FBR Open faces dilemma with strong ASU presence on '08 tour

FBR Open tournament chairman Tim Louis can only give out five sponsors exemptions each year for his tournament.  And this year, Louis will face quite a dilemma.  In the past month, five Arizona State golfers--Todd Demsey, Jin Park, Alejandro Canizares, Chez Reavie, and Matt Jones--got their PGA Tour cards through the Nationwide Tour and Q-School.  Paola Boivin of The Arizona Republic writes, "They survived, all five of them, and when the 2008 PGA Tour season gets under way in 25 days, it will have a serious Arizona State vibe."  Although this is good news for the Arizona State golf program, it creates a problem for the tournament chairman, whose tournament is a short drive from the Sun Devil campus.  The FBR Open has the biggest crowds of the year, and most of the spectators are ASU fans.  Louis told the East Valley Tribune, "From my perspective as tournament chairman, it’s one of the many exciting things about this job, and it’s also one of the toughest.  Lots of guys deserve it, but we have only a few exemptions."  Tribune staff writer Bill Huffman expects at least three of the ASU grads to get an exemption for the tournament.