Canadian Press golf writer Doug Ferguson sets up the Chrysler Championship that begins today at Innisbrook in Florida, a mostly forgettable affair except that it incongruously generates some of the most intense pressure of the entire PGA Tour season. It’s the final full-field PGA Tour event of the year and, thus, is the last chance for Tour players to earn enough money to achieve full exempt status for next year’s PGA Tour events:

This week is mostly about money. The Chrysler Championship is . . . a time for players to pay more attention to dollars and cents than birdies and bogeys. The bottom 120 spots on the money list will be determined, with significant stops down the ladder at No. 30 (Tour Championship), No. 40 (Masters invitation), No. 125 (full status next year) and No. 150 (conditional status).

The top 125 can participate in any PGA Tour event that they choose. Conditional status players — those Tour players who finish between No. 126 and No. 150 — comes in behind those players who earn their PGA Tour cards through the PGA Qualifying School Tournament or the Nationwide Tour. Although not as secure as fully exempt status, most conditional status players can at least get into enough events to have a shot at earning enough to get into the top 125. However, if a player finishes outside the top 150, then it’s either back to the second stage of Q-school, spend the following year playing in a lot of pro-ams and begging for sponsor exemptions into tournaments, or trying to eke out a living on the Nationwide Tour.
There is also competition this week to finish in the the top 40 (to qualify for The Masters) and the top 30 (to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship tournament), but the competition for those spots is between successful players trying to become a bit more successful. On the other hand, the competition to land in either the top 125 or the top 150 is more compelling because it often involves players who are literally fighting for their livelihood. Ferguson passes along the experience of Tour veteran Paul Azinger from a couple of years ago:

In his 25 years on the PGA Tour, money and prestige are the only things that ever made Paul Azinger choke.[. . .]
Two years ago, he was No. 123 on the money list and seemingly in good shape until a bogey on his 17th hole and a three-putt bogey on his final hole that caused him to miss the cut by one shot. He screamed in disgust as he walked off the course, and the real agony set in two days later when he wound up at No. 126.

Zinger is on the brink again this season, just $22,000 ahead of the 125th player on the money list. Longtime Tour players John Cook and Mark Calcavecchia are two of the players just below the 125th place on the money list and will be among those grinding away at the tournament.