Nobody suffered more on the bubble than Bob Friend of Jupiter

Gage, 32, was among three players unsure whether their 6-under-par total after six grueling days of Q-School would be good enough to finish among the top 35 who win PGA Tour cards. They were sitting on the bubble with a few dozen players still on the course.

Nobody suffered more on the bubble than Bob Friend of Jupiter.

Friend, 34, scorched Grenelefe's South course with an 8-under 63 and leaped almost 70 players in the final round to get on the bubble. He did this despite an agonizing bogey on the final hole. That sent him pacing through the swarm buzzing beneath the scoreboard like an expectant father. Players, parents, agents and golf club manufacturer reps mingled here. It was all too suffocating for Friend, and so he escaped to the practice putting green behind the scoreboard. He collapsed there and tried to calm himself staring at the sky.

That didn't work.

So Friend moved into the media room, where he sighed and groaned watching the Golf Channel's live coverage of the players who threatened to bump him out of the top 35. He winced when Patrick Lee nearly holed a wedge shot on the 17th hole to move ahead of him. And, he scrolled through IBM's live scoring system on a laptop computer.

``I think I'll go outside and puke,'' Friend said at one point.

He fidgeted for nearly an hour before he was assured his 6-under total had won him a PGA Tour card. It was a long day. He walked to the first tee Monday tied for 100th.

``It's just very gratifying to have your back against the wall and do this,'' said Friend, the son of former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bob Friend. ``It's the lowest competitive round I've ever shot. To shoot that here and make your dream come to fruition is just tremendous.''

Friend opened the week making a triple bogey on the second hole in the first round. He was 6 over after three rounds. In past Q-Schools, the field was cut to the low 90 scores and ties after four rounds. There was no cut this year, and that was a wonderful thing for Friend. He shot a pair of 76s in the first four rounds and wouldn't even have made the cut last year.

``It's been a long road back,'' Friend said. ``My wife is probably crying her eyes out, and my mom too.''

Friend played the PGA Tour in 1992 but lost his card. He played the Nike Tour before taking a year off from competitive golf when his wife had a baby boy two years ago. His wife gave birth to their second child, a daughter, a month ago. He is hoping they never have to watch him endure the rigors of another Q-School week.