There are pros and cons to how you get there

Similar goals, different routes. That's one way of looking at a pro golf landscape that lends itself to such variety, because if there's one thing that's been proven time and again, it's that there is no blueprint for success.

There is the conventional method that Alison Walshe of Westford has traveled and there's the less-than-traditional one Jaclyn Sweeney of Andover has chosen. The fact that both roads will lead the women to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying Dec. 3-7 is a sure indicator that career moves in pro golf aren't as simple as hitting MapQuest.

Though always determined to pursue the pro life, Walshe, 23, maintained her commitment to amateur golf, and to that degree she's currently in Australia representing the United States in the World Team Amateur. Several times in her travels from Boston College to Tulane to the University of Arizona, Walshe got an inkling of what the next step was like, but never was she tempted to jump in before she had exhausted all her collegiate eligibility and experienced as much of the amateur stage as possible.

"Leaving college was never a thought," she said in July at the US Women's Open, where she finished tied for 31st. It was a sign that she could compete in the play-for-pay world, but the Curtis Cup had been such a thrill back in May, Walshe was determined to hang in there for the North & South Women's Amateur, the US Women's Amateur, and the World Team Amateur. But when she takes her last swing in Adelaide this weekend, Walshe will turn her attention toward the final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying, satisfied that she fulfilled her amateur goals.

Sweeney is not prepared to make such a statement, but her vision has always been a bit more narrowed. Though she's only 19, Sweeney is as she has been for years - focused on pro golf. That's why the sophomore is prepared to leave Oklahoma State, should she get through the final stage.

"I don't think anyone who had earned the opportunity to get an LPGA Tour card would turn it down," said Sweeney, who was one of many young women who took advantage of the rule that allows players to go through the first stage of qualifying without losing their amateur status. However, the rule also dictates that if an amateur enters the final stage and makes it through, she forfeits her status and will be considered a pro.

Sweeney, who talked things over with her parents and OSU coach Laura Matthews before deciding to go through with it, is at peace with her bold move. She was motivated even further when she shot 7-under-par 281 to finish fourth in the first stage, and while she's back in Stillwater, Okla., taking classes, Sweeney is closing in on a dream that has burned within for years, one that led her to tell her parents when she was in the ninth grade that she wanted to leave Andover High School and enroll at the Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

"I really wanted to get to the next level, so I decided it was best to be at a place with the best practice facilities, the best teachers, and the best year-round chance to play golf," said Sweeney. "It was a great move, a great place." So, too, is Oklahoma State, but explaining her commitment to leaving early, Sweeney said, "You're ready when you're ready - and my parents go along with that."

To prep for her Daytona Beach test, Sweeney will also tee it up Nov. 4-7 at a Futures Tour qualifier, but she insists she's ready.

Her coach doesn't doubt it.

"I think Jackie has a good chance at making it through Q-School in December," said Matthews, who played for Canada in the World Team Amateur several years ago. "She has been on the fast track all along and she can do anything she sets her mind to. I wish her nothing but the best."

Given relief

He hadn't done better than a tie for 56th in his 11 previous tournaments, six of them missed cuts, so when James Driscoll opened with a birdie-less round of 76 at the Turning Stone Resort Championship last week, he really had his work cut out for him. When over the next 54 holes he made 13 birdies and an eagle to finish tied for 22d, well, the Brookline native gained a small measure of relief. "I needed that, because I hadn't done anything in a while," said Driscoll, after his best finish since a T-5 in May at TPC Sugarloaf outside of Atlanta. With $62,400, Driscoll pushed to 130th on the money list, but won't be teeing it up this week at the Valero Texas Open. "I'll play the last four in a row, but I didn't want to play six in a row. I thought I'd get worn out," said Driscoll, who has earned $639,726 this season, though it will probably take somewhere in the vicinity of $825,000 to finish within the top 125 and maintain full playing status. "I'm not even thinking about that," said the former two-time State Amateur winner, who will tee it up in Las Vegas, Arizona, then twice in Florida to close out a 2008 season that started with promise, but delivered midyear disappointment. Still, he's maintained his composure. "I got cold in the middle of the season, but I wasn't really playing bad," he said. "But when you're just a touch off out here, you're not going to get it done." . . . Kirk Hanefeld, the onetime New England PGA standout, is riding a wave into this week's Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Baltimore Country Club. He comes in having won last week's PGA Senior Club Pro Championship in Palm Springs, Calif., and while it doesn't count toward his Champions Tour status, "any time you get a chance to win, and you do, it feels good." Hanefeld earned $20,000 for his four-stroke triumph. On the Champions Tour, Hanefeld ranks 69th on the money list, with $166,482 and has pretty much resigned himself to another trip to Q-School. With only five fully-exempt spots available, Hanefeld will take his chances. "But if I don't get one of the five, I don't know what I'll do [next year]."

