Where's former JSU golfer Tim O'Neal?

Former Jackson State (1993-97) and now professional golfer Tim O'Neal has been conspicuously absent from the PGA's Nationwide Tour this year and Mark Gray of SportsGroove TV explains why in a video interview with the linkster on Gray's myspacetv page which is also available this week at Onnidan's Black College Sports Online (onnidan.com or hbcusports.com) Here's a report from Mark's interview.

After playing with full-exempt status on the Nationwide Tour for the past three years, former Jackson State and now professional golfer Tim O'Neal has only 'conditional' status this year. That means he can only get into Nationwide events on sponsor's exemptions or by Monday qualifying.

That's translated so far into the former SWAC standout getting in to only three Nationwide events, including last week's Mellwood Prince George's County (Md.) Open where his scores of 74 and 72 in the first two rounds left him two strokes shy of making the cut. Sportscaster Mark Gray caught up with him at the tournament played just outside Washington, D.C.

O'Neal's made the cut in just one Nationwide tournament, the May 8-11 Fort Smith (Ark.) Classic. In that event, after opening with solid rounds of 70 and 68 that left him just five shots off the lead, O'Neal shot third and fourth round scores of 74 and 75 to finish tied for 60th, or last, earning what is his largest paycheck of the season ($1,646).

The struggles and up-and-down play are a continuation of what O'Neal says in the interview with Gray have hampered his rise to the PGA Tour.

"Last year I was very inconsistent," said the 34-year old Savannah, Ga. native who helped lead Eddie Payton's JSU golf team to national prominence and to its first NCAA Div. I berth during his college career.

"The only thing consistent was my inconsistency," he says of 2007 results which saw him finish 100th on the Nationwide Tour's Money List with $55,448 and fail to have a top 10 finish for the first time in his Nationwide career. That followed two years on the Nationwide where he topped the $100,000 mark and was on the cusp of getting into the top 25 money spots that earn promotions to the PGA Tour where he would have joined Tiger Woods as the only African-American playing at the highest level.

In 25 starts on the Tour in 2005, O'Neal finished 44th on the Money List with $120,722. He did even better in '06, earning $150,205 in 26 starts to finish 36th. As a rookie on the Nationwide Tour in 2001, he made the cut in 17 of 21 events and earned $75,109.

His precipitous drop last year has led to "minor" swing changes that he hopes will get him over the hump.

"I made those changes because I know that I have to get more consistent with my rounds," he said. "It's still a work in progress but it's definitely coming along."

O'Neal is working out those changes while also competing on the developmental Tarheel Tour, a 21-event tour based in Charlotte, N.C. that stages tournaments in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. He has competed in three Tarheel events making the cut in just one, the April 9-11 Manor Open in Farmville, Va. where his scores of 69-74-71 earned a tie for 21st and a $1,475 payday.

O'Neal knows his swing changes will take time and his climb back up the professional golf ladder will begin when he starts to play better.

"It was rough, not knowing where I was hitting it, but I knew I have to do that to get to the next level," he said of the changes. "I'm still working on it. It is getting better. As long as I keep doing what I'm doing, I think I'll be fine at the end of the year."

"It's been tough," O'Neal says of his current playing status. "I haven't gotten hardly any sponsor invites but if I play well I can take care of that myself."

­ For Tim O'Neal's Profile and 2008 Tournament Results go to: http://golfinvestors.com/players/profile.php?id=869

© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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