Three for the road

An island green sinks Renner

Oh, the penal nature of those island-green par 3s. You no doubt know some of the gory details involving the most famous one of all - the 17th at TPC Sawgrass's Stadium Course. But this week's tale of heartache originates from the 15th at Lantana GC in Texas, where Jim Renner's PGA Tour Qualifying School hopes were dashed, despite a shot over which he has no regrets.

"I kind of struck what I thought was a good shot. Another foot and it would have been perfect," said the pride of Plainville.

But instead of being perfect, Renner's tee shot carried a bit too far, bounced off a firm green, and went into the water. In the briefest of time, Renner went from a shot inside the cut to two on the outside and when he finished off that fourth round with three consecutive pars for a 71 -290, he had lost out on a chance to earn a trip to the final stage of Q School. Disheartening, for sure, especially in light of the way Renner had battled back.

Having opened his second-stage attempt 76-74, Renner was well off the pace before coming in with a third-round 69 to give himself a chance. For his final round, Renner knew he had to play near flawless golf - and for 14 holes he did just that, four birdies and 10 pars putting him at 1 under on a day when even par would advance. He stood at the 15th tee and knew the dynamics of the hole, that his 9-iron was the right club to a hole 163 yards away. The green has two tiers and when he watched his tee shot land onto the putting surface, you would think the toughest part of the journey was over, but no. Not with such a firm green. The ball hit hard, went long, splashed, and led to a triple bogey.

"I hit the shot I wanted," said Renner. "I'm upset at the result, but not in my execution or decision-making. I made good decisions all day. I guess it just wasn't my time."

Double trouble

Another par 3 late in the round, this one at Eagle Trace GC in Coral Springs, Fla., sunk the hopes of former New England PGA star Mike San Filippo at the final stage of Champions Tour Q School. Having walked off the 16th green at 3 under and tied for third in the last round, San Filippo was in solid position, considering the top five earn full-exempt status for 2009. But at the 71st hole, the par-3 17th, San Filippo made double bogey and wound up one shot out of a playoff for the final two berths. San Filippo finished seventh and he'll have alternate status next year . . . Locals Kirk Hanefeld (T-11), Andy Morse (T-26), and Rick Karbowski (T-30) also fell short at the final stage of Champions Tour qualifying and will be looking at Monday qualifiers for 2009 . . . The Q School comeback of the week was authored by four-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay at Lantana. Sitting 6 over through 54 holes, he needed to shoot a final-round 66 to make it through. He put up a blistering 65 and is headed to the final stage.

Smaller isn't better

Tweaking the FedEx Cup points list so it will be impossible to win the $10 million title before the Tour Championship? Give PGA Tour officials some credit, because it was a letdown in 2007 (thanks to Tiger Woods) and 2008 (thanks to Vijay Singh) when the Tour Championship proved anticlimactic. But commissioner Tim Finchem and colleagues have got to get over this fascination with small fields, because they're not doing justice to sponsors or fans. Reducing the field from 144 to 125 at The Barclays is OK, but now the Deutsche Bank Championship has been reduced to 100 players. "I think we maintained the character of our event," said Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, although he would have preferred the field to remain at 125 - and for good reason. It helps you create a full show when you have a lot of players and as much as Finchem talks about the "specialness" of playoff fields, all he is doing is giving certain players what they have asked for. In these days of economic woes, how about giving sponsors and fans more value - not less - for their dollar?

Bird hunting

Following a day or two to digest the Thanksgiving turkey, a long list of golfers will venture into the California desert in search of more birds - the profitable kind, not the edible ones. The annual final stage of the PGA Tour's Qualifying Tournament will commence Wednesday and 163 golfers are currently entered, including a foursome of locals who made it through earlier stages - Geoff Sisk of Marshfield, Kevin Johnson of Pembroke, former URI standout Michael Sims, and Rodney Butcher of Rhode Island. In addition, James Driscoll of Brookline and Patrick Sheehan of Providence have elected to tee it up, taking advantage of an exemption given to players who finish between 126 and 150 on the PGA Tour money list. Driscoll and Sheehan have limited playing status for next season by virtue of where they wound up on the money list (141st and 128th, respectively) and would improve it should they finish top 25 at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif. Of the 25 players who finished 126-150, 15 have elected to take on the six-day, 108-hole challenge, including Frank Lickliter for a second straight year. He was 139th on the money list a year ago, went to Q School and took medalist honors, but he's back again this season after finishing 149th on the money list . . . Some who finished in the 126-150 group are bypassing Q School because they have career money status (David Toms, Bob Tway, Tom Lehman, Chris DiMarco), or exemptions for 2007 victories (Mark Calcavecchia), or a desire just to roll the dice. "I just have no desire to do it," said Rich Beem, who finished 140th on the money list and originally sent in his entry fee, only to have second thoughts. "To me, it didn't make any sense to go out there for [six] days and beat my head against the wall. No thanks. I've gotten to know a lot of the tournament sponsors. I've gotten to meet a lot of people through the pro-ams over the years. I'll use that as my avenue to get into events." . . . Beem can take comfort in knowing that Steve Allan, No. 141 on last year's money list, got into 21 tournaments and Billy Andrade, No. 150, got into 24.

