PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Dreams were on the line Monday morning in Port St Lucie.
Professional golfers hit the links looking to land a spot at this week's Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens.
There was zero room for error since only four players in Monday's round would qualify for this weekend's tournament, needing to shoot in the mid-60s.
The event was held at the Tesoro Club Palmer Golf Course.
"It started off well, but I didn't finish too good, but it's always fun to compete," PGA golfer Luis Gagne said.
It's been a goal for Gagne since he turned pro to qualify for the Cognizant Classic. Early on, things were looking up.
"I was four under through seven, and then just kind of went cold after that," Gagne said. "No luck today, but we will be back at it."
Cognizant Classic hopefuls were pleased by the greens and overall condition of the course.
"I've never seen it in better shape," PGA golfer William Frodigh said. "The wind's kind of down relative to what it usually is, so I think there's going to be some low numbers out there."
Only the top four finishers of the day will qualify for this week's event in Palm Beach Gardens.
Frodigh said he had a chance down the stretch.
"One under, I had it going three under with two [holes] to play and a couple of weird breaks on 17. [I] made double and just missed birdie on 18," Frodigh said. "I had a chance coming down the stretch, and that's all you can ask for."
They were thankful for the chance, but both players said they would take the lessons learned today for future events.
"I know I competed with a lot of these guys," Frodigh said. "It was a great learning experience, so only positives going forward from this."
"That's golf. Rarely does golf make you feel good," Gagne said. "You know, most of the time, you leave feeling like you left a few out there, whether you played great or not so great."
Robert Garrigus, Chris Crawford and Jeff Overton qualified on Monday.
However, there was a six-way tie for the fourth spot, forcing a playoff.
The PGA tour reported that Monday's playoff was suspended by darkness with three players — Michael Gligic, Chris Nido and Kevin Tway — still fighting for the last qualifier spot.
Those three players will return to the course Tuesday morning.
D.J. Trahan, Andy Svoboda and Kevin Johnson were eliminated earlier in the playoff.
