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PGA Tour qualifying begins this week and ends in December in Ponte Vedra. How will it work?

Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
·8 min read
Mike Weir was one of the players in the field for the Korn Ferry Tour Challenge in June of 2020 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley. It was the last time PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour players competed in an official event at the Valley.
Mike Weir was one of the players in the field for the Korn Ferry Tour Challenge in June of 2020 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley. It was the last time PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour players competed in an official event at the Valley.

A three-month road to the First Coast begins this week for the reimagined PGA Tour qualifying process.

PGA Tour Q-School presented by Korn Ferry starts with eight 54-hole pre-qualifying tournaments in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Illinois and California that will be played late this week and next week.

The Georgia pre-qualifier is Sept. 20-22 at the Brunswick Country Club. Among the players in the field will be Golden Isles residents Bradley Arrington, Ben Boyle, Aaron George, Cody Montgomery and Christopher Williard, and past First Coast Amateur champion Trevor Hulbert.

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Two First Coast residents will be playing in the North Carolina pre-qualifier at The Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis on the same dates, Sam Ohno of Ponte Vedra Beach and Neal Pease of St. Augustine. Playing in the Alabama event at the RTJ Golf Trail Canyon/Loblolly Courses is 2016 Junior Players champion Khavish Varadan.

Depending on the size of the fields, a certain number of finishers will advance to one of 13 72-hole first-stage qualifiers that will be played between Oct. 10-27. First-stage survivors will advance to one of five 72-hole second-stage events between Nov. 14-Dec. 1.

The last step: the PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage qualifier Dec. 14-17 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course and the Sawgrass Country Club. Each participant will play two rounds at those courses with the top-five finishers, plus ties, earning PGA Tour cards for the 2024 season.

The next 25 finishers, plus ties, will earn Korn Ferry Tour status through the third reshuffle of the 2024 season. The next 15 will have status through the second reshuffle.

Everyone else who reaches the final stage will have Korn Ferry Tour membership and will also be exempt to the Latin American Swing of the 2024 PGA Tour Americas season.

It will be the first time since 2012 that the national qualifier has had PGA Tour cards at stake. Since 2013, it meant membership only to the Korn Ferry Tour.

But there’s a bit more to the process than just progressing from one stage to another. At each step, beginning with first-stage qualifying, players who have competed on professional tours worldwide or have strong amateur credentials will have exemptions. Here’s how that works:

First stage

There are 11 exemptions to the first stage, including anyone who held membership since 2021 on the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, Japan Golf Tour, the Korea Professional Golf Association, the DP World Tour, PGA Tour Australiasia, the Sunshine Tour (South Africa), PGA Tour Latinoamerica or PGA Tour Canada.

Also exempt to first stage are players who reached second stage qualifying for the last three years of the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying process, top-50 in first stage, a participant in a major or The Players in 2022, between No. 101-200 on the World Golf Rankings as of Sept. 11 or who played in the 2023 PGA Professional Championship or made the cut in the 2022 PGA Assistant Professional Championship.

Taylor Funk of Ponte Vedra Beach has the option of competing in first stage qualifying of PGA Tour Q-School based on his finish on PGA Tour Canada in 2023.
Taylor Funk of Ponte Vedra Beach has the option of competing in first stage qualifying of PGA Tour Q-School based on his finish on PGA Tour Canada in 2023.

There are also avenues for amateurs. First-stage qualifying is open to members of the 2021 and 2023 Walker Cup teams, those ranked between No. 6-25 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking as of Sept. 6 and semifinalists of the last three U.S. Amateurs or finalists of the last two U.S. Mid-Amateurs.

Among the area players meeting those criteria are Taylor Funk and Travis Trace from PGA Tour Canada.

Second stage

There are 17 categories of exemption to the second stage. Among them are any PGA Tour member from 2022-23, Korn Ferry Tour winners since 2020, the players from No. 61-85 on the final 2023 Korn Ferry Tour points list (to be determined after the final three Korn Ferry Tour Finals events), any player who has made 50 or more PGA Tour cuts, anyone who made the cut in a major or The Players Championship last season and the Nos. 2-5 money-leaders on the pro tours from Japan, Korea, South Africa, Australia and Asia.

The top-five on the World Amateur Rankings, Nos. 6-20 on the 2023 PGA Tour University rankings, the top-five finishers at the PGA Professional Championship also are exempt to second stage.

Final stage

When the survivors of the second-stage qualifiers arrive in Ponte Vedra, they will be met by players who have met a dozen other exemption categories to the final stage.

Chandler Blanchet of Atlantic Beach resereved a spot in final stage PGA Tour Q-School by winning the PGA Tour Latinoamerica points series.
Chandler Blanchet of Atlantic Beach resereved a spot in final stage PGA Tour Q-School by winning the PGA Tour Latinoamerica points series.

