San Marcos — Gabe Reynolds is paying his dues on the way to becoming a PGA Tour golfer.

Reynolds, a former Texas State golfer, knew the road to the PGA Tour would be tough. He just didn’t know how difficult it would be emotionally and financially.

As a member of the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series, Reynolds pays $850 per tournament he plays. That’s on top of the $1,500 yearly membership fee.

“The way people get weeded out of this tour is to just run out of money,” Reynolds said. “You have to keep playing your best golf or your account starts running in the red. People you know drop left and right because they can’t afford to keep chasing their dream.”

Reynolds was one of those players who had to put his PGA Tour hopes on hold after running low on cash.

Last year, he wasn’t making enough cuts and had to drop out of Adams Pro Tour. Reynolds resorted to doing what any professional golfer would dread — caddying at a local country club.

He was forced to carry the clubs of amateurs with half his talent but double his money.

“Caddying was extremely tough for me, because I had to swallow my pride,” Reynolds said. “I was carrying someone else’s clubs when I should have been working on my own game trying to get better.”

Once Reynolds got enough money to resume his dream, he quit caddying. Reynolds also stopped shaving his chin and grew a foot-long goatee.

“When you’re caddying, you have to look the way the management company wants you to look,” Reynolds said. “Once I found a sponsor for this year and was all set to play and knew that all I had to was play golf. It was kind of a cool thing to remind myself that you’re not going to work today, you’re going to play golf.”

Reynolds resumed his professional career in March and has been playing his best golf ever since.

He entered 14 events in 2009 and only missed two cuts. Reynolds had three top-five finishes, earned $24,067 and averaged 70.63 strokes per round.

Reynolds recently won the 2009 San Antonio Open by carding a 5-under 139. It was his first tournament win in seven years.

“Once I started focusing on golf again, it’s been great,” Reynolds said. “You just can’t make money your focus. It becomes overwhelming. Golf is difficult enough trying to focus on the sport.”

After Reynolds won the San Antonio Open, he reorganized his plans to reach the PGA Tour.

In order to qualify for the PGA Tour, Reynolds must finish among the Top 24 golfers in the Qualifying Tournament, which runs from October to December of every year. He has never played well enough to make it to the final stage.

“I think the thing that held me back was just not making enough putts, but every golfer is going to say that,” Reynolds said. “It just comes down to the golfers who are the toughest mentally. You can’t worry about how cold your clubs are or what kind of lies you’re going to get. You have to get out there and play your best no matter what happens.”

His next tournament is in December and once the calendar hits 2010, Reynolds plans on playing in 11 more tournaments than the previous year. Reynolds feels it will prepare himself better mentally and physically for the grind of attempting to qualify for the PGA Tour.

Until Reynolds gets his shot at the PGA Tour, he’ll be resigned to playing pay-for-pay tournaments, just waiting for his shot.

“The mini-tour isn’t the most glamorous life,” Reynolds said. “I’m leaving my gorgeous wife behind and staying in Motel 6s. As a competitor, you want to play against the best in the world, but when the reality of where you are doesn’t match up with where you dream yourself to be, it’s tough.”

Yet, Reynolds will still continue to tee it up at every tournament and hope for the best.

“You have to focus on the next step, the next shot,” Reynolds said. “You can’t dwell too long on the good things or the bad things that are happening. You just have to keep playing.”