"This has the potential to be one of the great sports stories of our time."

Don't miss Steve Elling's look at Madalitso Muthiya, whose backstory really is incredible and one of the all time great Q-school tales, even if after a fourth round 69 he appears headed for the Nationwide Tour he's obviously got game.

His presence is movie-of-the-week fare, probably best suited for the Hallmark or Disney channels. It's inspiration, perspiration and dedication rolled into one 5-foot-8, 160-pound package. Muthiya might be short on golf experience compared to many of his silver-spoon, coached and coddled American peers, but he's wise beyond his 24 years.

"I think he is more prepared than a lot of these guys, to be honest," said Glen Millican, Muthiya's college coach at New Mexico. "He's always had to figure everything out on his own.

"He showed up here with a golf bag and a duffel bag filled with his clothes, and that's it. But he was in our top 5 by the end of the year and he did it on his own."

No knock on Woods, who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in suburban Southern California, but his tale doesn't hold a candle compared to Muthiya's personal perseverance. For perspective, consider some of the particulars about Zambia, a country of 11 million residents that, until 1964, was under British rule and known as Northern Rhodesia.