Schools in session

At the same time the men are playing in La Quinta, the women will be in Daytona Beach, Fla., for the final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying and the field will include a host of locals - Alison Walshe of Westford, Carri Wood of South Dennis, Briana Vega and Jaclyn Sweeney of Andover, Anna Grzebien of Narragansett, R.I., and Liz Janangelo of West Hartford, Conn. Of course, the most popular story line will surround Michelle Wie, the 19-year-old who is making her first bid for LPGA Tour membership after having dominated the spotlight via sponsor's exemptions the previous four years. Wie had a chance to tune up in the Callaway Invitational at Pebble Beach, but she declined a spot. Seven women did enter, including Vicky Hurst, the 18-year-old who dominated the 2008 Futures Tour season, but in the end it was an old story at the top - 49-year-old Tommy Armour III successfully defended his title . . . Rob Oppenheim of Andover, who recently fell short in his PGA Tour Q School bid, finished tied for 10th in the Callaway Invitational, shooting 73-70-72-68 . . . With his Q School hopes over, Renner will focus on the Hooters Tour Winter Series, where he'll have plenty of New England company. Michael Welch of North Quincy has finished top 10 in two of his three starts, Oppenheim has been no worse than joint 15th in his three tournaments, and the fields have also included former Hopkinton High star Keegan Bradley, George Zolotas of Peabody, Jesse Smith of Dover, N.H., and Shawn Warren of Windham, Maine.

Unceremonious finish

You have to wonder about the people calling the shots at the LPGA Tour. At a time of year when most of our country's sports focus is on football, the ADT Championship in West Palm Beach, Fla., was getting some decent attention for one reason - it was billed as Annika Sorenstam's farewell on the LPGA Tour. So what happens? She missed the cut, then was asked to take a drug test. What an organization . . . Folks in the real world don't enjoy comfortable pay hikes in these staggering times, but here's proof the PGA Tour isn't the real world. Bill Haas earned $967,443 to finish 104th on the money list in 2007 and, sure enough, he finished in that same spot in 2008 - only he had to make $1,000,939 to do so. Imagine, a raise of $33,496 just to stay level. It was tougher for Joe Durant, who was 129th a year ago when he earned $723,599, but to finish in that same position this season he had to make $802,568, a jump of $78,969.

Cup runneth over

Fairway news: Nick Faldo says he would love to have another shot at the Ryder Cup captaincy.

Clubhouse view: Europeans would love to see it, too - so long as it was leading the United States.

Very presidential

Five key members of the Ryder Cup-winning US team were unable to make the recent White House visit but, fortunately, Boo Weekley was not one of them. What did the man from the Florida Panhandle think of his host, President Bush? "He's common folks, just like we are," said Weekley. "He's just like my daddy, I think. I met his daddy before, a couple times. Like his daddy told me at the Ryder Cup, he said, 'Son, you act just like my son.' I said, 'Yes, sir, I probably do. I don't know that for a fact, but I probably do.' " Phil Mickelson, Kenny Perry, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, and Steve Stricker were not in attendance . . . Think Davis Love enjoyed the PGA Tour's fall finish? He played in six of the final seven tournaments, won once, placed top 15 in three others, and earned $1,317,689. In his first 16 tournaments of the year, Love earned just $377,548 . . . But perhaps the most bizarre 2008 season belonged to Steve Lowery. On the surface it sounded pretty good - 25 tournaments, $1,524,275 earned. However, Lowery placed joint 20th in the first tournament of the year, won at Pebble Beach the next week, and had $1,139,572 by early February. He earned $384,703 over his next 23 tournaments. In all, he missed the cut in nearly half (12) his starts.

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