Ryan Gildersleeve played for Clearwater High in the spring of 1999, the year he graduated.
Next year, he will be competing on the professional Nationwide Tour. In between, he played four seasons at the University of South Alabama where he received NCAA All-America honorable-mention honors this spring.
Gildersleeve played his way into the grueling six-round PGA Tour Qualifying finals, which concluded Monday in Winter Garden.
Of 171 competitors in the field, the top 30 and ties receive PGA Tour cards for 2004 and the next 50 are exempt on the Nationwide Tour. The remainder, in order, are conditional on the Nationwide Tour.
With five rounds concluded, Gildersleeve, among the youngest in the field at 22, realized that with a 376 he wasn't in a position to secure full-exempt status on either tour. Nevertheless, he remained upbeat.
"I'll still get to play in 18 or 20 (Nationwide) tournaments next year," Gildersleeve said, referring to automatically earning conditional status. "I'll just have to sit by the phone and wait till I'm called.
"Overall, it's been a great experience for me this week," he said. "The courses (at Orange County National) played long with elevated greens, plus we had a lot of cold weather and strong winds. I missed a lot of fairways, and that hurt me."
Gildersleeve said his putting was good, in part because he was using a new Bobby Grace-designed putter given to him by Grace, a Clearwater-based club maker.
"I've learned a lot this week and got to play with some outstanding veteran players, such as Danny Briggs and Bradley Hughes, who were leading at the time," Gildersleeve said.
PGA Tour veteran Greg Kraft, a Clearwater resident, reached the finals. However, his score through 90 holes (370) appeared too high entering the final round to make the top 80 for exempt status on either tour.
NATIONAL CHAMPION: Kyle McCarthy of South Pasadena etched his name into the record book of the National Club Championship Tournament by defending his title against 130 contestants.
The three-time winner at Pasadena Yacht and Country Club won the tourney on the island of Maui in Hawaii last month. He carded a 75-74-149 on the 7,000-yard course at Mekena Resort to win by four strokes.
McCarthy recently posted a 9-under 63, including a bogey, to tie the course record at Pasadena. In October, he finished second by a shot in the 36-hole St. Petersburg City Championship at Mangrove Bay.
GEORGIA TECH: St. Petersburg's Mike Barbosa (Shorecrest/St. Stephen's Episcopal) had to go to the 19th hole in his competition at the Hooters Collegiate Match-Play Championship before defeating Oklahoma State's Zac Reynolds.
The win enabled Tech to finish third in the tournament at Barefoot Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Bradenton's Chan Wongluekiet won his match for the Yellow Jackets in their 3-2 victory.
Georgia Tech doesn't compete again until February when it travels to Hawaii for the Taylor Made Intercollegiate.
The Jackets placed 11th in this year's NCAA Championships, and Golfweek predicts they will finish 10th this spring. Clemson, UCLA and Florida are expected to take the top three spots.
LPGA TOUR: Michele Vinieratos (Pinellas Park High/Florida) earned non-exempt conditional status after shooting 291 for 72 holes in the qualifying tournament in Daytona Beach.
She is a two-time exempt player of the LPGA who has been competing mostly on the Futures Tour.
Brooksville's Kelly Lagedrost, who played collegiately at South Florida, shot 2-under 286 to miss full exemption by just one stroke. She recorded rounds of 71, 68, 74 and 73.
Lagedrost's rank near the top of the conditional status list should get her into many LPGA events throughout the 2004 season.
TWIN BROOKS: Jim Royall fired an even-par 54 to win the annual Turkey Shoot at the St. Petersburg course Nov. 26. Gary White took second with a 57.
In the women's division, Brenda Pace prevailed (64) over Patty Cortez (73). Dan Harrington won the net division by a stroke with a 57 over Tim McFadden. Cindy Lauber (64) defeated Gillian Barnes by six shots.
PRIORITIES: Sam Hall, an avid golfer and a major Pinellas developer from North Redington Beach, has temporarily put aside his planning for the annual Matthew Hall Memorial Tournament.
It still is scheduled for May 1 at East Bay Country Club. But Hall on Sunday flew to southern Iraq, where he will head up a staff of 1,045 workers involved in the construction and renovation of schools and hospitals. He will be working as a volunteer under the auspices of the Salvation Army.
Hall fought forest fires in southern California earlier this year. He has spent weeks at the sites of Hurricane Andrew and the World Trade Center and participated in the retrieval of Columbia Shuttle debris in Texas.
HOLE-IN-ONE: Sonny Marusic of Concord, Ohio, aced the third hole at The Tides on Dec. 4 using a sand wedge.
THURSDAY: Cove Cay will play host to the December match of the Pinellas County Men's Interclub at 12:30 p.m.
