DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 1997              TAG: 9710070477

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                      LENGTH:   96 lines

MIRACLE SHOT PUTS FERRIS IN KINGSMILL FIELD COX GRAD'S EAGLE HELPS HIM QUALIFY WITH A 68

If it takes a miracle to make it to the PGA Tour, one happened Monday afternoon at Ford's Colony.

For Troy Ferris, that miracle came at the 515-yard, par-5 18th hole when he holed a 35-foot sand shot for eagle, capping a 4-under-par 68 and earning the last of four spots in this week's Michelob Championship at Kingsmill.

His shot bounced once, hit the flag stick and dropped in the hole, jumped out for a brief moment then fell back in from the lip.

Ferris, who who was a three-time Beach District champion at Cox High and was a finalist in the 1996 Virginia State Amateur championship, spent the summer playing on a mini-tour so small it should probably be called a micro-tour. He will now tee it up with 155 other pros Thursday morning.

As one of the spectators at the 18th said as he watched Ferris jump for joy, ``That kid just made it to The Show.''

``I read Bob Rotella's book, `Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect,' and it's all about positive thought,'' said Ferris, who had two birdies and 15 pars to go with the eagle. ``I'm going to have to call him and tell him it works. All I was thinking about was chipping it in.''

Not bad for someone who when not playing the Triangle Tour - ``Legalized gambling for 20 guys,'' Ferris said - has been collecting range balls and cleaning toilets at Lochmere Golf Club in Cary, N.C.

``I got a two-week paycheck the other day for $213,'' said Ferris, who has won five times in 27 events on the Triangle Tour. ``So that should tell you what my funds are like right now.''

When Ferris last went to Kingsmill with his golf clubs in tow, it was a humbling experience.

``It was so embarrassing,'' Ferris said. ``I was 12 and had just started playing and I read in the paper that Curtis Strange and John Cook were putting on a junior clinic. So here I am walking to the practice tee with my clubs and I'm going, `Dad, why don't any of these other kids have their clubs?' ''

The clinic was really an exhibition: Ferris sat with his clubs the entire time while he watched.

This time, his clubs will come in handy and he'll be able to stand on that same practice tee and strike balls next to both Strange and Cook, and every other touring pro there.

It's an incredible turn of events for a player who'd never tried to qualify for a PGA Tour event.

``I tried qualifying for one Nike Tour event and missed,'' said Ferris, whose only other trip to Kingsmill came in last year's first round as a spectator.

``What if I were to win? In one week I'd go from being a nobody at Ocean View to being The Man!''

With Ferris' success came 112 other failures and scattered dreams.

Each year, the Monday before the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill creates this major pressure cooker at Ford's Colony. For the four who make it, it's a $200 entry fee well-spent. For others, it can be agony.

``We get PGA Tour pros, mini-tour pros, club pros who can play, assistant pros who can play, assistant pros who think they can play and amateurs who wish they could play,'' said Joe Wilkinson, who manned the scoreboard Monday for the Middle Atlantic PGA, which annually puts on the qualifier. ``We get them all.''

While a large percentage of the field Monday was made up of PGA Tour pros and 20-something mini-tour players, there were the unusual cases. Like Mike Finsterle.

He lists his home address as Norfolk, but he's really from Centreville, Va., where he'd played quality amateur golf for years and made the quarterfinals of the Virginia State Amateur two years ago.

Finsterle, 36, had also been working at a print shop for 15 years.

``I cashed my 401K and decided to turn pro and sponsor myself,'' Finsterle said. ``I moved in with a buddy in Norfolk because my girlfriend lives in Virginia Beach. Mostly I've been playing the mini-tours in the Carolinas. And yes, I'm chasing a dream.

``At every mini-tour event, 60 of the 70 golfers are right out of college or still in their 20s. Then there are 10 guys anywhere from 32 to 40.''

Finsterle said the cash is about to run out.

``I had $17,000 to begin with; I'm down to about $500. I was hoping I'd break through here.''

Finsterle was 2-over when he triple-bogeyed the ninth, sending his round into the make-or-break mode for the rest of the day. He finished with an 82. And a beer.

If Ferris needs a reality check as to what he just did, we offer Bob Estes as evidence. Three years ago, Estes won the Texas Open and finished 14th on the money list with $765,360. This year he ranks 63rd on the money list with $330,867. But after finishing 149th last season he's had to attend five of these Monday qualifiers this season in an effort to enter tournaments where his conditional exemption isn't good enough.

He'd flown in for this one after he finished tied for 11th in the Buick Challenge on Sunday in Callaway Gardens, Ga.

``I've shot 67-68-68-69 and today's 67,'' said Estes, who tied for low honors with Roy Hunter of Greensboro, N.C. ``And this is the first one I've made it in.''

Ferris tied with former Campbell University teammate David Mathis at 68.

``I am just so ecstatic,'' Ferris said. ``This is the world.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Martin Smith-Rodden

Troy Ferris...

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