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Following A Dream: Eric Lawhon going to Q-school
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Published: August 4, 2008
The lure of the Champions Tour is sometimes too hard to resist.
Eric Lawhon, one of the top amateurs in Forsyth Country for the last several years, said he is ready to take the plunge.
Playing in what he hopes was his last Forsyth Invitational this past weekend, Lawhon will turn pro later this year and head to the Champions Tour Qualifying School. He will turn 50 in January and is hoping to play for pay for the second time in his career.
Lawhon, the 1998 Forsyth champion, has shed 35 pounds in preparation for giving it a go at qualifying school.
Lawhon was a pro in the early 1980s after finishing his college career. He played one season on the golf team at North Carolina before transferring to East Tennessee State, where he played three years. He was later a club pro for several years before getting his amateur status back in the mid-1990s. For the past 13 years he has worked at Modern Toyota with one of his good friends, Omnia Fowler.
"I'll be 50 in January and I've been working for Omnia and them at Modern Toyota and I've got their blessing," Lawhon said. "We'll just see what happens."
Fowler will be Lawhon's caddie when he attempts Q-school in Pensacola, Fla., in late October. If Lawhon makes it out of that stage he will be in the finals at the TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Gables, Fla. in November.
Several players from this area have tried the Champions Tour, with Walter Hall being the most successful. Hall, 61 and a former appliance salesman, has made nearly $7 million in his 12 years on tour and is still going strong.
Hall and Lawhon talked about what it takes to make it on tour last week at Winston Lake, when the Forsyth Invitational held its former champions cookout and captain's-choice tournament. To even get to play in qualifying school, a prospective player has to have a letter written on his behalf by a Champions Tour player.
Hall has agreed to help Lawhon out with a letter.
"Eric has got as good a chance as anybody and he's a really good player," said Hall, who was a six-time winner of the Forsyth during his stellar amateur career.
While Hall has been one of the biggest success stories on the Champions Tour, there have been others from around here who haven't fared as well. Arlis Pike and Tim Saylor both tried qualifying school but never made it to the Champions Tour, and Todd Brown is also trying to make it as a pro golfer, having turned pro in his late 40s.
"No, it's not easy," Lawhon said. "But it's something I've thought about for a while."
Lawhon said he has the backing of his family, but his father, Claude, who was one of the top amateurs in this area for a long time, is apprehensive. Claude was the 1988 Forsyth champion. The Lawhons are the only father-son duo to have ever won the 61-year-old Forsyth Invitational.
"My dad's scared," Lawhon said. "But if it doesn't work the worst that can happen is I go back to work at Modern Toyota, so it's not a pressure type of thing."
Fowler said that Lawhon will have a job if things don't work out, but Fowler said: "I'm confident he can do it so I don't think we'll ever have to cross that bridge."
Lawhon said that the key in qualifying school is to stay consistent and around even par.
"When I was talking to Walter, he said that he noticed at last year's Q-school if you can shoot around even par you can get in," Lawhon said. "And if you can get into the top 5 you are exempt until they do a reshuffle."
Lawhon said he doesn't have any sponsors and is doing this using his own money. To lose weight he has been eating better and exercising.
"Yeah, we've got him working out now," Fowler joked.
As for how many tries he might give to Champions Tour Q-school, Lawhon said: "I'm anticipating making it this year, so I don't know the answer to that question."
Daly coming to Sedgefield
John Daly, who makes headlines these days for missing cuts, will be taking his tired act to the Wyndham Championship later this month.
Mark Brazil, the tournament director, has worked hard to assemble a strong field with the likes of real golfers such as Vijay Singh, Rocco Mediate, David Toms and Davis Love III. But offering a sponsor's exemption to Daly, who is close to being the 700th ranked golfer in the world, might be a mistake. He's actually ranked 665th but who's counting.
Sure, Daly sells tickets but don't expect him to be around for the weekend. He might not even last until the second round because he has a tendency to withdraw when he's playing badly. He has withdrawn 13 times during the last two seasons.
In 14 tournaments this year he has made three cuts. At the British Open he shot an 89 in his second round.
The biggest headline he has made this season was the rift he had with Butch Harmon, who was his swing coach for about a month or so. Harmon didn't like the way that Daly was approaching the game of golf and Harmon decided to air his complaints to the press.
Daly doesn't have his PGA Tour card and is relying on sponsor's exemptions to get into tournaments.
Sedgefield is a layout that demands accuracy off the tee and Daly doesn't have much of that these days.
To be fair to Brazil, however, Daly did show up in years past when he was actually a factor on the PGA Tour.
"John is always a crowd favorite when he plays our tournament," Brazil said. "We welcome him back and wish him the best of luck."
Around the green
Jim and Brent Pridgen shot a 6 under 66 to finish second at the Carolinas Father-Son Championship last month at the Legacy Golf Links in Aberdeen. There were 300 teams in the tournament. Jim is from Jamestown and Brent lives in Winston-Salem. The Pridgens finished one shot behind the winners, Mack and Chris Estridge of Pinehurst. Also, Troy and Tyler Payne of Mount Airy shot 69 to finish in sixth place….
Winston-Salem's Logan Jackson and David Strawn of Charlotte will try to defend their title this week in the North Carolina Senior Four-Ball Championship at Benvenue Country Club near Rocky Mount. The two combined to shoot 24 under in the 54-hole tournament last year at Mimosa Hills in Morganton….
Josh Nichols of Kernersville won his age division in the High Point Junior Golf Championships at Oak Hollow. Nichols had a final-round 64 to set a tournament record and won the boys 16-18 championship flight at 72-64-136. His two-day total tied for the lowest in tournament history….
Tickets are on sale for this month's U.S. Amateur in Pinehurst. The tournament will be held Aug. 18-24. Tickets are $15 a day and available at the Pinehurst No. 2 pro shop. For more information call 800-795-4653 or go to www.shoppinehurst.com.
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
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