Korn Ferry Tour
The Second Stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School (Q-School) is heading into the final two sites, with three of the five already completed and 47 total tickets punched to the Final Stage.
Starting in 2023, the PGA Tour returned to a system where the top five players from the final stage earn PGA Tour cards instead of going to the Korn Ferry Tour first.
The first three sites were The Landings Golf and Athletic Club (Deer Creek), Savannah, Ga., Robert Trent Jones (Highland/Marshwood), Dothan, Ala., and The Tesoro Club (Palmer), Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The two sites holding qualifiers this week are Valencia Country Club in Valencia, Calif., and Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta, Georgia.
Let's start with a preview of the upcoming sites, where players competing at the highest levels of collegiate and amateur golf just a year or two ago will tee it up alongside multiple-time PGA Tour winners.
Site: Valencia Country Club in Valencia, Calif.Date: Nov. 28 to Dec. 1.
Notable golfers: Nick Watney, Kyle Reifers,
Isaiah Salinda, D.J. Trahan, Bo Van Pelt, Kyle Stanley, David Longmire, Jamie Lovemark, Sangmoon Bae, Sam Fidone,
Devon Bling.
Several former PGA Tour stars in this field are playing alongside some former amateur and collegiate standouts. Nick Watney, Kyle Stanley, Bo Van Pelt, DJ Trahan, and Sangmoon Bae are all familiar names to professional golf fans -- with 10 PGA Tour wins between them.
Bae has had one of the most interesting journeys on and off the PGA Tour. He had to complete his mandatory military service for South Korea from 2016 to 2017 after participating in the 2015 President’s Cup. The PGA Tour then created a “mandatory obligation" exemption for Bae to return to the Tour after his military service was complete, similar to a medical exemption.
Nick Watney has five PGA Tour wins, Bo Van Pelt has one Tour win, D.J. Trahan has two PGA Tour wins, and Kyle Stanley has two PGA Tour wins.
Jamie Lovemark, 35, is a former top-ranked amateur in the world who made two All-American teams at USC but has yet to find similar success on the PGA Tour.
Devon Bling , a former UCLA standout, made it to the US Amateur Final against Viktor Hovland in 2018, losing 6&5 to the future Tour Champion. Bling turned pro in 2022.
Isaiah Salinda is a former Stanford standout who made the U.S. Amateur Round of 16 in 2019 and shot the competitive course record of 62 on the Lake Course at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.
FULL LEADERBOARDSite: Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta, Ga.Date: Nov. 28 to Dec. 1.
Notable golfers: Brandon Hagy, Matt Every, Blaine Hale, Mark Baldwin, George Bryan IV, Michael Gligic, Derek Ernst,
Ben Carr, Ryan Hall, Turk Petit, Seth Reeves, Luke Schniederjans, Rob Oppenheim,
Jacob Solomon, Curtis Thompson, Jared Wolfe, Tag Ridings.
Mark Baldwin has a great story that involves golf legend Phil Mickelson. Mickelson is no stranger to headlines, but this one was a positive for all involved. Baldwin is close friends with Ryan French, otherwise known as Monday Q School, on Twitter. French DM’ed Mickelson on Twitter, asking him to help Baldwin prepare for the second stage.
Mickelson immediately responded and wasn’t just willing to offer advice, however. He spent practically an entire weekend helping Baldwin. They played a nine-hole match at one of Mickelson’s local courses, and then, Mickelson invited Baldwin over to his backyard golf facility for a short-game tune-up and an additional 18 holes. Baldwin called it “the coolest experience” of his golf life when it was all over.
George Bryan, one-half of the YouTube and golf content creators “The Bryan Brothers”, just made his PGA Tour debut at the RSM Classic and made the cut. His brother, Wesley, is a former PGA Tour winner. Bryan is one of three all-time South Carolina to make three All-American teams.
Matt Every, a former standout at Florida, played in the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst as an amateur and finished T28. Every was a four-time All-American and three-time All-SEC at Florida. Unfortunately, Every has been suspended from the Tour twice for violating the drug policies, most recently in 2019.
