ESPN Golf

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The ball soared through the air, landing softly in front of the pin and trickling a few feet behind the final hole for an easy birdie. The smattering of fans greeted Jay Williamson with light applause, and he tipped his cap, knowing that his season would soon be complete.

The rest of Williamson's career is far less certain.

As for that birdie putt?

"It was for par," Williamson chuckled, offering a hint of the frustration that the last few weeks of the PGA Tour season presented him.

Williamson, 41, was putting the finishing touches on a meaningless 74 during the second round of last week's Children's Miracle Network Classic. It was meaningless because Williamson's season basically ended a day earlier when he shot 4-over-par 76.

At a tournament in which 5 under par was necessary to make the 36-hole cut, playing the weekend was all but hopeless and made for a lonely day, because Williamson knew he was losing his PGA Tour card.

"I don't know what to say," a stunned Williamson said afterward. "Very disappointing. But life goes on. I've got three healthy kids. … I just don't really know what happened, to be honest with you. I don't really know."

Williamson was not talking about the Disney tournament in particular, but his last two months of the season that saw him drop out of the top 125 when he had managed to play in three of the FedEx Cup playoff events. Williamson finished 137th on the money list with $758,682.

But he didn't make a cut in his last six events and missed the top 125 by about $95,000. That would have meant he needed a top-10 at Disney to retain his PGA Tour card for 2009, but more realistically Williamson only needed two or three decent tournaments down the stretch to lock up a full-time job next year.

Making matters worse is the fact that Williamson, who is from St. Louis, made it to the third leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs at his home course, Bellerive. At the time, he was 66th in points and 112th on the money list after finishing tied for 52nd at the BMW Championship.

"I put so much pressure and emotion and emphasis on getting into the event in St. Louis -- it's my home club -- and then after that I just turned the motor off," he said. "I had a good chance [at the Viking Classic], didn't have a very good day, then I couldn't do anything. At the BMW, I hit the ball in the water on the third hole on Sunday, and I haven't been the same since.

"I don't know what it is. I'm getting older, I hate being right on the bubble, and it seems like I've always been there forever. I finally got tired of it. I wish I had an answer, I really do. I just didn't play very well for six weeks. Unfortunately when you take your eye off the ball a little bit out here … ''

No doubt now is the time for soul-searching, second-guessing and wondering about the future. While it might be tough to feel sorry for somebody who made more than $700,000, that next dollar is not guaranteed.

And Williamson is far from alone in the land of somberness, as a slew of players who finished outside the top 125 have decisions to make about Q-school or whether or not they'll simply try to play the PGA Tour in 2009 with conditional status.

At least Williamson knows he gave it everything he had. Shane Bertsch, meanwhile, will long wonder why he didn't have a better grasp of the exemption rules. Granted a major medical extension for 2008 because he suffered a case of vertigo early in the 2007 season, Bertsch had 28 events to earn more than $775,000, which, matched with what he made in 2007, would push him past the 125th finisher and make him exempt -- for the rest of the year.

And that's an important distinction, because Bertsch mistakenly thought it also made him exempt for 2009. So after earning the necessary total at the Turning Stone Championship in early October, Bertsch thought he was set. He didn't even enter the Ginn sur Mer Classic. It wasn't until Tuesday before the Disney event that he learned he was not safe.

Bertsch started the week 124th on the money list and missed the cut. He then saw Jeff Overton and Martin Laird pass him, bumping him to 126th. Instead of a guaranteed spot in the Players Championship and any number of events he'd want to play, he is now relegated to conditional status, and has to hope there are openings in fields after they are filled with Q-school and Nationwide Tour graduates.

Or he could have tried to improve his position by going to Q-school -- except he never sent in his entry because he believed it wasn't necessary.

Bob Estes is another player who just missed the top 125, finishing 127th. He had the misfortune of scheduling his wedding for the weekend of the first playoff event, The Barclays. By skipping, he failed to qualify for the Deutsche Bank Championship and missed out on some big-money opportunities. Patrick Sheehan, Joe Durant, Charles Warren, Bob Tway, Jason Gore, Matt Jones and Jason Day all finished ahead of Williamson, within $90,000 of being fully exempt.

All remember instances that could have made the difference between being able to set their schedules and having to endure Q-school or a season of wondering if they can get into tournaments or not.

For Williamson, whose best finish on the money list was 101st in 2003, it appears that some reflection will take place before a decision on the future.

"I sent my Q-school application in," he said. "The problem is, I'm 41. I don't know what else I can do. I've got three young kids. I've got to make some money. I certainly can't retire. I'll probably go to Q-school when it's all said and done. I'm not trying to get religious, but I prayed really hard these last weeks and to miss the last six cuts, I wonder if someone is trying to tell me something. I'm not sure what that is.

"I just showed the difference between a really good player who can make a living out here and one who loses confidence. I made some adjustments and went the wrong way. And I just lost my job, one that I worked pretty hard to get the last few years. It's a tough thing."

Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.