Coles unsure of next step following Louisiana win

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Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Professional golfers always face hundreds in every round, often with lots riding on the outcome. The conundrums include:

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Gavin Coles

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Gavin Coles on the 2008 PGA TOUR

Starts 3 Cuts Made 2 Wins 0 Top-10s 0 Top-25s 1

On the 2008 Nationwide Tour

Starts 2 Cuts Made 1 Wins 1 Top-10s 1 Top-25s 1

• Coles' player page, click here

Picking the right club.

Detecting the direction and strength of the wind.

Where to position a ball off the tee for the best angle of attack?

What's the proper distance to hit a lay-up?

How will a putt move as it hopefully makes its way to the hole?

It's up to the pro to make the ultimate choice, but they often rely on the aid of their caddies in order to make the best guesstimate. But what about those crucial ones made off the course?

There is one game-related dilemma in particular a caddy cannot help his boss solve. That's how a player with limited status on the PGA TOUR should go about setting a schedule, especially with golden opportunity suddenly knocking on the Nationwide Tour.

Welcome to Gavin Coles' world. The scrappy Australian's 2008 season got much more interesting -- as well as puzzling -- when he chipped and one-putted his way to a one-shot victory in the Nationwide Tour's Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented Dynamic Industries on Sunday.

Coles holds conditional status on the PGA TOUR after finishing 147th on the money list in 2007. Given his druthers, that's where he'd love to park his courtesy car each and every week. But starts are few and far between for a player in his unenviable position as. Coles has three on the PGA TOUR -- the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am where 180 players participate and the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun and the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular, events played opposite World Golf Championships tournaments.

So where was Coles headed after the Louisiana Open trophy presentation? He had two options: Houston, where could take a shot at the Monday crapshoot that is the four-spotter for the $5.6 million Shell Houston Open or Livermore, Ca., where he was guaranteed entry into the $600,000 Livermore Valley Wine Country Classic at Wente Vineyards.

There was no hesitation. He hopped in a rental and pointed it straight to I-10 West for the 3 ½-hour drive to Houston, where he withdrew, failing to beat the overwhelming odds against him.

What happens after the attempt in Houston?

"I just don't know what I'm going to do,'' said Coles, 39. "But I won't be going to Athens (where the Athens Regional Foundation Classic will be played April 17-20 following a one week break in the Nationwide Tour schedule) either.''

All of this because the diminutive Coles, who has yo-yoed between the PGA TOUR and the Nationwide Tour the last six seasons, is juiced about his golf game and he believes he's more than capable of hanging with the big boys. Had he putted more efficiently in the final round in Puerto Rico, he still would have been playing in Louisiana last week, only in New Orleans at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

"I was two six-footers away from playing in New Orleans,'' said Coles, who shot 73 in the final round to tumble into a tie for 15th, two strokes out of the top 10.

"I'm a little disappointed about that.''

Ironic then that it was Coles' short game that continually bailed him out of some very tight spots late in the final round last week. Coles missed green after green when one bogey would have forced a playoff between Coles and hard-charging Kyle Thompson. Yet he never wavered, saving par each time, including on the 72nd hole when he holed an eight-foot par saver for the victory.

The key was Coles, while warming up before the final round, remembered a chipping swing thought his instructor passed along eight months ago. The idea was to grip the club more firmly, something that allows the face to remain open at impact.

"It took that long to get it through my thick skull,'' said Coles, who won $94,500 and moved to sixth among "The 25,'' on the Nationwide Tour money list, the number representing the players who will graduate to the PGA TOUR in 2009 from the final money list.

Coles knows all about that. He is one of a handful of players who has used the Nationwide Tour as an avenue three times. Trouble is, he has never won or made enough money to maintain his privileges. He called 2007's failure a "blessing in disguise'' because it uncovered some holes in his short game, forcing him give it his undivided attention.

"At one point early in the season I was 14th in putts,'' he said. "I finished over 100. When you hit it short like I do and you don't putt you cannot do well on the PGA TOUR.''

Coles said eventually he will sit down and attempt to map out a schedule that includes events on the Nationwide Tour. He cited Omar Uresti as an example of a guy who bounced back and forth in 2007 and still managed to make enough cash to make his way back to The Big Show in 2008.

"I've got 94 (thousand) and I'm in the Top 10,'' he said. "I'm probably 140 (thousand) away from locking up a spot in the Top 25. So when I play out there I'll go at every flag and see what happens.''

With a confidence victory -- his fourth on the Nationwide Tour -- in his pocket, Coles believes he is on the right track.

"I have been playing well, so I knew it was just a matter of time before I'd win again,'' Coles said. "I feel like I'm hitting it as well as I ever have. I'm enjoying this journey I'm on.''