Ben Carr Ben Carr finished as the 2022 U.S. Amateur runner-up to Sam Bennett at Ridgewood Country Club. The 2022-23 Sun Belt Golfer of the Year
made the cut as an amateur at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
Turk Petit resigned his Korn Ferry Tour membership after joining LIV Golf. Pettit's suspension expired on October 17, 2023, and if he regains his PGA Tour card, he would be the first former LIV Golf player to regain playing privileges on the PGA Tour. He won the NCAA Division I Men’s Championship at Clemson in 2021.
Tag Ridings is a 49-year-old mini tour grinder who has made 239 career PGA Tour starts.
FULL LEADERBOARDHere is a recap from the three sites where Stage II Qualifying has concluded.
Site: The Landings Golf and Athletic Club (Deer Creek), Savannah, Ga.Seventeen players advanced at 8-under or better.
Golfers to advance: Bryson Nimmer, Luke Long, Brandon Crick, Noah Goodwin, Daniel Summerhays, Spencer Ralston, Julian Suri, Reid Davenport, Andre Metzger, Grant Hirschman, Alistair Docherty, Tain Lee, Connor Howe, Noah Hofman, Ryan Blaum, Zach Bauchou, Joshua Creel.
Zimmer earned the medalist honors, shooting 15-under and 10-under 62 in the final round. The Clemson graduate turned pro in 2019 and has made 38 career starts on the PGA Tour.
Nimmer made just six cuts in 22 Korn Ferry Tour starts this season, finishing No. 141 on the season-long standings. Now, he has guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts for 2024 and will chase his first TOUR card at Final Stage.
Former PGA TOUR member Jim Knous finished 3-under, five shots back of the cut line.
Site: Robert Trent Jones (Highland/Marshwood), Dothan, Ala.Fifteen players advanced at 7-under.
Golfers to advance: Connor Burgess, Mark Goetz, Steven Fisk, Bryce Hendrix, Chad Hambright, Ryan Davis, Garett Reband, Alex Schaake, Blake McShea, Michael Arnaud, Keenan Huskey, James Swash, Nyasha Mauchaza, Mickey DeMorat, Marcus Byrd.
Connor Burgess and Mark Goetz earned co-medalist honors at 19-under. Goetz shot a 5-under 67 to close, while Burgess shot a 4-under 68. Burgess, a Virginia Tech alum, played one Korn Ferry Tour event this season, where he missed the cut. Goetz, who went to West Virginia University, played this season on PGA TOUR Canada, where he made seven of nine cuts.
Alex Schaake fired rounds of 66-66 to close things out and staged quite the comeback after opening with a 5-over 77. He climbed nine spots on the leaderboard in the final round to earn a spot at the Final Stage. Marcus Byrd earned one of the last spots at the Final Stage. Byrd won four times this season on the APGA Tour, a record. He played four events on the PGA TOUR this season, including The Genesis Invitational, where he was the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption winner.
Travis Vick, a former Texas standout who finished as the low amateur in the 2022 U.S. Open, finished tied for last at 15-over.
Site: The Tesoro Club (Palmer), Port St. Lucie, Fla.Fifteen players advanced at 4-under.
Golfers to advance: KK Limbhasut, Danny Walker, Davis Shore, Kristoffer Ventura, Van Holmgren, Brendon Jelley, Wes Homan, Alvaro Ortiz, Erik Compton, Cooper Dossey, Caleb Hicks, Dillon Board, John Pak, Dylan Meyer, Shunyat Hak.
Kristoffer Ventura, a former teammate of Viktor Hovland at Oklahoma State, finished at 9 under, two shots back of the medalist honor. He won twice in just 11 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 to earn a PGA TOUR card.
Dylan Meyer, who made his pro debut at the 2018 U.S. Open, where he finished T20, opened with a 78 but closed in 6-under 66 to advance on the number. Also making it to Final Stage was John Pak, who swept college golf’s Player of the Year awards in 2021, winning the Fred Haskins, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus awards.
Bo Hoag, last year’s medalist at Final Stage, shot 3-over and was seven shots back of the qualifying number.