An attitude adjustment has paid off for Tryon, who began to play for fun again last fall after a disappointing '04 season.

He had grown up.

Stopping for lunch at a Subway restaurant following an afternoon of hitting balls at the club Tiger Woods calls home, Tryon talked about what a victory last Thursday in a Hooters Winter Tour event in Clermont, Fla., had done to start his career on the road back to the PGA Tour. This was his first victory since a first-stage tour qualifier in 2001, and the first he could remember in a regular stroke-play event since the 2000 PGA of America Junior Championship. The $11,000 he earned was more than he made in 22 Nationwide Tour events in 2004.

There were no excuses about the mononucleosis, the chronically sprained ankle, the physical side effects from taking Accutane for his acne (sore joints, blurry vision, dry eyes, nose bleeds) and no remorse, really, for sometimes appearing at the course just 30 minutes before his scheduled tee times. He was going to make mistakes - and hopefully learn from his failures - the same way other players who turned pro early did.

"As bad as I performed for a while, I matured a lot," Tryon said. "I'm very thankful for where I am now. Where I was before was a little naive. I didn't really know where I was. I was just kind of ... there."

Appearance fees are not allowed on the PGA Tour. So what do you call the Ford Motor Company paying $150,000 each to Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia (and maybe Retief Goosen and Padraig Harrington) to play in a one-day event at Indian Creek in Miami Beach the Monday before the Ford Championship starts? According to a tour spokesperson, the event is a "corporate outing," thus within the rules as specified in the PGA Tour Player Handbook. Nobody is crying foul, certainly not in south Florida. Once considered the de facto start of the tour season but suffering from weak fields in recent years, the tournament at the famed Blue Monster couse could be experiencing. The latest news is that Tiger Woods may enter for the first time since 2002, and since he's a Buick guy, he can't be bought. Golfaholic Dana Quigley returned to Florida after first- and second-place finishes in Hawaii and a No. 1 ranking on the Champions Tour money list just in time to play the Bear Lakes CC Member-Member "Founder's Tournament." Paired with Pat Carey, a 24-handicap from West Virginia, Quigley was sitting in a cart before the final round, when he turned to Bear Lakes pro Kevin Murphy and asked, "Murph, could you take the sign off my cart that says 'Sixth Flight?' I'm having a good year." For more from Tim Rosaforte, watch PGA Tour Sunday on the USA Network, Sundays at 11 a.m. ET (check local listings for other time zones).

"Pretty funny," said Tryon, the sides of his mouth turning up at the irony. "I grew up with him. We played junior golf [together] since we were 10 years old."

While Na went overseas to serve his apprenticeship on the Asian PGA Tour - becoming the youngest winner in that circuit's history - Tryon, despite getting a tour card (or perhaps because of it) was going through hard times on the course and his own personal growing pains off it. He became the poster child for turning pro too early, and the criticism stung. Now, on the three-year anniversary of his PGA Tour debut (he missed the cut that week in Scottsdale), he was serving his penance as many predicted he would, in relative obscurity.

"People can say whatever they want, but when I get back there, I'm going to feel good about it," he said. "I'm not just some kid who got it too early. I went through what I [did] to find out if this is what I really, really wanted."

There were signs in January that maybe it wasn't. He withdrew from one Golden Bear Tour event, telling the Orlando Sentinel he "couldn't find a hotel room," and withdrew from another after shooting a first-round 81. But after both withdrawals Tryon drove across the state to work with Jonathan Yarwood at the David Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton. Asked to name his biggest regret about the past three years, Tryon said it was not spending more time with the swing instructor.

"He went from the AJGA to the PGA Tour almost overnight," said Yarwood. "That was a big ask for anybody. You get distracted. Any kid would. You lose focus, and all of a sudden you're spiraling out of control. Next time around he'll be more able to deal with it."

