THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060502
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Carl Paulson will find out what it's like to play with the big boys next year.
The 23-year-old from Virginia Beach earned a 1995 PGA Tour card Monday at the tour's annual qualifying school.
Paulson shot rounds of 72-71-71-70-72-71 in the six-round tournament at Grenelefe Resort in Haines City, Fla., for a 3-under-par 427.
He was one of 10 players tied for 37th place; the top 40 plus ties earned their cards. Paulson then won a playoff for a 37th-place finish.
But the real pressure came on the final hole in regulation Monday. Paulson got up and down from the left rough at the 18th hole to save par, stopping a 30-foot chip shot a foot from the hole. ``I'm so glad it was a tap-in,'' Paulson said. ``I was shaking like a leaf.''
A bogey would have sent him to the Nike Tour, the PGA Tour's minor league circuit.
Paulson, a graduate of First Colonial High School who won the state junior and high school titles in 1988, becomes the first area product to reach the PGA Tour since Steve Liebler made it in the early 1980s. Ironically, Liebler was Paulson's college golf coach during Paulson's All-American career at South Carolina, where he won four college tournaments.
Paulson spent the past summer on the Hooters/Jordan Tour, playing in 10 events and making the cut in five.
He will spend the remainder of this week at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Fla., attending the tour's new-player seminar. He plans to return to Virginia Beach in two weeks to gear up for the upcoming season.
In preparing to challenge the likes Nick Price, Greg Norman and Curtis Strange, Paulson will be in a group including Woody Austin, Tray Tyner and Eduardo Romero.
Who are they? Just some of the other 46 players who earned PGA Tour cards Monday. They may be nobodies now, but like Paulson they hope to make a name for themselves.
``I'm looking forward to playing with the best players in the world,'' said Paulson, who honed his skills at Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club in Virginia Beach. ``I'm anxious to see how I stack up.
``My main goal is to finish in the top 125 (money winners) and keep my card. I figure it would be great to win a tournament, but rookies seldom win.'' ILLUSTRATION: Carl Paulson
by CNB