Schedule set

How do you squeeze 53 tournaments into a year that traditionally offers 52 weeks? You get creative. You declare that Nov. 6, 2008, is the start of your season and that Nov. 22, 2009, is the end. Hey, the Rules of Golf don't have any chapters about mandatory adherence to a calendar year. Of course, you then need to address the added financial implications, but no worries. You cozy up to people in those places where the money seems to be - Dubai, and other countries in Asia such as Qatar, China, India, and Malaysia. Mix, stir, and puree, and what you've got is the 2009 European Tour International schedule, which is so unique that two tournaments - the HSBC Champions in China and the UBS Hong Kong Open - are on there twice each. They will be tournaments 1 and 2 (Nov. 6-9; Nov. 13-16) to start things off, then they'll be played at the same time next year, leading into the Europe's version of the FedEx Cup finale, the Dubai World Championship (Nov. 19-22, 2009). All of this is to accommodate what is being called the Race for Dubai, with players accumulating points throughout the season to earn spots into the mega-rich tournament. The catch, of course, is that one has to meet the minimum requirement for European PGA Tour tournaments, which has been set at 12. On the surface, it sounds like a commitment, but it isn't. The four majors and three World Golf Championships count as European PGA Tour tournaments, so right there a player such as Phil Mickelson has seven. He routinely plays the Scottish Open and will be at the HSBC as defending champion, so now he's at nine. There are ample opportunities to add three more (Hong Kong twice, the HSBC next year, Abu Dhabi in early January, French Open in July), so it's easy to envision Mickelson joining others (Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Camilo Villegas) who've indicated they may pursue European Tour membership to get involved in the Race for Dubai. But if you're thinking the PGA Tour should worry, calm your fears. Remember, there are plenty of American players who consider it a grind to go from Maui to Oahu or Orlando to West Palm Beach, so it's hard to envision a mass exodus of players craving to head overseas.

Hall call

Thirty years ago, Joseph Iarrobino followed his calling and joined the Roman Catholic Benedictine Monastery, but it's what he accomplished before that that prompted his induction into the Boston College Varsity Club's Hall of Fame. He was Eddie Iarrobino when he played varsity golf at Boston College, a key member of the undefeated team that won the 1952 New England Golf Team Championship. The next year, Iarrobino served as captain and went undefeated in regular-season play. Iarrobino becomes the eighth Eagle golfer to be enshrined, joining Jack Harvey, Harry Ernst, Bob Crowley, Dick Kinchla, Leo Grace, Fordie Pitts, and Charlie Volpone. Brother Joseph Iarrobino is stationed at St. Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo, Calif. . . . When Jimmy Fund Golf officials held their final event of the season at The International in Bolton, they had a number of reasons to celebrate - 7.1 million, in fact. That's the record money raised through 160 tournaments, surpassing the $6.7 million raised in 2007.

Seven up

State Amateur champion John Hadges continued his dominance of the Southeastern Amateur by cruising to a 10-stroke triumph. Played at Easton CC, Hyannis Golf Course, and Cohasset Golf Club, Hadges finished at 3-under 208 to win for the seventh time . . . Penny Locke (Marshfield CC) and Laurajean McDonald (Charles River) combined to shoot 73, as did the Presidents GC entry of Christina Fitzpatrick and Marian Conroy, as the WGAM LaBonte Tournament ended in a tie at Captains GC in Brewster . . . Jay Driscoll of Milton and BC High shot 140 to squeeze out a one-stroke victory and help Trinity College win the ECAC Division 3 Championship in Farmington, Conn. The Bantams finished 10 strokes ahead of Nichols . . . UMass-Lowell finished fourth out of 13 teams at the Post University Invitational in Bloomfield, Conn. Anthony Gallardo led the River Hawks by shooting 71-76 to finish second . . . Princeton won the team title and got a medalist performance from Susannah Aboff (73-68) in the ECAC Division 1 Women's Championship in Williamsburg, Va. Freshman Eunice Kim tied for sixth to help Boston College finish third . . . Hayley Milbourn of Amherst shot 82-75 for medalist honors at the Middlebury Invitational. The hosts won the team title . . . Natalie Sheary of Wake Forest and West Hartford, Conn., shot 216 and shared medalist honors in the Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C. . . . At the Gateway Tour Championship in Iowa, Trevor Murphy of St. Johnsbury, Vt., closed with rounds of 67-69 to finish at 5-under 283 and get a share of 13th place. Justin Peters of Pembroke shot 291 to wind up T-40. In a tuneup to that tournament, Peters won a Minor League Golf Tour stop, shooting a sizzling 61 at The Florida Club in Stuart . . . Rounds of 79-75 left Austin Eaton of North Sutton, N.H., in 28th place but out of the match-play portion of the Crump Cup at Pine Valley in New Jersey.

In the elements

Like its American counterpart (the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am) that it is modeled after, the European PGA Tour's Dunhill Links is quite often a survival test and a test of one's frame of mind. Indeed, the weather is often the major story and that was the case over the weekend as golfers played three challenging venues - the Old Course at St. Andrews, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns - and rain gear and heavy cashmeres were very much in order. How windy was it at Carnoustie for Round 3? Consider that Darren Clarke said he hit a 9-iron 210 yards at about the same time Padraig Harrington was hitting a drive 195. The flavor of the event, like Pebble Beach, is supplied by the amateurs, and it was quite a collection, from ex-NFL star Marcus Allen and Don Felder of the Eagles, to heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko, former vice president Dan Quayle, and legendary skier Franz Klammer. Though he joked that he faced 30-minute gaps between putts, Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell expressed a spirit that makes the Dunhill Links arguably more popular with Europe's stars than Pebble Beach is with America's top names, who shamefully have not lent it the support it deserves. "I love it," said McDowell. "It would be the best event on the planet if it was played in July or August." . . . Miguel Angel Jimenez was 16 over and 14 holes into the third round at Carnoustie when he told officials he was withdrawing. Yet he played on for the sake of the team portion, though it didn't matter. He and Hugh Grant did not make the 54-hole cut . . . While his boss, Tiger Woods, remains sidelined, caddie Steve Williams is returning to golf - without a heavy bag strapped to his back. Williams will be part of the NBC coverage team for the Oct. 27-28 Kiwi Challenge in his native New Zealand, a competition that will feature Scott, Anthony Kim, Brandt Snedeker, and Hunter Mahan. NBC won't broadcast it until Nov. 15-16.

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