Driscoll's swing shift is a Q School success

Granted, there were plenty of times during the year he wondered when things would turn around, but James Driscoll never lost faith. When his patience was rewarded, it wasn't in a PGA Tour tournament, as he would have hoped, but it was certainly at an opportune time.

The Brookline native last weekend strung together his best four days in a row in nearly 18 months -- ball striking and scoring-wise -- and breezed through the second stage of Q School. He's involved in this annual grind because his sophomore year on the PGA Tour didn't go as planned. In 29 tournaments, Driscoll made just 11 cuts and $219,904 to rank 187th. It was a season in which he brought some swing changes into play and "the PGA Tour is a tough place to be when you're working on things," said Driscoll, 29.

"I was optimistic about the things I was working on, but it was frustrating because I just wasn't getting the results. I'd have one good round, but two bad rounds. Still, I don't regret [making the changes], because I think it will pay off."

At Lake Jovita CC in Dade City, Fla., everything came together for Driscoll, particularly in the final round. He posted a sizzling 63, making one eagle and eight birdies. Shooting 18-under 270, Driscoll finished second as 22 players from that site moved on to the final stage, a six-round test that begins Wednesday in La Quinta, Calif.

"It was nice to see some results," said Driscoll, who had started 67-68-72 to take much of the pressure off. The low 19 and ties got through and he was well within the number through 54 holes. When he eagled the par-5 second in his final round -- a hole on which he made double bogey the day before -- "It got me on a roll and I just kept hitting it great."

He figures the last time he hit it that well was at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in May 2005, a tournament he lost in a playoff, easily his best PGA Tour performance.

There was a mixed bag of results for New Englanders at the second stage. On the positive side, Jason Caron of South Yarmouth made it back to the final stage by closing 67--274 to finish joint fifth in Dade City, and he was joined inside the number by onetime University of Rhode Island standout Michael Sims, whose stirring finish should come as no surprise to those who've been watching his talents for several years. Sims birdied four of the last 10 holes to post a 69--278 and make it on the number, tied for 16th. There also was good news out of Beaumont, Calif., where former New England PGA star Ron Philo was rock solid (69-72-72-70--283) to finish joint 13th and make it through. Philo was 6 over on the par 3s, 11 under on the par 4s and par 5s. In McKinney, Texas, Michael Capone of Cranston, R.I., used a second-round 66 to fuel his tie for 10th as he moved onto the final stage for the first time, too. Alas, the news was not so good elsewhere. At Dade City, Patrick Sheehan of Providence bogeyed his 72d hole to miss by one, while P.H. Horgan of Newport, R.I. (T-33), Fran Quinn of Holden (T-40), Jamie Neher of Weston (T-56), and Kevin Johnson of Pembroke (T-63) all fell short. The news was similar for Rob Oppenheim of Andover (T-37) in Panama City, Fla., his bid undone by a 77-75--293 finish as he missed by five. John "Jumbo" Elliott of Bristol, Conn. (T-45) and Pat Bates, the former Mass. Open winner from Manchester by the Sea (T-56), also missed the cut at Panama City, while Rhode Islander Brad Adamonis finished bogey-bogey-bogey to miss by two in McKinney . . . The final stage gets the spotlight and ends up with a nice ceremony, but the second stage is where the pressure is. Miss there and you have to really scramble for a place to play the next year, which is why a healthy list of PGA Tour veterans have some creative planning ahead of them. Tommy Armour 3d, Jim McGovern, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Len Mattiace, David Gossett, Neal Lancaster, Mike Sposa, Chris Smith, Greg Kraft, David Peoples, John Engler, Brian Henninger, Keith Clearwater, Todd Fischer, Sean Murphy, Jay Williamson, and Gabriel Hjerstedt failed to make it out of second stage, as did a couple of players -- Mike Hulbert and Bobby Clampett -- who seemingly are just trying to shake off the rust for a run at the Champions Tour, given that they are 48 and 46, respectively . . . Carlos Franco, the 41-year-old from Paraguay who is a four-time PGA Tour winner, handled the second stage. Having finished 154th on the money list ($454,385), thanks to missing the cut in 16 of 29 starts, including each of the last four, Franco shot 274 to secure a share of fifth in Dade City . . . You want contrasting ends to the Q School landscape? How about 55-year-old Mac O'Grady at one side, and 22-year-old Ty Tryon at the other? Eccentric and ambidextrous only begin to describe O'Grady, whose trip to Q School this time resulted in scores of 73 and 81 before he withdrew. As for Tryon, who was 17 when he made it through all three stages in 2001, only to fizzle out on the PGA Tour in 2002-03, the attempt at Dade City was never close; he made just eight birdies in four days and was dead last in the field of 78.

