School of Hard Knocks

LA QUINTA, Calif. —  Cliff Kresge fell into the lake, and still made it.

Tim O’Neal finished bogey, triple-bogey and went from dreaming of playing with Tiger Woods to sitting in the clubhouse, heartbroken.

It was the final day of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament Monday on the Jack Nicklaus Tournament course at PGA West. Low 35 scores and ties earned full-time status on the big tour.

It was the last of six rounds, 108 holes of exhausting, exhilarating, unnerving, disturbing, discouraging, rewarding torture.

Stephen Allan, a 27-year-old Australian, won. His six-round, 32-under-par score of 400 gives Allan full exempt status on the PGA Tour.

But it wasn’t the story of the winner, so much as the stories of those guys down in the standings, the ones who sweated every shot for 108 holes.

Said Per-Ulrik Johansson, a Swedish veteran of the Ryder Cup and European Tour: “This feels as if I’ve been living in a combination of two movies, ‘The Truman Show’ and ‘Groundhog Day.’ There’s hardly any fans but you know it’s important. You play with the same guys and see the same scenery six straight days. It’s just weird.”

Johansson, who wore a pink shirt and a grimace, made it. Barely. He finished as one of six players tied for 31st place. That group, at 15 under, was the last to make the PGA Tour for next season. Johansson’s playing partner, Casey Martin, didn’t. Martin finished at 14 under, tied with seven others at one shot short.

In January, Martin will argue his case against the PGA Tour before the Supreme Court. He has sued for the right to ride a cart because he suffers from a debilitating vascular condition that is gradually robbing him of the use of one leg.

Martin knew that his case would have been immensely more compelling had he earned his tour card.

“But I think I’ll feel more pressure in January in front of those nine justices,” Martin said. “This isn’t the end of the world.”

It felt like the end of the world to O’Neal. He had begun the 17th hole Monday looking golden.

O’Neal was nine under for the round, 17 under for the tournament. If he could finish at 15 under, he’d be a PGA pro.

This was going to be a glorious day. O’Neal is not a golfing blueblood. He is an African American from Savannah, Ga. He played college golf at Jackson State in Mississippi under legendary coach Eddie Payton, Walter’s brother. Jackson State is not a golf factory. O’Neal, 27, has struggled along for three years, playing satellite tournaments.

About nine months ago, at a tournament in Richmond, Va., a man named Craig Crossley introduced himself. Crossley is a business manager for actor Will Smith. Smith, who recently played the role of a caddie in the Robert Redford-directed movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” was looking for a golfer to sponsor. O’Neal became that golfer.

“All of a sudden, I was flying out to Hollywood to meet Will Smith,” O’Neal said. “A kid from Savannah. I never dreamed this would happen.”

O’Neal had been to Q-school twice before. He’d never made the finals, so this alone was a triumph. Then he bogeyed No. 17. But when he walked to his final hole, he knew that even another bogey would most likely put him on the PGA Tour.

“I couldn’t help but be a little excited,” he said.

Too excited, maybe. His drive landed in the water. His next shot landed in the sand trap. His chip went over the green. His triple-bogey left him at 13 under.

A dozen people watched him finish. All hung their heads. O’Neal walked off with his head high, his eyes focused straight ahead.

Kresge knows how O’Neal feels. The 32-year-old from Apopka, Fla., had tried and failed nine times in the qualifying tournament. He has worked as a valet parker and on the help desk for a computer-services company. He has a wife, Tina; a 3-month-old son, Mason, and a strong belief in his golf game.

On the ninth green Monday, analyzing his putt, Kresge backed up, backed up, backed up . . . His last step was a doozy--right into the lake. Splish, splash, Kresge got a bath.

First, he prayed for the ground to open up and swallow him. Then he clambered out of the lake, changed into his rain pants and finished his round. He shot a 69, finishing in a tie for 21st, then grabbed Mason and Tina in a big hug. Kresge was suddenly a full-fledged player on the PGA Tour.

And already, he has a nickname.

“They were calling me Jacques Cousteau before I finished the 10th hole,” Kresge said. “And I don’t mind a bit.”

Then there was Chris Tidland of Stillwater, Okla., who finished tied with Kresge. Tidland played on something called the Zero Tour this year. The Zero Tour ran out of money and didn’t pay Tidland for his two tournament victories.

“They owe me $20,000 or so,” he said. “That’s like real money to guys like me.”

He’s pretty sure his PGA checks will clear.

The most unlikely qualifier might have been Emanuele Canonica. Canonica, of Pavia, Italy, is 5 feet 2 and ranked 27th on the European Tour this year. He babbled half in English, half in Italian. Translators of babble say Canonica is beside himself. In a good way.

There was a lot of babble as the day wore on. Every golfer seemed to have a cell phone.

“I made it, Dad,” one golfer said, crying, into his phone.

“I blew it, Dad,” another said, 10 feet away. “I just blew it.”

He was crying too.

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THE FACTS

Top 35 and ties qualify for PGA Tour cards. This year 36 players qualified for PGA Tour, the lowest number since 1981.

* Winner: Stephen Allan of Australia.

* Locals to qualify: Jason Gore of Valencia.

* Notables who missed qualifying: Casey Martin, golfer who has case pending in front of Supreme Court regarding his need to use a cart because of vascular disease in his leg; Robert Gamez, Brad Fabel.