WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Bobby Jones famously said there are two types of golf – tournament golf and regular golf.
There is a third type: Monday-qualifying for PGA Tour events.
Birdies are necessary. Pars are not your friend. Bogeys are your mortal enemy. Go really low or go home.
“Monday qualifiers are really difficult unless you have the right frame of mind,” Erik Compton said Monday. “It’s a completely different mindset. You have to take aggressive lines and hit your shots.”
For the most part, Compton did exactly that, making eight birdies and a bogey to shoot 7-under 65 in the Honda Classic qualifier at Banyan Cay Golf & Resort. When he finished his round around noon local time, Compton was second behind a 63 fired by Marcelo Rozo of Colombia. Rozo, a member of the Korn Ferry Tour, shot a 29 on his front nine and managed the 63 despite making a double bogey on his back nine.
It would be at least seven hours before Compton learned if he would be one of four players to earn a spot in this week’s Honda Classic at PGA National.
It proved to be worth the wait. Rozo, Compton and Zach Zaback (65) advanced to the Honda Classic. The final spot went to Stephen Stallings, who won a playoff over Mickey DeMorat after they each shot 66s.
Of course, with what Compton has endured – he’s the only professional athlete to undergo two heart-replacement surgeries – what’s a seven-hour wait?
In 2008, the Miami native started calling his friends and loved ones to tell them goodbye when he was racing to the hospital for what would become his second heart transplant. His first one came when he was 12. He took up golf to rehabilitate from that surgery.
Having grown up in South Florida, the Honda Classic is one of Compton’s favorite PGA Tour events. That’s why he made the decision to enter Monday’s qualifier even though he’s in this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event in Louisiana.
“I played great today,” Compton said. “I’ve been playing well lately, hitting a lot of fairways and greens, so I figured why not give it a try? It feels great to earn my spot again.”
He Monday-qualified for the Honda Classic two years ago, the last of his 162 PGA Tour career starts. Compton finished fourth in the 2013 Honda Classic, a performance bettered by only his runner-up finish in the 2014 U.S. Open. That earned him a spot in his only Masters the following year.
It’s been a good stretch for the 41-year-old Compton. Last week he got re-married and he’s feeling good about his game.
“I’m having a little resurgence,” Compton said.
The Honda Classic’s qualifier has become one of the most difficult to get through because of the quality of the Honda field and the large number of PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour players who live in South Florida.
There were 16 former PGA Tour winners entered Monday, including the caddie (Albin Choi) of last year’s Honda Classic champion, Sungjae Im.
“Maybe I ought to take the (aggressive) strategy into more events,” he said. “When I’m playing well, maybe I am a little too conservative.”
