, Brett Wetterich and Phil Tataurangi.)

That means one-fourth of those graduates lifted a trophy. That's one of the best classes the PGA TOUR has produced since it has gone to its current three-stage q-school setup. Only three other q-school classes compare in terms of producing quality graduates in the last 25 years:

1986 -- Steve Jones, Steve Elkington, Rocco Mediate, Mark Brooks, Loren Roberts, Kenny Perry and Duffy Waldorf.

1987 -- John Huston, Scott Verplank, Billy Andrade, Armour, Steve Lowery, Tom Pernice Jr., Brooks, Roberts and Waldorf.

1998 -- Mike Weir, Rich Beem, Robert Allenby, Brian Gay, Carlos Franco and Rory Sabbatini.

But the story lines didn't end there at Bear Lakes in 2001. They seldom do at q-school, especially in those last few frantic hours.

There was Roland Thatcher, needing a par on his final hole to crack the top 35, who instead had one of those nightmare finishes. His drive landed in a fairway bunker, then he watched in horror as his approach shot flew the green, ricocheted off the cart path and landed on Bear Lakes' clubhouse roof.

Thatcher actually considered playing the ball off the roof, but ultimately had to drop into a pampas bush and made a triple bogey, which still earned him full-exempt status on the then-named Buy.com Tour. It took him two more years before he made it to the PGA TOUR, in 2004.

"Given the circumstances, having that happen on the final hole of q-school, I'm sure people will be telling stories about that for a while," Thatcher said. "I knew after that shot, I wasn't going to get my PGA TOUR card. But I didn't want to blow my Buy.com card."

Bud Still had to feel like he blew it, though. Still missed earning his PGA TOUR card by a shot -- the difference being a one-shot penalty he was assessed for inadvertently stepping on his ball near the 17th green.

Finally, the 2001 q-school also will be remembered for another player who failed to qualify: two-time Australian Open champion Aaron Baddeley. He looked to be a star-in-waiting, but the Australian left Bear Lakes without any status after finishing tied for 130th.

The TOUR's q-school finale also was held at Bear Lakes in 1995, but without the same fanfare. Carl Paulson was the medalist, with the graduates including future PGA TOUR winners Olin Browne, Kevin Sutherland, Cochran, Tim Herron, Paul Stankowski, Frank Lickliter II, Len Mattiace, Bart Bryant, Joel Edwards and Greg Kraft.

Those results seem boring to what happened at Bear Lakes in 2001. Then again, that was one crazy week eight years ago.