By TOM LaMARRE
The Sports Xchange
David Toms usually is in vacation mode this time of year, which means a little hunting and a lot of LSU football.
Slowed by injuries the last few years, Toms is batting to keep his PGA Tour card and will play this week in the Turning Stone Resort Championship and at least one other event during the PGA Tour's Fall Series.
"That would be an excuse," Toms said two weeks ago of the injuries. "Just the level of play hasn't been there this year. It's been a weird year. I've had a couple of nagging injuries, I've had other times where I've had a chance to play well and didn't.
"Just overall my golf game hasn't been in as good of shape, actually in the last two years, as it had been for a long time. Absolutely, this has been a lost year."
Toms is 19 spots inside the top 130 on the PGA Tour money list with $779,285 in 19 tournaments, but he must keep making money to ensure that he will finish in the top 125 and keep his card for next year.
Two weeks ago, he did himself a big favor by shooting 66 in the final round to finish in a tie for eighth in the Viking Classic, earning $97,200 to climb eight spots on the money list.
However, it was bittersweet because the tournament was played opposite the Ryder Cup. Toms played on the previous three U.S. teams that lost to Europe and hoped to be on the team that ended the streak of futility.
"Not very well," Toms answered when asked how he was dealing with missing out as the Americans reversed their fortunes with a 16 1/2-11 1/2 victory at Valhalla.
"I've played enough in that event to know what I'm missing and everything, and know those guys are having a good time. They're playing for their country and loving every single minute of their time being there."
A year ago, Toms seemed a pretty good bet to be on the American side for the 37th Ryder Dup, even though he didn't win on the PGA Tour in 2007 for the first time in five years.
However, he was the leading point-scorer in the U.S. victory over the International team in the Presidents Cup last September at Royal Montreal with a 4-0-1 record, and he had to be high on captain Paul Azinger's watch list for the Ryder Cup.
Then he tore a calf muscle in November and limped into 2008.
"I'm 41 years old," said Toms, who has won 12 times on the PGA Tour, including the 2001 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. "You accept that. I can't do the things I used to do. I'm not going to make excuses about how I've felt physically. Everyone out here has to put up with something.
"I played at a high level for a long time and it gets frustrating when it affects my golf game, but at the same time I think I've had a very successful career. I feel like I still have a lot of good golf to be played, as long as I can stay healthy and get my confidence back."
Toms has had a bigger physical issue since the 2006 U.S. Open, when he suffered a back injury trying to blast his ball out of the thick rough at Winged Foot. He made it through the round with a 79 but was forced to withdraw the next day.
The injury has nagged at him ever since, and it was so painful earlier this year that he had to withdraw from the Accenture Match Play Championship before his second-round match against Aaron Baddeley after he got past Zach Johnson on the first day, 2 and 1.
"I think it's a hereditary thing," said Toms, who won the Match Play title in 2005. "My father and grandfather have the same type of degenerative disk in their back, and from time to time it flares up.
"The problem is that I just never know. It might go out on me tomorrow. But there are some weeks when I don't feel it as much. I've gone into Sunday (this year) with some chances to get into contention and it hasn't happened, and I'm not going to blame it on anything."
Toms was among 13 former Ryder Cup players who were in the field at the Viking Classic but wished they were at Valhalla, guys like Chris DiMarco, J.J. Henry and Chris Riley.
There also were major champions such as Lee Janzen, John Daly, Rich Beem and Mark Calcavecchia, trying to climb back up the ladder.
"It's a little slap to the ego, but it's also the nature of the game," Fred Funk said while looking around at guys on the driving range who once were near the top of the game.
"It's such a fine line between being on the Ryder Cup team and being 120th on the money list. There's not much difference between being successful out here and being in Q-school."
Life doesn't exactly begin at 40 on the PGA Tour, but Toms has to take heart when he sees what guys like Vijay Singh, Kenny Perry and even Woody Austin have done after passing that number.
He's not ready for a slow march to the Champions Tour.
"My game feels pretty good," said Toms, who also will play in the Valero Texas Open next week and hopes that will be enough to keep his card. "Obviously, I'm kind of far down on all the lists that people look at, so I need to catch fire.
"I'm in a position where I need to play well. I need to play, first of all, and I need to play well to move up. All those factored into it. What I'm trying to do is have a little competition, come out here and do well, try to get under the gun and have a chance maybe on Sunday to see how I do, and try to build some confidence going into next year."
That's why his vacation can wait.
COMING UP
PGA TOUR: Turning Stone Resort Championship at Atunyote Golf Club in Verona, N.Y., Thursday through Sunday.
TV: Thursday through Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel.
LAST YEAR: Steve Flesch, who began the 2007 season with two victories in his PGA Tour career, collected his second in six weeks by two strokes over Michael Allen in the first event of the Fall Series. The 40-year-old Flesch started the final round with a four-shot lead and held on despite closing with a 1-over-par 73, closing the deal for the third consecutive time when he was ahead after 54 holes. The 48-year-old Allen, who has been to PGA Tour qualifying school 13 times, made it close by finishing with a 68.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Baltimore Country Club in Timonium, Md., Oct. 9-12.
TV: Thursday and Friday, 1:30-4 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 4-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel.
LAST YEAR: Loren Roberts made birdies on four consecutive holes while shooting 5-under-par 30 on the front nine in the final round and coasted to a six-stroke victory over Tom Watson. Roberts, who claimed his second victory of the season and the seventh of his Champions Tour career en route to winning the season-long Charles Schwab Cup, closed with a 3-under-par 67 and claimed his third major title since joining the senior circuit in 2005.
LPGA TOUR: Samsung World Championship at Half Moon Bay Golf Links in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Thursday through Sunday.
TV: Thursday and Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. EDT on NBC and Sunday, 4-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.
LAST YEAR: Lorena Ochoa posted four consecutive rounds in the 60s and claimed her seventh victory in a blockbuster season by four strokes over Mi Hyun Kim of South Korea at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif. Ochoa was tied for the lead with Suzann Pettersen of Norway through 54 holes before closing with a 6-under-par 66. Still tied for the lead with Jeong Jang of South Korea after nine holes on Sunday, Ochoa pulled away with birdies on the 10th, 14th and 15th holes.
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