The Q School challenge is over on the Champions Tour and although Mike San Filippo, the onetime NEPGA standout, can chalk it up as a successful bid, it feels slightly different this time around. That's because all he gets for his trips of 71-73-71-73--288 that earned him a share of 14th place is a guaranteed spot in the Monday qualifiers in 2007. Playing privileges for the following season were not handed out to top finishers in the final stage of Q School, a plan that doesn't sit well with a lot of players, but apparently pleased the officials enough to give it a go. The Monday qualifiers in 2007 will feature a minimum of nine spots, up from the standard fare of four . . . Paul Parajeckas of Woburn (T-74) didn't make it through the final stage of Champions Tour Q School, nor did former major league pitcher Rick Rhoden (T-58) . . . Just a few weeks ago, Frank Dully was feted as the NEPGA Player of the Year. Last week, he added another exclamation point to his remarkable season by shooting 60 in a NEPGA Pro-Am at Sienna GC in Las Vegas. Dully, the head pro at Kernwood CC in Salem, birdied his first five holes, made 12 in all, and sprinkled in six pars . . . Jim Remy, the vice president and general manager of Okemo Valley GC in Ludlow, Vt., was officially voted vice president of the PGA of America during the group's annual meeting at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. He's served as secretary the past two years.

Fairway news: It is billed as "the most exclusive golf tournament of the year," by the PGA of America, a gathering of the season's four major champions.

Clubhouse view: The only thing is, two of those who played in the "Grand Slam of Golf" didn't win majors in 2006 and it was such an exclusive affair that Phil Mickelson turned back his invitation, so they let someone else in.

With the world rankings meaning more and more every year, who were some of the biggest losers and biggest winners in 2007? A sampling, based on where players were ranked at the start of 2006, where they are ranked now, and how much they moved:

10 who rose

Player	2006	2007	Chg
Johan Edfors	445	51	394
Steve Stricker	338	59	279
Brett Wetterich	294	42	252
Camilo Villegas	306	110	196
Robert Karlsson	217	31	186
Andrew Buckle	284	103	181
Shaun Micheel	216	58	158
J.J. Henry	184	62	122
Ben Curtis	187	70	117
Brett Quigley	152	56	96

Five who fell

Player	2006	2007	Chg
Craig Parry	61	180	119
John Daly	29	141	112
Justin Leonard	33	106	73
Brad Faxon	67	138	71
Mark Calcavecchia	62	127	65

Professional golf moved to the far reaches of the world last week. In Japan, Padraig Harrington was three shots down with six holes to play, a daunting task under ordinary circumstances, but given the fact Tiger Woods was the pace setter, it qualified as almost an impossible duty. So what happened? The impossible, that's what. Harrington pulled even down the stretch -- helped by Woods's three-putt bogey at the 16th -- closed with a 67, and edged the world's No. 1-ranked player with a birdie on the second playoff hole. It's just the second time in 16 official events Woods has been beaten in a playoff . . . The dramatics also came out of Sydney, where John Senden birdied the 72d hole to break a three-way tie and win the Australian Open. Geoff Ogilvy failed to birdie the par-5 18th and finished second, one back, and Stuart Appleby bogeyed it to finish third . . . At the Brazil Open, a familiar name finished tied for 10th -- Robert Ames, the caddie/brother of Stephen Ames. Robert has teamed with his brother to represent Trinidad and Tobago in the World Cup . . . Retief Goosen was a rarity: A world-class player without a swing coach. He no longer has that distinction, however. The two-time US Open champion was so frustrated by his play in 2006 he turned to Gregor Jamieson, a staff member at Lake Nona outside of Orlando, Fla., where Goosen has a home for those 60 days or so when he settles there. "We try to keep it simple at the moment," said Goosen. "It's more set-up, posture, and alignment." There were some immediate results -- a victory on the Asian Tour at the China Masters in October, then a fourth-place finish at the Tour Championship . . . Lynn Valentine of East Lyme, Conn., shot 76-68-72-73 and was tied for eighth at the final stage of Futures Tour qualifying, good enough to secure full-exempt status there next year. Well down the list, the name Flavia Van Winkle appeared, though the scores meant she missed the cut, 84-77-80. Wonder if her great-great uncle, Rip, was awake to watch . . . On the subject of worldwide golf, a toast to the lads from Mauritius, that island in the Western Indian Ocean of 1.2 million people, three 18-hole golf courses, and three nine-hole layouts. Seriously outmanned, they played in the World Team Amateur in South Africa, but at 198-over par, they finished 220 shots behind the winners, The Netherlands. While most teams entered three players (you take the best two scores each of your four days and add them), Mauritius brought two -- one who shot 346 (86.5 average), the other 428 (107 average) . . . Just to present further proof the sports world is near impossible to keep up with, the European PGA Tour's 2006 schedule shows one more event (the World Cup in Barbados Dec. 7-10), yet the 2007 European PGA Tour schedule has already begun. That's right, 2007 is here, so far as the European PGA Tour is concerned.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.