Dudley Hart has started the 2008 PGA Tour season on a good note, with two made cuts, including a T3 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. But as Steve Elling writes on CBSSportsline, Hart is still recovering from a difficult year in 2007--his wife had pneumonia, and was then treated for a large tumor in her lung. Hart took the season off, and as Elling chronicles, a change to the PGA Tour rulebook was made.
Unlike players in team sports, who have contracts with some degree of security, golfers are engaged in the ultimate meritocracy. As in, no play, no pay. So the financial whammy was already significant without facing the potential loss of their jobs, too.
The new rule grants those forced to spend at least four months at home a set number of tournaments the following season to secure their tour cards. Specifically, Duval and Hart each have to match or exceed the earnings of the player who finished No. 125 in earnings in 2007 to retain their full status.
Hart needs to earn $162,960 in his next 12 starts in order to retain his card. He's off to a good start this week at the Honda Classic, after shooting an opening round 2-under 68.