Those include the top-40 available players between No. 125-200 on the 2023 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list, the leading money-winners on the international professional tours and the top-five players from PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica.

The final category was claimed by Chandler Blanchet of Atlantic Beach, who won the PGA Tour Latinoamerica Tour Championship to claim first on the Totalplay Cup points list.

Why Q-School?

That’s been the shorthand for the PGA Tour’s qualifying process since the 1970s when there were two six-round qualifiers each year. During the competition, the players also received classes from the PGA Tour staff in finance, the rules of golf and media and fan relations.

That will be the case again. On Dec. 18, the day after the final round of the final stage, rookies who have qualified for either the PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour will have sessions on what to expect from professional golf at the Tour’s Global Home.

Q-School tales

Of course, between this week and the final week in Ponte Vedra, the Q-School success and horror stories from back in the day will resurface. The latter seems to resonate in history more than the former.

Mark McCumber needed eight trips to the PGA Tour Q-School before earning his PGA Tour card. After finally prevailing, he went on to record 10 PGA Tour victories and the 1988 Players Championship.
Mark McCumber needed eight trips to the PGA Tour Q-School before earning his PGA Tour card. After finally prevailing, he went on to record 10 PGA Tour victories and the 1988 Players Championship.

Some of the more notable:

  • David Gossett shot 59 in one of his 2000 Q-School rounds at PGA West in La Quinta. He also never shot in the 60s in the other five rounds and failed to earn his Tour card.

  • Jaxon Brigman signed for a 66 in the final round of the 1999 Q-School. Turns out he gave himself one more stroke than he actually took and had a 65, which would have qualified on the number. But he had to take the 66 and missed his card by one. He later called it, "like a death in the family."

  • Tim O'Neal was two shots ahead of the number to earn his Tour card with two holes to play 2000. He went bogey-triple bogey.

  • Sean Pacetti of Palatka needed to par the final hole at PGA West in 2004 to qualify, but hooked his tee shot in the water and made a triple.

  • One of the notable stories of perseverance was Mark McCumber of Jacksonville, who finally got his Tour card after eight attempts to qualify. He went on to win 10 times and the 1988 Players Championship.

But Q-School success is no guarantee of the future.

  • Paul Tesori of St. Augustine got his Tour card in 1996 but an auto accident during the off-season marred his rookie year and his swing, and he never recovered. Tesori has, however, gone on to be one of the most successful PGA Tour caddies in recent history.

  • Ty Tryon of Orlando became the youngest player to earn his card at Q-School at the age of 17 in 2001. But he missed most of his rookie season with mononucleosis and soon lost his Tour card, never to return.

Where they’re playing

There will be competition on 28 courses in 14 states and all four time zones. There will be five courses in Florida used, four in Texas and three each in Georgia, Alabama and California.

Pre-qualifying stage (54 holes)

  • Sept. 13-15: Bull Valley Golf Club, Woodstock, Ill.; Ironwood Country Club, Palm Desert, Calif.; Sand Creek Station Golf Course, Newton, Kan.

  • Sept. 20-22: Brunswick (Ga.) Country Club; RTJ Golf Trail Cambrian Ridge, Greenville, Ala.; The Club at Irish Creek, Kannapolis, N.C.; Sand Ridge Golf Club, Chardon, Ohio.

  • Sept. 27-29: The Bridges Golf Club, Gunter, Texas.

First stage (72 holes)

  • Oct. 10-13: AK-CHIN Southern Dunes Golf Course, Maricopa, Ariz.; Omni Resort at ChampionsGate; Muskogee (Okla.) Golf Club; Wilderness Ridge, Lincoln, Neb.

  • Oct. 17-20: Bear Creek Golf Club, Murrieta, Calif.; Lake Caroline Golf Club, Madison, Miss.; Rockwell (Texas) Golf and Athletic Club; The Falls Club at the Palm Beaches, Lake Worth; University of New Mexico Golf Club.

  • Oct. 24-27: Abilene (Texas) Country Club; Bermuda Run (N.C.), Country Club; RTJ Golf Trail, Magnolia Grove, Mobile, Ala.; Walden on Lake Conroe Golf Course, Montgomery, Texas.

Second stage (72 holes)

  • Nov. 14-17: RTJ Golf Trail at Highland Oaks, Dothan, Ala.; Tesoro Club, Port St. Lucie; The Landings Golf and Athletic Club, Deer Creek Course, Savannah, Ga.

  • Nov. 28-Dec. 1: Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, Valdosta, Ga.; Valencia (Calif.) Country Club.

Final stage (72 holes)

  • Dec. 14-17: TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley; Sawgrass Country Club, Ponte Vedra Beach.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Chase for the cards: PGA Tour 'Q-School' process begins this week