Rory Sabbatini expects to meet this week with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem about fashion. Last Thursday at the FBR Open, Sabbatini wore camouflage pants to support the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a charity benefiting families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sabbatini got tentative approval for his outfit in Scottsdale, but doesn't discount the possibility Finchem will nix it. Sabbatini donates $250 for every birdie and $1,000 for every eagle to the fund. ... Andrew Magee made the cut on the number at the FBR Open, marking his 12th consecutive made cut at the TPC of Scottsdale. Magee's streak began when he finished second in 1993 and continued uninterrupted until last year, when he didn't play in the tournament. Fred Funk, the only player to make the cut at the Phoenix tournament in each of the last nine years, didn't play last week. ... John Daly had a whirlwind few days last week. On Tuesday he joined the band Hootie and the Blowfish on stage for a rendition of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" at a Super Bowl media reception at the TPC at Sawgrass. Daly arrived in Scottsdale in time for Wednesday's pro-am, but he withdrew from the tournament, citing illness, after a first-round 81. ... Journeyman Charles Warren didn't get into the Scottsdale field until Paul Stankowski withdrew one day before the FBR Open, but his T-8 finish - he was the only player to shoot four rounds in the 60s - was the best of his career. Warren was a PGA Tour member in 1999 and played the Nationwide Tour for the last five years. He returned to the big tour after finishing eighth on the developmental tour's money list in 2004. ... How close did the the FBR Open come to having a teenage girl in its field? Well, not very, and we're not talking about Michelle Wie, either. Taylore Karle, a 14-year-old high school freshman from Scottsdale, shot a 74 at Gainey Ranch last week, far behind winner Kevin Streelman's 65, in a Monday qualifier for the PGA Tour event in her hometown. Karle admitted to being nervous during the round, but relaxed when she saw how poorly the men were playing. "I was like, 'Wait, they're just like me,'" Karle told the Arizona Republic, of her competitors' poor drives, approach shots and putts. "I had fun today. I think I'll learn a lot from today." Karle, whose brother Austyn, 16, also played the qualifier (he shot 73), will try to Monday qualify for the LPGA's Safeway International next month. ... Meanwhile, Wie withdrew from last week's Hawaii Pearl Open, one of the more prestigious men's tournaments in the state. She asked out before the event because of a muscle pull in her left forearm suffered while practicing a few weeks earlier. She expects to be ready for the LPGA's SBS Open at Hawaii's Turtle Bay Resort in two weeks. "We are following the doctor's recommendations," Wie's father, B.J., told a Hawaii television station. "This is the first time Michelle has ever withdrawn from a tournament. I hope that everyone understands that we are being cautious to avoid any reoccurrence in the future." A teenager did finish in the top 20 however. Sakura Yokomine, 19, the rookie of the year on the Japan LPGA in 2004, finished the 54-hole event at five-under 208, eight strokes back of winner Will Yanagisawa. ... A Song beat a Sorenstam at the Samsung Ladies Masters in Singapore last week, but it wasn't Aree and it wasn't Annika. Korea's Bo Bae Song birdied the final hole to outlast Charlotta Sorenstam by one stroke in the Ladies European Tour event at Laguna National G&CC. - From staff and wire reports

The turnaround in Tryon's competitive spirit began last October, when he skipped the final two events of the Nationwide Tour season and went to southern Colorado on a family vacation. For a week he did nothing but hunt, fish, hike, ride horses and clear his mind in the Rocky Mountain air. His 199th-place finish on the developmental tour's money list was not a concern. Tryon said he looked at the broader picture and stopped thinking about the pressure, deciding, for the first time since junior golf, to play for fun again. Instead of fretting over the third-round lead in Clermont, Tryon slept in his SUV during part of a 2½-hour fog delay and then birdied two of the last four holes to win by three.

"I just put everything behind me," Tryon said. "Whatever happens I can live with. I'm not afraid of failure. Before, I got afraid of failing. You just fail more when that happens." While Na celebrates his job security, Tryon is juggling a week-to-week schedule. He is scheduled to play another Hooters event this week in Florida and will travel to Morocco for a pro-am later this month. When he returns, he'll try to Monday-qualify for the Ford Championship at Doral. Beyond that, he will split time between the Hooters circuit and Monday qualifiers for the Nationwide Tour.

