THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008
SPORTS
7B
PGA
Little-known golfers steal spotlight
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cameron Beckman poses with the trophy after winning the final round of the Frys.com Open golf tournament on Sunday in Scottsdale, Az.
Bekman won on the second playoff hole against Kevin Sutherland.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PGA's finest sit out as underdogs see opportunity to seal spots on Tour
BY DOUG FERGUSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cameron Beckman was surprised to see his name attached to an online poll Tuesday morning, a pleasant reminder of how quickly fortunes can change on the PGA Tour this time of the year.
The tour's Web site posted this question: Which Fall Series winner was the biggest surprise?
"Forty percent were voting for me," Beckman said.
If only the tour had offered "all of the above" as an option. It might have been unanimous.
Really, there should be no surprises in the Fall Series because the players who might be expected to win aren't playing. Of the seven multiple winners on tour this year, none has teed it up in America since the Tour Championship.
That doesn't mean the Fall Series is a waste of time — certainly not to those scrambling to keep their jobs.
Sure, television ratings are abysmal (anywhere between 0.2 and 0.3), which is to be expected during football season. Then again, they weren't that much better a few years ago when these tournaments were the final stops on the way to the Tour Championship.
What's peculiar about this year are the guys winning.
Even so, the Fall Series is serving its purpose. Think of it as seven last chances to avoid Q-school. As for the golf? Two of the five events were decided in a playoff, and the other three were not decided until the 18th hole.
The inaugural Fall Series produced winners like Justin Leonard, Mike Weir, Chad Campbell, Stephen Ames and Steve Flesch, all of whom were past champions, if not major champions. Most
were looking to build confidence, or to finish the year with a victory so they could start the next year in Hawaii.
Now if Willie Mac can just remember to not give out his hotel room at the Ritz in Kapalua to a television audience.
This year smacks more of desperation.
"Nobody wants to go to tour school. It's horrible."
three of his last four holes to get into a playoff at the Viking Classic, where he outlasted Marc Turnesa. Goodbye, Q-school. Hello, Maui.
Among the
The others?
CAMERA BECKMAN
Fall Series winners, the highest-ranked player on the money list going into his victory was Zach Johnson at No. 125. He is exempt through 2012 because of his Masters victory, but Johnson had a sour taste about how his year had gone until winning the Valero Texas Open.
Will MacKenzie was no. 178 on the money list until he birdied
Dust in Johnson, a big-hitting rookie, was No. 128 on the money list when he birdied his last two holes to win at Turning Stone.
Turnesa got his payback in
Las Vegas. Losing the playoff at the Viking Classic helped move him up to No. 138 and get within range of a card. His clutch birdie on the 17th hole for a one-shot victory gave him a job for the next two years.
"That's what this is supposed to be — a chase for the card." Beckman said.
This year was among the worst of his 10 years on tour. He withdrew from consecutive tournaments with
He was 176th on the money list,
and No. 447 in the world ranking.
Beckman already had sent in his application for Q-school. It looked as though he would have to make it through two stages, and he talked to wife, Jennifer, about his plight before heading for Phoenix and the Frys.com Open.
Beckman at least had to get into the top 150 on the money list to avoid the second stage of Q-school. That's when he popped a bigger question to his wife.
"I said, 'Do you think I can win?' And she said, 'I know you can win.' We didn't talk about it anymore." Beckman said. "I went right to the tournament, and I won."
One minute he was gearing up for Q-school, the next minute his wife was on the phone making reservations at Kapalua.
"Nobody wants to go to tour school," Beckman said. "It's horrible."
At the turn of the decade, he had the longest active streak on tour by making it through Q-school three years in a row. He failed in 2005, then made it a fourth time a year later.
It served him well Sunday at Grayhawk as he could feel himself surge into contention with every birdie in his round of 63.
"I had this putt one year in the second stage of tour school where my hands were shaking so bad," Beckman said. "I kept telling myself, 'This isn't as bad as tour school.' That relaxed me, and I made the putt."
Beckman should know.
Winning might be about the only guarantee of a card during this ball Series.
Bob Tway tied for 11th to earn $102,500, and that only moved him up three spots to No. 132. Steve Allan was tied for the lead early in the final round and finished with a double bogey to tie for seventh. He made $150,625 and moved up eight spots to No. 131.
The top 125 keep their cards.
The way this Fall Series has gone, both are perfect candidates to win. And no one should be surprised if they do.
ees will be chosen in January from among those 15 and two senior nominees, Bob Hayes and Claude Humphrey.
Associated Press
BY ARNIE STAPLETON ASSOCIATED PRESS
The list of 133 nominees will be narrowed to 25 semifinalists next month, then to 15 finalists. Between four and seven induct-
This is Sharpe's first year of eligibility.
DENVER — George Karl and his staff are going back to their roots by both design and necessity.
He had little choice but to go back to the foundation of his teaching philosophies after management let Eduardo Najera and Marcus Camby leave in the off-season, stripping the Nuggets of their top two defenders.
Preaching defense when the Denver Nuggets gathered for training camp, Karl didn't even run an offensive set for the first few practices.
NBA
Renaldo Balkman and Chris Anderson, two high-energy players, arrived over the summer to help shift the focus in Denver toward defense when the Nuggets begin the sea-
round of the playoffs.
"If I can stop five people out there on the court myself then I'd be the best to ever play this basketball game."
Anthony is promising to put his offensive game on the back burner to help the Nuggets transform themselves into a team like the Spurs or Celtics, whose team defense has led to championships.
To change the team's culture, Karl is counting on a slew of new high-energy young players and a renewed commitment from his veterans, beginning with Carmelo Anthony, whom he trusts will bring with him the lessons he learned from the U.S. Olympic team that rode its tenacious defense to the gold medal in Beijing.
CARMELO ANTHONY
Nuggets forward
son Wednesday night in Utah.
Denver's never been known for its 'D' but that's what Karl is counting on to make the Nuggets competitive in the ever-improving West.
He spent the last two years trying to match the Phoenix Suns' up-tempo style, and while that made for an exciting product, it didn't get them past the first
"We're faster and quicker and deeper with athletes at every position than ever before since I've been here," said Karl, who has failed to get his team past the first round of the playoffs since his arrival midway through the 2004-05 season.
"We as a coaching staff feel that there's a lot of differences to this team, but there's a challenge to take the differences and make it better," Karl said. "And after kind of a unique summer of rebuilding the psyche and spirit of our team, I think we're in a very good place.
"I know I can score with the best of 'em." Anthony said. "But that's really not an issue for us right now. We've got to stop people."
A n d Anthonv said
all the stopping starts with him.
"You will see a different me," he promised.
Aleader. A stopper. A rebounder. Whatever it takes. Hustling back to the paint, funneling a player toward the help.
Anthony, who also has a national championship at Syracuse to his credit, still smarts when critics bring up his notoriously soft defense.
"If I can stop five people out there on the court myself then I'd be the best to ever play this basketball game," Anthony said.
He knows as the team's superstar, though, he sets the tone and is its lightning rod.
"I'm pretty sure you guys will see a different defensive team this year from the Denver Nuggets."
The Nuggets averaged 110 points last season, second most in the NBA, but they allowed 107, also second in the league.
NFL
League lists Pro Football Hall of Fame nominees
DENVER — Tight end Shannon Sharpe, coach Dan Reeves and five other former members of the Denver Broncos are among 133 people nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2009 class.
the list, released Tuesday, are safety SteAtwater, running back Terrell Davis, linebacker Tom Jackson, linebacker Karl Mecklenburg and cornerback Louis Wright.
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