Peterson hanging around cut line at Augusta

Last year's T4 effort at the U.S. Open at Olympic brought John Peterson a lot of things - confidence, recognition, a paycheck for over $276,000. Considering his lack of status at the time, on any tour, the paycheck may have been the most crucial.

Now a member of the Web.com Tour, Peterson enjoys a break from minor league action this week to take advantage of another of his U.S. Open perks. Based on his fourth-place finish at Olympic, Peterson earned a spot in this year's Masters, after making the cut in all four of his Web.com starts so far this year.

Peterson demonstrated no severe lack of Augusta knowledge in his opening round, birdieing two par-5's and compiling 15 pars en route to a 1-under 71 that left him safely inside the cut line.

Friday was not as fortunate for the former LSU star, however. Peterson struggled in the morning's windy conditions, double-bogeying the 7th as part of a 4-over 40 on the front nine and limping in with a 77. Barring a very strong finish by Tiger Woods or another of the players high on the leaderboard, though, Peterson should find himself around for the weekend. All players within 10 shots of the lead after two rounds are invited to compete on the weekend at the Masters, and the lead is currently 5-under as Friday play winds down (Peterson is 4-over).

Far removed from PGA Tour days, Wetterich struggles in Texas

When I caddied for Brett Wetterich last summer (albeit for four holes) at the United Leasing Championship, the former Ryder Cupper appeared to be in an interesting state of mind. The talent that brought him over $3 million in PGA Tour earnings in the 2006 season was there, sure. But the mental toughness - the desire to work hard, the strive for constant improvement - didn't seem to be there.

This week at the Web.com Tour's WNB Golf Classic in Midland, TX, another example of this potential apathy has came to light. Wetterich opened with a 6-over 78 and followed up with a 1-over front nine on Friday.

At the turn, Wetterich apparently had had enough. He withdrew from the event.

The WNB was only the second start of the year for Wetterich, who opened the season strong with a third-place finish at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, where he closed with a 65 and earned over $37,000. He chose not to travel to Brazil for last week's event, where he would have gained entry into the field based on his top-25 finish in Louisiana, but was able to tee it up in Texas due to standing as a former exempt PGA Tour member, according to the Tour's website.

Last year, Wetterich made three of seven PGA Tour cuts, with a top finish of T21 at the Reno-Tahoe Open. He made 15 Web.com starts, making seven cuts and finishing tied for 4th at this same event in Midland, which took place in late September.

When I talked to Wetterich's sister last summer in Indiana, she expressed concern that her brother would rather be hunting or fishing than playing golf, a desire that hindered his motivation to get his game back in order. He did finish the Web.com season fairly well in 2012, making five of his last six cuts with two top-15 finishes, but his $44,365 in earnings was short of the amount he needed to retain full exemption.

Seven years ago, Wetterich had a dream PGA Tour season, notching six top-tens and winning the Byron Nelson Championship to surge into the worldwide golf consciousness. Five years ago this week, Wetterich could be seen at Augusta National, playing the Masters alongside golf's biggest names.

Now? He's walking off the course at a Web.com event in Midland, TX, seven-over par through 27 holes and nowhere near the cut line.

Golf's a funny game.

Johnson makes cut in season debut, ready to make a run

After being shut out of Web.com Tour play through the first part of the season (aside from declining a spot in Chile's event a few weeks ago), Kevin Johnson knew that it was important to capitalize on his entry into last week's Brasil Classic.

The 45-year-old delivered. Johnson burst out of the gate with four birdies in his first ten holes on Thursday and played steady enough golf the rest of the way to easily make the cut at 4-under. A 69-71 effort on the weekend left him with a solid, if not spectacular, T37 effort that gives him at least a fighting chance to enter more fields as the summer wears on.

"I should be getting in more after the shuffle before BMW in a few weeks," KJ said. "Hopefully get on a roll after that."

As the Tour periodically reshuffles players based on season earnings, conditionally exempt players such as KJ know the importance of making cuts when they have the opportunity. Without cashing a paycheck, a player has no spot on the reshuffle. This is the problem Jeff Brehaut ran into last year when his reshuffle number was never high enough for him to enter a field - he made the cut on a sponsor exemption in Wichita, but finished T51 and the June event occurred too late in the year for Brehaut's earnings to help him out too much.

As KJ told me, the next reshuffle will occur before the BMW Charity Pro-Am in South Carolina in mid-May, with this week's WNB Classic along with two Georgia events standing in the way. A top-25 finish in Brazil would have granted KJ automatic entry into the WNB, and he began the final round a shot behind at T26, but he never really generated momentum in a final-round 71 that pushed him 11 spots back.

With a large field spread across three courses, KJ has a fighting chance to gain entry into the BMW, but nothing is for certain. All he knows is that he needs to take advantage of playing opportunities when he has them: make cuts, get top-25's if possible, and know that every shot (and every accompanying dollar) is important.

At the very least, his $3,179 paycheck in Brazil puts him in the conversation.

Gove turns in solid week in Texas

Jeff Gove has been struggling this year to achieve the one elementary aspect of a successful season: making cuts.

At last week's Valero Texas Open, Gove went about changing that.

Struggling to make it into fields after missing a string of cuts to begin the year, the veteran finally made a cut last month in Puerto Rico's opposite-field event the week of Doral before patiently waiting for another opportunity. It came at the Valero, where Gove made the cut and closed strong with a 2-under 70 to turn in a T46 effort.

For his 71-73-75-70 week, Gove earned $16,580, his largest paycheck of the year after collecting $7,700 in Puerto Rico.

Now at No. 196 on the money list after beginning the week at No. 210, Gove has at least a fighting chance to gain entry into more fields once the next reshuffle hits. The late spring and summer months are usually easier for entry, as fields are larger and some of the more affluent players choose to take weeks off to spend with their families. Gove has no such luxury if he wishes to keep his card for next year, and he will have to play whenever he can.

This being Masters week, many lower-ranking PGA Tour players have decided to enter the field in the Web.com Tour's WNB Golf Classic, but Gove has elected to take the week off from tournament play. He is unlikely to make it into next week's RBC Heritage, the popular post-Masters event with a compressed field at Hilton Head's Harbour Town Golf Links.

Late in his round on Friday, Gove was in danger of missing the cut (which ultimately fell at 1-over) after shooting 2-over on the front nine to fall to 1-over on the week. A bogey on the 12th meant that he would have to play under-par golf the rest of the way to stick around, and he responded with an eagle on the par-5 14th and parred in to fall safely inside the cut line.

Return to action for a couple of veterans

When the field was released for the Valero Texas Open, now the PGA Tour's tune-up for the Masters, Jeff Gove's name was there. Gove has struggled to make it into fields this week due to his lack of earnings to start the year, and he is getting to the point where he needs to take advantage of his opportunities if he wishes to stick around later in the year.

Gove did play in and make the cut in last month's Puerto Rico Open, an opposite-field event to the World Golf Championship event at Doral, but this is his first start in the Tour's 'premier' event for the week since early February in Pebble Beach. In Puerto Rico, Gove easily made the cut thanks to a sizzling 65 in the second round, but leveled off with a pair of 71's on a low-scoring weekend to finish in a tie for 57th.

Aside from Gove, Kevin Johnson will make his first start of the year this week on the Web.com circuit, in the Tour's event in Brazil. KJ was in the field in Chile but withdrew early in the week, likely not feeling that the lengthy trip would be worth it. As of now, he appears ready to tee it up in Brazil, with a 7:10 a.m. (local time) tee time on Thursday with Andrew Putnam and Joe Bramlett.