The final Q-School that granted direct access to the PGA Tour could turn out to be a waste of a remarkable effort by Si Woo Kim.
The 17-year-old from South Korea made it through all four stages of qualifying — that includes a pre-qualifying stage in September — and was among 25 players who earned their cards Monday at PGA West after six days of the final qualifying tournament. Trouble is, he can't become a PGA Tour member until he turns 18 on June 28.
Kim might play as few as three tournaments and go right back to Q-School. Only then, he would have to spend a year on the Web.com Tour.
The PGA Tour has no provision for Kim to appeal to be a member before he is 18, so his options are limited until his next birthday.
He can accept as many seven sponsor exemptions before June 28, but those exemptions might be hard to come by for a kid hardly anyone knows, especially with the likes of veteran Camilo Villegas needing a spot next year. Kim also can try to qualify on Mondays in open tournaments. Whatever points he earns would not count in the regular FedEx Cup standings, though he could transfer those points when he becomes a member.
Kim turns 18 the week of the AT&T National and will be the lowest-ranked member (zero points) among this Q-School class. He can only hope he gets in The Greenbrier Classic and John Deere Classic. There are two events he can count on (Mississippi opposite the British Open, Reno-Tahoe opposite the Bridgestone Invitational). He also might have a chance at getting in the Canadian Open.
And then the FedEx Cup playoffs begin for the top 125.
The players who finish from 126 to 200 would qualifying for the four tournament series called ''The Finals'' that, in effect, replaces Q-school and awards 25 cards to the top finishers on that separate money list. With so few starts, Kim would have to play well to get into the top 200.
Claiming an injury so that he could start the season fresh in October would not do him any good because he would only get about four starts, the same as he realistically could have played starting in July.
His best hope would be to get a few exemptions earlier in the year and make the most of them. But those rules have changed, too. Because of the short season, tournaments no longer have four unrestricted exemptions to award. The number has been reduced to two, and tournaments have to award four spots to players from Q-School or the Web.com Tour based on their priority ranking. Kim is toward the bottom.
So the kid with the polished swing came a long way to get his PGA Tour card. And he still has a long way to go.
Ryder Cup review
Ian Poulter struggled with jet lag going from Dubai to California, and he was on his own last week, giving him plenty of time to kill. It turned out to be the perfect opportunity to watch highlights of the Ryder Cup for the first time since Europe's comeback at Medinah.
And he still couldn't believe it.
''I knew the outcome and I'm still sitting there saying . . . `look at the board.' The board kept changing, changing, changing,'' he said. ''It was really solid blue, then it went empty with three matches all square, more red numbers, then it went blue again. Calculations were going all over the place.''
The two shots that stood out for Poulter were Steve Stricker's chip behind the 17th green that went 7 feet past the hole and led to bogey that gave Martin Kaymer the lead, and Justin Rose making a 35-foot putt on the 17th to square his match with Phil Mickelson.
''If you're trying to find something late in the field, those were it,'' he said.
His only criticism of US captain Davis Love III was the very thing Love already has said he regrets — the hole locations for Sunday singles. The pin was far right on the 17th and front right on the 18th.
''If he goes left corner, left corner, they win the Ryder Cup,'' Poulter said, noting that most of the Americans favor a right-to-left shot.
His overall observation of this Ryder Cup is one that few can dispute.
''I'm not sure we'll see another one quite like it,'' he said.
Countdown to Rio
Few things in golf get Suzann Pettersen more excited than the Olympics in 2016.
''Growing up in Norway, the Olympics was the biggest thing in sports,'' she said. ''I never thought that I would ever compete in an Olympic Games as a golfer. So when that chance came up a couple years ago, it was a very obvious goal for me. It would be nice to complete a career with a gold medal or a medal in the Olympics. That's kind of where I see my road right now, and it's quite exciting.''
Some players believe an Olympic gold medal would not be as valuable as a US Open trophy, a green jacket, a claret jug or even a jump into the pond at the Kraft Nabisco. Pettersen believes that will change over time, assuming golf becomes a permanent part of the Olympic program.
''I think it will take a generation to build the kind of respect and the honor it is to actually have a gold medal in golf,'' she said. ''I think you will see the kids at 4, 5 years old now seeing Rory and Tiger compete for an Olympic medal. Once they see that, they want to be there, as well, and I think that's when you start building the new generation where the Olympics would be a major part of the sport of golf.''
Her Olympic inspiration came from winter sports, and she lists Kjetil Andre Aamodt as Norway's greatest Olympian (putting him ahead of Johann Olav Koss). As for the best Olympian in summer sports?
''Summer is not our strongest season,'' she said.
Divots
• Counting only past champions who played in eight or more events last year, the PGA Tour membership for 2013 features 80 players from 21 countries outside the United States. Australia continues to lead the way with 22 players, followed by 10 each from South Korea, England and Sweden.
• Jason Dufner, coming off a breakthrough year of two wins and an impressive Ryder Cup debut, will be playing in Abu Dhabi and Qatar in January. That means missing three PGA Tour events he played this year — Sony Open, Humana Challenge and Northern Trust Open. Asked his first time to play overseas, Dufner mentioned Panama on the Nationwide Tour. ''That's probably not what you meant, is it?'' he said.
• The HSBC Women's Champions returns to Singapore next year with its $1.4 million purse, though it is changing courses to Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club. The tournament will be played Feb. 28 to March 3.
• Ricardo Santos won The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award on the European Tour, making him the first player from Portugal to do so. Santos won the Madeira Islands Open.
