TY DROPS BACK. After opening with two birdies today, Tryon could only manage a 1-under par 71 to fall twenty-eight spots into a tie for 61st at the half-way point of the tournament. With three rounds remaining, Tryon will have some catching-up to do, as he's currently 3 shots short of the top 35 finish that would earn him a tour card for next year. “I played really well, just didn’t put the ball in the hole,” said Tryon. “I had so many chances, just kind of didn’t execute.” Also, the NY Times' Clifton Brown has an article about Tryon today: Teenager Learning His A B C's at Q-School.

THE 2ND DAY OF QSCHOOL finals see Tryon fire a 3-under 69 and jump twenty-six spots to T33 despite fighting a severe case of strep throat. Regardless of the quality of his golf, Ty's age and appearance continue to color the media coverage of him: Tryon, at 17 the youngest player ever to compete in the annual Q-School event, played with his sunglasses perched fashionably on the back of his cap -- which he wore backward at times -- and his shirt sleeves rolled up. He, however, did leave his earring at home. As long as he doesn't leave his game at home, he'll be just fine.

A SOLID START FOR TRYON as he opens with a 2-under score of 70 and is currently in a tie for 59th place with five rounds remaining. He only had one bogey on his card to go along with three birdies (all on par 5's). The top 35 players and ties will earn their PGA Tour Cards. TheGolfChannel.com also has a similar wrap-up story about the 1st day's action.

ALONG WITH THE LIKES OF Aaron Baddeley and Luke Donald, Ty is listed as a 'Player To Watch' by Golf Digest. Also, PGATour.com is going to have real-time scoring available for those of you like me who don't like to wait on writers to get our news. You can also follow Tryon's progress hole-by-hole if you want.

TIM ROSAFORTE HAS JUMPED onto the Tryon bandwagon. As recently as October 16th he wrote, Tryon doesn't have the charisma of Kuchar, or the game of (Charles) Howell, and could be in for a long road. Compare that with his latest offering, If Tryon doesn't get his card, he can take seven sponsors exemptions on the PGA Tour and use the Buy.com as a learning process. But for those who have seen his game, that scenario isn't likely. Just seeing Tryon launch balls on Monday at Bear Lakes made observers realize this kid is the real deal. Glad to see you finally come around Tim.

TEE TIMES FOR THE 1ST round of PGA Tour QSchool Finals have been announced. Tryon is scheduled to be paired with Doug Garwood and Todd Bailey. Tryon's chances of qualifying for the Tour are discussed in Melanie Hauser's latest article [includes picture]; and PGATour.com has a video of Tryon available where he discusses his progress in QSchool so far. Just for some perspective: At worst, he has nailed down conditional status on the minor-league Buy.com Tour for 2002. No player his age has made it this far into the Q-School process, period.

TO AVOID FLYING HALF-WAY around the world one week before QSchool Finals, Tryon withdrew from the Holden Australian Open. The event was eventually won by Stuart Appleby

BAD PRESS FOR TRYON as Golf Digest reports that his caddie during the 1st stage of PGA Tour QSchool, Larry Rinker, quit after Ty told him to put his bag on the ground so his name/ corporate logos were visible to the gallery. Golf Digest also re-caps Tryons 2nd stage QSchool results which have been covered here previously.

JUST AS I PREDICTED on November 2nd, the mainstream media is already beginning to use comparisons of Tryon to Tiger Woods to make his decision to turn professional look bad. Just from the title of the article: A Frantic Search For The Next Tiger gives you some indication of whats to follow. "Tryon has 50 tournaments to win before he can share bragging rights with Tiger." Its of course true, but quite honestly, nobody currently on tour has a competitive record equal to that of Tiger Woods - yet I don't see any articles suggesting that other PGA Tour members perhaps shouldn't have turned professional. John Cook piles on with "Ty is a great kid with a phenomenal attitude. But I don't know of a teenager who could handle it (the Tour)." I guess John's not familiar with Berhard Langer & Seve Ballesteros - both of whom turned professional at an earlier age than Tryon.

SCRATCH ANY THOUGHT OF Ty managing to advance easily as I suggested with only 1 round to go at the 2nd Stage Qualifyer tournament. Tryon struggled with his game in the last round, at one point going 5 over par over a 3 hole stretch. Despite his struggles, he managed to keep it together for a closing 75 - even par over the last 11 holes - to finish T12 and advance to the Final Stage Qualifyer. By advancing this far in the Qualifyer tournament, Tryon is already conditionally except on the BUY.COM tour for next year. The Final Stage begins November 28th in West Palm Beach, FL.

IS TIM ROSAFORTE CHANGING his mind about Tryon's talents? From his 11/13/01 Tour Insider column: Cockiness or good preparation? Ty Tryon called Bear Lakes in West Palm, where the final will stage be held, to get a practice round starting time before he ever made it through first stage of qualifying. He was co-medalist at World Worlds, and began Second Stage on Tuesday at Orange County National.

AFTER 3 ROUNDS, TRYON is only 2 shots back in his 2nd Stage Qualifyer. He's followed up his opening 63 with 75 and 72, to sit at two strokes off the lead with just one day remaining. The real goal is to finish inside the top 19 and advance to the 3rd Stage - Ty is currently 5 shots clear of that cut and barring a horrible day, should advance easily.

TRYON CONTINUES TO DOMINATE the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament - this time with a course-record 63 in the 1st round of his Stage 2 Qualifyer. On a day that featured a rain delay and persistent breezes, Tryon shot 5-under 31 on the front nine before the rain began to fall. He three-putted No.12 for his lone bogey, then finished the final stretch with an eagle and three birdies. He's doing amazingly well for a kid without the game of (Charles) Howell, or the charisma of (Matt) Kuchar - don't you think Mr. Rosaforte? Tim?

NEW PERSONALITY PIECE UP at Golf Digest about Tryon: Ty's Excellent Adventure. The most interesting statement came from one of Tryon's endorsers, Callaway Golf: "Nobody pushed this kid into anything he didn't want to do." So why wait? Why spend a couple of years playing a charade at some university? Bernhard Langer turned pro at 15. Sergio Garcia never went to college. Every year, hundreds of teenagers tumble into baseball's minor leagues, where they travel on Greyhounds and advance like tortoises. Tryon doesn't have to improve at the speed of light. He may not make the PGA Tour next year or the year after, but there are plenty of tournaments to play in." The reality is that Ty won't get that kind of attitude from the mainstream press. He'll need to be a superstar on tour, otherwise we'll be hearing endless talking heads telling us how he 'threw away a chance at the most fun 4 years of his life'.

REACTION TO TY'S SUCCESS at the first stage of PGA Q-School continues to roll in. "Tryon’s stellar performance notwithstanding, some think Tryon — or many other 17-year-olds, for that matter — may be underestimating just how hard it is to succeed in professional golf. " I'd still like to hear someone explain on what rational basis they think Ty can't succeed on tour? He's played very well in tour events as an amateur over the past year, has a tour-proven teacher in David Leadbetter, and went thru stage 1 qualifying like a hot knife thru butter. Just because no one has done it before, does not mean its not possible.