Percy's TOUR card may be a tall feat, but this is a month for feats

text size

Dykes/Getty Images

Second place at the Shriners Hospitals came with a consolation prize for Cameron Percy -- a move into the top 150.

The only problem with Jonathan Byrd's amazing hole-in-one to win Sunday's PGA TOUR event in Las Vegas was that there were two other players standing on the 17th tee.

This isn't like a nearby craps table, where when one player wins, they all can win.

No, this was a stroke of genius for Byrd, but a big dose of heartache for Cameron Percy and defending champion Martin Laird to come oh-so-close to winning the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children's Open. (After Byrd's hole-in-one, they both hit their tee shots in the water.)

Especially for Percy, who entered the week ranked 185th on the PGA TOUR's money list. What happened in Vegas, quite simply, means that Percy stays out of the top 125 and a chance to have a two-year exemption had he won the playoff.

At least he got a consolation prize: The co-runner-up finish earned Percy $378,400 and moved him into No. 144 on the money list at $585,482. That enables him to advance directly to the final stage of q-school if he remains in the top 150 with one event left.

"Today helped me keep my job," Percy said. "I still needed to make another $200,000 or $300,000 just to keep my job."

Percy is almost $260,000 behind Briny Baird at No. 125, and undoubtedly will have to make more than that because others will also make money in the season's final event -- next week's Children's Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. At least Percy, a 36-year-old Australian playing his first season on the PGA TOUR, is assured of getting into the Disney field, thanks to Sunday's top-10 finish.

Percy wasn't beating himself up too hard for Sunday's near-miss. Hey, there's no defense in golf against a hole-in-one. And Percy did birdie the 72nd hole to get into the playoff.

No, he was bemoaning too many earlier mistakes -- on Sunday and throughout the year.

"I bogeyed a few holes, and during the year the last hole cost me almost $150,000, $200,000," he said. "They're the ones that hurt right now. Or even looking at just the ones this week, I three-putted from 15 feet twice. You two-putt a couple of them, and things are different."

Percy was trying to duplicate the out-of-nowhere feat last week by Rocco Mediate, who came into the Frys.com Open ranked 182nd on the money list with no top-10s, and left with the trophy, thanks to a hole-out eagle on the 71st hole. Like Rocco, Percy had no top-10s and little mojo heading into Las Vegas.

But things can change quickly on the PGA TOUR. All it takes is one good week -- or in Byrd's case, one fortunate swing -- to turn a season around quicker than a hiccup.

Percy knows his problem: He's 14th this season in greens in regulation and 174th in putting and 182nd in sand-save percentage.

"I hit the ball good enough," said Percy, who ranked eighth on the Nationwide Tour last year to earn his PGA TOUR card. "Just short game ... I don't make enough up-and-downs. I was on the front of (No.) 13 four days in a row, and I made one birdie. I drove (No.) 15 every day -- either in the bunker or on the edge of the green, and I parred it every day. I've just got to improve my short game."

Though he has to wait another week to try and keep his job, Percy can take some pleasant memories with him. Like when he birdied No. 18 Sunday -- with his job on the line -- and was congratulated by tournament host Timberlake for making the playoff.

"That 18th was fantastic with the amphitheater there," Percy said. "I didn't get put off by anyone. They were all quiet and respectful, so it was fantastic. Justin at the end there, he came up to me and that was fantastic. To be that young and to put on a PGA TOUR event and raise as much money as he does for charity, it's pretty cool to meet someone like that."

Percy just doesn't want it to end, though. And he certainly would like to avoid another trip to q-school. He can probably finish no worse than fourth at Disney to earn enough money. Long odds, to be sure, but no longer than an opponent closing you out of a playoff with a hole-in-one.

It's a familiar refrain in Las Vegas. The winners leave with smiles, and the losers quietly say, "Deal."