Golf

Getting into Masters can be mind-boggling

The next two weeks on the PGA Tour are big ones for players not already in the Masters. The good news is, they still have a chance. The bad news is, trying to figure it out.

After last year's Masters, officials moved back the last qualifying criteria for the tournament until after next week's Players Championship. Anyone among the top 10 on the PGA Tour money list is in. That's the easy part. Anyone among the top 50 in the world through next week also is in. But good luck figuring out your chances in that category.

The World Golf Ranking is now almost universally accepted as a gauge. All four of the major championships use it in some form to determine their fields. It helps set up the World Golf Championship events.

But figuring out how it works has always been a struggle. Players earn ranking points based on the strength of fields of various events, with a two-year rollover process. So a successful event gets subtracted on the two-year anniversary of the event. That's why players routinely rise and fall in the rankings without playing.

"Trying to figure out the world rankings ... that's the only time I ever look at it is coming down to something like this," said Clearwater's John Huston, who is 39th and needs to stay within the top 50 through next week to qualify for the Masters. "I've played well and lost places, not played well and moved up. You don't know really what to expect. I guess a lot of it depends on what the guys behind you do, too."

It is a given that Tiger Woods is No. 1 in the world ranking. He has 16.7 points. Ernie Els is next with 9.42. That difference of some seven points is the same difference between Els and Loren Roberts, who is ranked 56th. Roberts is in the Masters because he finished among the top 40 on last year's money list.

But Jay Haas, 49, who is 55th, is not. He could use a surge, but isn't playing this week. Haas is 13th on the money list but sure to lose ground.

There are several other players on the bubble.

FURYK RELATES: Upon learning that David Duval was suffering from positional vertigo, Jim Furyk phoned his friend. He knows what Duval is dealing with. He had a similar bout of vertigo last spring.

"It's different for everyone," said Furyk, who had to withdraw from several tournaments last year.

"Everything just got blurry and it made me as dizzy as I could imagine to the point where I would sit up in bed and I literally just fell down. I got so sick and nauseous and I lost function of my balance from my inner ear. I didn't know what was up and down, I fell back in bed ... I had to roll over on my stomach and get out of bed that way. I couldn't sit up.

"It's more scary than anything because I had a dozen guys tell me that they had the same thing and not to worry. It scares you. It's uncomforting. You don't know what goes wrong. The more nervous, upset you get, the more tired you get and the easier the symptoms come on."

Furyk said he was prescribed a motion-sickness drug and also was put through drills by a doctor.

Duval complained of dizziness and shot a second-round 80 at Doral two weeks ago. He couldn't go home for several days, but is at the Bay Hill Invitational and plans to play.

AROUND GOLF: Els won the 1998 Bay Hill Invitational, the only international player to do so. ... The FUTURES Tour has increased to five the spots it will make available on the LPGA Tour to its top money winners beginning this year. Previously, the top three on the season-ending money list graduated to the LPGA Tour. The Nationwide Tour sends its top 20 from the money list to the PGA Tour. ... There have been six different winners in six Champions Tour events this year, with three first-time winners. There were only five first-time winners all of last season.

LOCALLY: Suzy Whaley, who last year qualified for this year's Greater Hartford Open when she won a PGA Tour sectional qualifier, is scheduled to play in a FUTURES Tour event at Rogers Park Golf Course April 4-6. The Next Generation FUTURES Classic will feature 144 players and will be preceded by a pro-am. For information on sponsorship opportunities or ticket information, call (727) 251-8317. ... Tampa native Woody Austin, the 1995 rookie of the year, tied for eighth at the Honda Classic, his best finish since a tie for eighth at the 2001 International. Austin has not missed a cut this season.

-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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