West Coast offense drives Quinney

2008-01-17

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By John Reger
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PALM DESERT, California (Ticker) - Staring at a 275-mile car trip from his home in Scottsdale, Arizona to the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Jeff Quinney estimated the commute time at three hours.

Very ambitious for a NASCAR driver, much less a PGA Tour player, but it's understandable why Quinney is so anxious to reach this event.

Last year Quinney began a run of four events at the Hope Classic that helped to secure his playing privileges for this year.

"I think this is my time of the year where I really am gearing up for it," Quinney said. "And just the courses I like and I'm just more comfortable on the West Coast versus the Florida grasses being a West Coast boy."

Quinney's affinity for the West Coast was obvious in his results. He tied for fourth in this event last year, finished in a tie for seventh at the Buick Invitational in San Diego, third at the FBR Open in Scottsdale and tied for ninth at the Nissan Open in Los Angeles.

"With Phoenix, San Diego and L.A. I am definitely looking forward to capitalizing early and getting a quick start," Quinney said. "Obviously I had an awesome start and I want to kind of renew myself and somehow try to get a victory."

In those four events, Quinney earned $931,000, nearly two-thirds of his total money earnings in the 18 events where he made the cut. In the other 13 events, he earned $670,755.

"Obviously I was disappointed with the other events, but to lock up my tour card by the end of February, I knew I would have a job in 2008 and that was tremendous pressure relief," Quinney said. "I could just kind of freewheel it the rest of the year."

The rest of the year, however, wasn't close to his stretch the West Coast. Other than a tie for sixth at the Players Championship, Quinney didn't have a top-10 finish the rest of the year.

"I didn't have as many good tournaments, I had a pretty good tournament and Tiger's (Woods) event in Washington, D.C., but obviously I didn't continue as strongly as I wanted to," Quinney said. "But definitely, I built some momentum and just feel confident for 2008."

Quinney missed the cut at at the Sony Open - his first tournament of the year - but is on pace for a high finish this weekend. After two rounds, he is four strokes off the lead and in a tie for fifth place at 9-under 135 following rounds of 66 and 69.

"I'm very comfortable here," Quinney said. "I'm just a lot more comfortable on this type of grass. I had a hard time putting in Hawaii with the Bermuda and the grain last week. Definitely more comfortable being on this grass and the greens have been perfect."

Quinney is looking for more than top-10 finishes in 2008.

"I set my goals high," Quinney said. "Obviously I had a great rookie season and I just want to build on it. I gained a lot more confidence, got more comfortable in the environment, being in contention and just learned a lot."

Winning is the next progression in his career, Quinney said.

"I feel like I can actually win out here and I proved to myself that I belonged out here last year," Quinney said. "I am just having so much fun and looking forward to 2008 and setting my goals high and definitely not just one win, but I want to get more than one."