TOUR Insider: Imada can relax with card secured for 2011

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Prior to his T6 at the Frys.com, Imada hadn't finished in the top 10 since March.

Ryuji Imada can play this week with a little less tension. He won't need to be watching the scoreboards around the TPC Summerlin course. He can relax and concentrate on playing golf. It's amazing what a timely top-10 finish can do for a guy.

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A week ago the University of Georgia All-American was worried about his status for 2011. He was inside the bubble, but not far ahead enough to permit him to take it easy. Then he turned in his best performance of the season, a tie for sixth at the Frys.com Open. That was good enough to boost him up to No. 101 on the money list and give him some peace of mind.

So at this week's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open, Imada can decompress a little and simply play golf. It's a good feeling, too, since he had already made a commitment to play in Japan and China and wasn't going to play at the final Fall Series event next week in Orlando.

"I was on the verge of losing my card and needed a good week to secure my card," Imada said. "So It was a big, big thing for me. It's nice to not have so much pressure on myself like I've had for the last few weeks."

Imada was even in contention at the Frys.com Open. He had rounds of 65, 67 and 69, but closed with a 73 and dropped into sixth place.

"I had a chance to win on Sunday," he said. "I'll take that and hope I can do a little better next time."

Imada began the season with a bang. He tied for ninth at the Farmers Insurance Classic at Torrey Pines, tied for 15th at the Northern Trust Open, tied for 14th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and tied for seventh at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

But Imada suffered a rib injury that caused him to miss four weeks of competition. Furthermore, it robbed him of valuable practice time. His results began to diminish and he soon began missing the cut.

"I wasn't able to practice as much and I lost confidence in myself," he said. "When you do that your mind isn't going to let you trust your swing."

Starting with the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial -- the week after Imada was one shot off the lead at THE PLAYERS Championship after two rounds -- he missed the cut in eight of 10 events. He missed the cut in the first two events of the Fall Series and decided to go home to Tampa and see his longtime instructor, Richard Abele. He noticed that Imada's head was coming back on the swing, causing his shots to lose their accuracy. So they focused on getting that corrected.

From there it was just a matter of improved putting. Imada reveled in the fact that he would going to the West Coast and would be able to play on bentgrass greens. "It's strange, I've been living in Florida for 20 years and I've never liked Bermuda greens," he said. Imada said the bentgrass greens fit his stroke better and that he's more confident on them, perhaps because he can read them better or get the ball started on line. "Maybe it's between the ears," he said.

Imada gets another shot at bentgrass greens this week in Las Vegas, although the venue isn't one that's given him great opportunities. His best chance came in 2006, when he was disqualified for missing his tee time after opening with a pair of 68s. The tournament schedule that year was thrown off kilter that week because of rain and Imada left for the course on Saturday with plenty of time to spare, only to be delayed while retrieving his car from the valet and being stuck in a traffic jam on the flooded freeway. By the time he could make an exit and go around the trouble, he was 5 minutes and 40 seconds late to the tee.

"I like the golf course," he said. "It's not a long-hitter's course. You have to be able to hit your wedges and putting, which is pretty much my strong points." Imada ranks 33rd in putting on the PGA TOUR.

In retrospect, he would like to have been able to take additional time off to heal after his injury this spring. But he didn't want to risk getting too far behind the curve when it came to keeping his exemption.

"I came back way too soon, but I had no choice," he said. "If my card had been locked up for next year, I could have taken more time, but I was thinking about next year and the money list and what I was going to do."

Now there's nothing to worry about. His status is secure for another year. And that means he won't need to be a long-distance scoreboard watcher when he heads for Asia next week.