SUNRISE, Fla. -- Barrett Jarosch wants to snap a club over his head, then toast a summer well spent, then snap another club over his head.
Part of him wants to celebrate after graduating from the Canadian Tour to the U.S. Nationwide Tour, but the other part can't stop beating himself up over fumbling away a chance to make the PGA.
"I'm at a loss for words even trying to explain it to myself," said the 26-year-old, who came six shots away from becoming the first Edmontonian to earn a PGA Tour card.
"You're right there and to have it go south... You're trying your hardest to hold onto the steering wheel and it's slowly creeping away."
Jarosch was right there, sitting in the top 10 halfway through the six-round marathon at Bear Lakes, Fla., after rounds of 73, 66 and 68.
With the top 25 and ties in the field of 170 getting their PGA cards, it was so close he could almost touch it.
Just three more rounds.
"It's hard to stay in control of your emotions, people calling you every night and saying how proud they are of you," he said. "You get these thoughts creeping into your mind."
Rounds of 72, 76 and a 74 yesterday dropped him from top 10 to T64. From the PGA to the Nationwide.
"Coming up the fairway on 18 I didn't know whether to break down and cry or break the club over my head," said Jarosch.
"I'm 12 under a couple of days ago and I dropped 10 shots. The initial reaction was shock that I let it slip away. I had the PGA in my grasp a couple of days ago."
The next 50 players (26th through 76th) get Nationwide cards -- no small deal given that a win on the Canadian Tour averages about $25,000 Cdn, while winning a Nationwide event ranges from $112,000 to $180,000 US.
And the top 25 money winners at the end of the Nationwide season get PGA Tour cards automatically.
"I thought I'd missed the full Nationwide Tour, too," he said. "To find out I squeaked in and have full Nationwide status, in the grand scheme of things I'm pretty happy. I would have taken that halfway through the summer. It's a big upgrade."
If the experience has taught Jarosch anything, it's that his A game measures up to a PGA standard. He beat a number of Tour veterans, including David Duval, Tim Herron, 2003 PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel and Brandt Jobe, who's won over $6 million in the show.
"I know that I can play good golf on a PGA Tour setup," said Jarosch.
"To shoot a 29 (on the back nine in his second round), I didn't think I had a 29 in me on a Canadian Tour setup. It was nice to prove that to myself. You see guys like Duval, Jeff Maggert, Jesper Parnevik. To know that when I'm playing good I can go out and beat those guys over four rounds is a good feeling."
Jarosch shot 72-66-66-72 to finish tied for second in the first stage of Q school in California, then 67-67-73-70 to finish T7 in the second stage.
None of it prepared him for the pressure of the third and final stage.
"It's really hard to get it under control," he said. "It was something like I've never experienced before. To play 108 holes of competitive pressure golf in a field of 170 players was wild."
ROBERT.TYCHKOWSKI@SUNMEDIA.CA
