At 37, Augusta golfer gets his 'foot in the door'

In the ultra-competitive world known as PGA Tour qualifying, most of the stories end in failure - failed skills, failed nerves or failed dreams.

This is NOT one of those stories.

This story is about success, even if the golfer's putting stroke wavered when it counted most.

This story is about accomplishment, even though the protagonist finished tied for 94th and earned not a penny.

This story is about realizing dreams, even when the dream still remains at arm's length and the chase is just beginning.

This story is about Scott Parel, a 37-year-old Augustan who approached the end of the road and realized he has what it takes to keep going.

"I thought about this being my chance, this was what I dreamed about, this was my big opportunity," Parel said of the reality that this year's Q-school would be his last foray. "No doubt it was in my mind. I feel like I learned a lot about myself by putting that pressure on myself."

In case you missed the story when Parel qualified last summer to compete in the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, here's a refresher.

A computer science major at Georgia, Parel never played on the golf team. A good amateur, he decided at age 32 to give professional golf another chance. He set a five-year deadline to make progress or put the clubs away and the computer training back into use to support his wife, Mary, and two kids - Kayla, 11 and Cory, 7.

Making $48,000 on the Stewart & Stewart minitour wasn't Parel's ultimate goal. This dream would have to go through the PGA Tour's masochistic Q-school of hard knocks.

Parel liked his chances in 2002 - his lucky seventh and likely last attempt. The even-numbered years have always been his best, reaching the second of three stages of tour qualifying in 1996, 1998 and 2000.

Lo and behold, Parel made it to the final stage at a PGA West facility set up more stringent than ever to weed out the lucky and reward the best.

Admittedly intimidated the first day, Parel went 5-over par on the first six holes en route to a 77. But he settled in to shoot 67-68-69 and climb as high as 28th in the field of 171 with two rounds to go. The top 35 and ties would earn full-time PGA Tour cards.

"As much as you don't want to pay attention to that, it's hard not to," said Parel.

With 68 putts and scores of 76 and 75 on the weekend, Parel finished even par and two shots back of a full-time exemption on the Nationwide Tour (formerly known as the Buy.com). But it earned him conditional status technically known as Category 17, No. 5. The upshot is, he will probably be able to tee it up as much as he wants with the next-best thing to PGA Tour players in 2003 on the Nationwide Tour.

"I'm definitely excited about it," he said. "It's what I've been trying to do the last five years. I feel like I've got the game, and now I've finally got my foot in the door."

As for the PGA Tour card he missed out on, Parel is philosophical.

"I don't know if not making it to the PGA Tour might have been the best thing," Parel said. "Going from the minitours to the PGA Tour is a huge step, not so much the golf but the culture shock."

Parel experienced that already at the 2002 U.S. Open, and he feels that experience buoyed him this week.

"The experience it took just to get to Bethpage gave me a shot in the arm," he said of the Open qualifying. "I tried to think how I played there and get that feeling again."

Parel gets to keep chasing that feeling. He proves that success comes in many shades and various degrees. When you're 37 and at the end of the line, Category 17, No. 5 is the next-best thing to heaven.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.