If Tryon had gone to college, this would be his sophomore year. He has two years remaining on a $2 million endorsement contract with Callaway Golf he signed after earning his tour card, more than most undergraduates make after graduation. He no longer has the health issues that bogged him down from 2002-04. In his mind the Hooters Tour can provide the same opportunity for him as it did for Zach Johnson and Chad Campbell.

"I didn't think I'd be playing the Hooters Winter Series, but now that I'm here, I feel really fortunate to do it," Tryon said. "As long as you get that winning feeling, no matter where you are, you can take it to the next level. I actually feel more motivated now than I have in a long time."

PGA Tour/FBR Open

The Scottsdale resident made the most of the present, finishing T-11 (with Vijay Singh and Stewart Cink, among others) and earning $100,100. It was Snyder's best finish by far in an abbreviated PGA Tour career, which included just one tournament before this season - a missed cut at the 1996 LaCantera Texas Open. Earlier this season he finished T-72 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and missed the cut at the Buick Invitational.

"It's been a fantastic week," Snyder said. "It's been an emotional deal, but it's been a lot of fun."

Fun was opening with a 72 during a windblown Thursday, before finishing with rounds of 68-68-69 - 277, 10 strokes behind fellow Arizona State grad Phil Mickelson.

Fun also was playing in front of family and friends in the gallery, a presence that didn't faze Snyder, especially before the boisterous crowds at the par-3 16th hole. "You come out here to play golf, and you hit the ball as well as you can and you putt as well as you can and let the chips fall where they may," he said. "I'm happy to be where I am and I feel blessed to just play in the tournament."

Snyder made the last of his 16 birdies on 16 Sunday - he also made one eagle at No. 15 Friday - but he was being supported on more than just the one hole. "Everywhere I go, I've got guys screaming at me," he said. "It's fun to hear it, but I definitely have to keep focused on the golf."

Snyder, 31, who bears a striking resemblance to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in his official PGA Tour photo, kept this focus through some long years after leaving ASU in 1996. He tried Q school every year since, making it to the final in 1997 and last year. He didn't graduate the first time, instead playing the Nationwide Tour in 1998 and 1999. He also played the Canadian Tour, the Gateway Tour and the Asian PGA Tour.

With more performances like last week's, Snyder won't be returning to those tours in the near future.

- John Antonini

McCarron's mind is set on match play
What Scott McCarron wanted more than anything last Sunday in the FBR Open was to move up in the World Ranking for a spot in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. The top 64 players in the world qualify, and McCarron has improved to 69th after his T-2 at the TPC of Scottsdale, with only the Nissan Open on his schedule before La Costa. He finished second in the 2002 Match Play to Kevin Sutherland, but has elected not to play in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which is the cutoff point for match-play qualifying.

Upward mobility: McCarron improved to 69th in the World Ranking with a T-2 finish.

With weekend rounds of 65-65, McCarron moved from tied for 41st Friday to the spot just below Phil Mickelson's name on the final leader board. He was four shots better than Mickelson in the last two rounds, crediting the ascent to a change in equipment (a mixed bag of Callaway and Ping), the best putting stats on tour and help he received last Friday from Tom Pernice.

Both players work with swing instructor Jim Hardy and know each other well enough to offer advice. "The tip was, I was getting my right arm too far inside, so I was getting stuck a little bit," McCarron explained. "[Pernice] said, 'When you take it back, try to feel like the toe is closing a little bit. That will get [your] right arm a little bit higher and pin that left arm on your chest and turn.'"

While the observation didn't appreciably improve his ball-striking statistics, McCarron suddenly started making putts, taking just 24 Saturday and 23 Sunday with the belly putter that changed his career path from family clothing business to successful touring pro 11 years ago.

"I don't want to think about where I'd be without the long putter," he said. "I want to think where I can go with it." The credit for the strong putting goes to James Sieckmann, the short-game teacher who is brother of former PGA Tour player, Tom. They worked together in Palm Springs last month before the Buick Invitational, where McCarron led the field in putting on his way to a tie for sixth. Last year he was 81st in putting average, and with the recent improvement, shows why he thinks this can be a breakout year. And why he wants to return to the Match Play.

- T.R