School's out

Golf Digest, Oct, 2002 by Ryan Herrington

BRYCE MOLDER AGE: 23 HOME: CONWAY, ARK.

Never mind that Bryce Molder graduated from Georgia Tech in May 2001 with a 3.41 GPA. In 2002, the talented 23-year-old has been driven by a single desire: to skip school ... PGA Tour Qualifying School, that is.

After failing to advance to the final stage a year ago--an experience he describes as the most humbling of his golf career--Molder is after the tour's version of advanced-placement credit.

By playing on sponsor exemptions, if he finishes in the top-125 on the money list this season he'll earn a tour card for 2003. Only four golfers have earned cards this way: Justin Leonard (1994), Tiger Woods (1996), Charles Howell III and Matt Kuchar (both in 2001). As of Aug. 1, Molder's $314,310 left him on the bubble, 126th on the money list to be precise.

"Is it stressful and tough?" he says. "Yes. But the pressure, at least, is spread out over time." Molder has a history of overcoming obstacles. He was a four-time, first-team All-American in college despite a birth defect that left him with two webbed fingers (they since have been surgically separated but are now shorter) and no left pectoral muscle. As a 14-year-old, he also lost his older sister Kelli, then 16, to spinal meningitis.

"That gave me a different perspective about things," he says. And as for his recent quest for a tour card? "Even if I have to go back to Q school, ultimately I think I'll be a better player because of it."