Qualifying School For Future Millionaires

Australia's James Nitties and American Glen Day share the inside track at 15-under par 201 while Brantford, Onario's David Hearn, thanks to a 7-under 65 on Friday, nudged a little closer and is tied for 36th place at 8-under 208.

Only the top 25 players and ties are invited to the weekly grab for cash where nearly every tournament offers a purse exceeding $5 million for the 70 or so survivors after 36 holes.

In 2008, of the 41 tournaments staged by the PGA TOUR, 26 of them provided a first prize purse of more than $1 million.

Of the 262 TOUR members who received at least one cheque this past season,
- - 104 players won $1 million or more;
- - 37 collected over $2 million each (Ames, 27th, $2,285,707 from 24 events);
- - 14 earned over $3 million apiece (Weir, 14th, $3,020,135 in 26 tournaments);
- - all the way up to top money winner Vijay Singh who took home $6,601,094 from the 23 events he entered.

Before Tiger Woods left the TOUR in June for surgery, rehabilitation and fatherhood, he managed to play in six tournaments, won three of them and added $5,775,000 to his bank account.

Now, if you want to know why 49-year-old Jim Rutledge of Victoria is still trying to get his card to play on golf's gold trail there are approximately $200 million worth of reasons, but mostly it's because he loves the competition and has learned to deal with disappointments . . . year, after year, after year.

PGA TOUR Qualifying School
Final Stage - - Round Three
La Quinta, CA
PGA West - JN - Nicklaus Tournament Course
PGA West - PW - TPC Stadium Course

TOP TEN

T1 - James Nitties -15 69 63 69 -- 201
T1 - Glen Day -15 70 67 64 -- 201
3 -Geoffrey Sisk -3 69 65 69 -- 203
T4 -Tyler Aldridge -12 68 66 70 -- 204
T4 - Bryce Molder -12 68 67 69 -- 204
T4 - Jay Williamson -12 67 68 69 -- 204
T4 - Troy Kelly -12 66 68 70 -- 204
T4 - James Oh -12 71 63 70 -- 204
T4 - Robert Garrigus -12 69 64 71 -- 204
T4 Derek Fathauer -12 70 69 65 -- 204

CANADIANS

T36 - David Hearn, Brantford, ON -8 73-70-65--208
T49 - Dustin Risdon, Strathmore, AB -7 71-70-68--209
T49 - Brennan Webb, Huntsville, ON -7 70-71-68--209
T65 - Bryan DeCorso, Guelph, ON -6 66-68-76--210
T85 - Jon Mills, Oshawa, ON -5 68-72-71---211
T119 -- Richard T. Lee, Arizona E 73-71-69--213
T132 - Jim Rutledge, Victoria, BC -2 70-70-74--214
T160 -- Kent Eger, Regina +7 71-75-77--223