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Compton in, Villegas out in last Q School

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:14:00 GMT

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- This was the last day of the last Q School, so maybe it was appropriate that Mac O'Grady was there to pay homage. A local resident, O'Grady was the standard bearer of Q School futility and an example the requisite perseverance.

None has persevered to the degree that Erik Compton has. Compton, 32, retained his PGA Tour exemption on Monday, even threatening the lead at one point, 4 1/2 years following his second heart transplant.

"Six rounds of tour school is hell week," said Compton, who played the PGA Tour this year, but finished 165th on the money list to precipitate a return to Q School, as the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament is called. "For me to be able to have a chance to win tour school, six rounds, four years after what I went through, you can't even dream a story like that. Maybe I made it look easy, but it's not."

Related: Tales from Q School

Compton shot 67 on the Stadium Course at PGA West in the last of six rounds and eventually finished tied for seventh, three strokes behind medalist Dong-hwan Lee. The top 25 and ties from a field of 172 earned PGA Tour exemptions for 2013.

Among them was Lee, one of three South Koreans to qualify, but not the most notable. That distinction goes to Si Woo Kim, 17, the youngest player in the field, who won't be eligible for PGA Tour membership until his 18th birthday, June 28, 2013.

Kim, who tied for 20th, can play as many as 12 tour events as a non-member (via sponsor exemptions or top 10s).

Si Woo Kim became the youngest Q School qualifier ever on Monday. Photo: Victor Decolongon/Getty

As is often the case, this Q School was at least as noteworthy for who failed to qualify as who succeeded. Included in the former group is three-time PGA Tour winner Camilo Villegas, who closed with a 69 on the Stadium Course, but came up two strokes short and tied for 32nd. He will have to rely on sponsor exemptions to play the tour in 2013.

"I still have conditional status, so hopefully I'll get in some tournaments next year," he said. "I've always tried to be very polite and good with sponsors, and if that's the case it'll be good. I'm going to need a little love from them. At the end of the day if you're good enough to be on the PGA Tour you'll be on the PGA Tour."

He called it a reality check, as it was as well for Patrick Cantlay, 20, once the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world. Cantlay tied for 95th here, which gives him conditional status on the Web.com Tour next year.

"It is disappointing," Cantlay said. "But it's just one week of golf. I just played badly."

England's Ross Fisher, meanwhile, tied for second, the difference a tee shot in the water at 18. Fisher is a four-time winner on the European Tour, who drew inspiration Monday from his playing partner, Compton.

"It's absolutely a privilege to play with such an inspirational player as Erik Compton," Fisher said. "When you think that times are hard or you're down you have to look at a guy like Erik."

To a lesser degree, one might want to draw as well on the example of O'Grady, who went to Q School 16 times before earning PGA Tour membership on his 17th attempt.

Heath Slocum, who has played the tour full time every year since 2002 and has won four times and more than $15 million, understands the equation, even if he failed to produce the correct answer here. He tied for 32nd, two strokes short.

"The best players find their way out there," he said pragmatically. "If I'm in that class, I'll be back out there soon."

The 26 players who earned exemptions:
Dong-hwon Lee
Ross Fisher
Steve LeBrun
Richard H. Lee
Billy Horschel
Kris Blanks
Erik Compton
Brad Fritsch
Jin Park
Fabian Gomez
Michael Letzig
Jeff Gove
Steve Bowditch
Matt Jones
Robert Karlsson
Eric Meierdierks
Scott Langley
Aaron Watkins
Derek Ernst
Si Woo Kim
Tad Ridings
Donald Constable
Bobby Gates
Patrick Reed
Henrik Norlander
Chez Reavie

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Q School: Villegas on verge of losing tour exemption

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:34:00 GMT

By John Strege

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- The PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, otherwise known as Q School, often generates more significant news for failures than successes, as might be the case in the final round on the Stadium and Nicklaus Tournament courses at PGA West Monday.

Camilo Villegas, once a rock star of sorts in golf, is on the outside looking in 11 holes into his final round on the Stadium Course. A three-time PGA Tour winner who once was No. 7 in the World Ranking, was tied for 39th. The top 25 plus ties at the end of play today will earn PGA Tour exemptions for 2013. Villegas stands at 13-under par. The cutoff number currently stands at 16-under par.

Photo by Getty Images

Meanwhile, Patrick Cantlay, once the most heralded amateur in the world, won't earn his PGA Tour membership. Cantlay, 20, the college player of the year in 2011 while at UCLA, is tied for 116th and will have only conditional status on the Web.com Tour in 2013. Cantlay holds the PGA Tour record for lowest round by an amateur, a 60 in the Travelers Championship in 2011.

Other notable players who won't earn PGA Tour exemptions are Shaun Micheel, who won the PGA Championship in 2003, and Todd Hamilton, the winner of the British Open in 2004.

There is a six-way tie for the lead at 22-under par: Billy Horschel, Steve LeBrun, Derek Ernst, Kris Blanks, Ross Fisher, Jin Park and Dong-hwan Lee.

Erik Compton, twice a heart transplant recipient, is tied for eighth in his bid to retain his PGA Tour exemption.

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Tales From Q School

John Strege — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

In honor of the final Q School John Strege brings you some of the more memorable moments -- the good, the bad and the ugly.

The ordeal that is Q school to begin its final chapter

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:23:00 GMT

By Bill Fields

It made it to middle age and caused a lot of gray hair in the process.

PGA Tour Qualifying School, 1965-2012.

The beginning of the end of a sports institution commences Tuesday morning with the first stage of qualifying school at six locations after pre-qualifiers last month. First stage will be conducted at 14 venues, followed by six second-stage qualifiers next month, with the 108-hole finals scheduled Nov. 28-Dec. 3 at PGA West, where the top 25 finishers and ties will earn 2013 PGA Tour privileges.

Anthony Kim is one of many to earn PGA Tour playing privileges through Q School.

Q school is out for good after this fall, its 47-year role as a gateway to the PGA Tour over. Starting in 2013, as part of a drastic makeover of the PGA Tour's competitive calendar -- the new season will start in October -- Q school will only award cards to the Web.com Tour.

Instead, a three-tournament series blending golfers who have done well on the Web.com Tour and not so well on the PGA Tour will take place. Fifty golfers will earn PGA Tour exemptions for 2014 through the series, the top 25 on the Web.com circuit guaranteed status as is currently the case, their pecking order up for grabs.

Q school, the place with the loudest silence in golf, where shots that mean so much are witnessed by so few, will drift into golf's closet of what-has-been.

While the closed-shop argument put forth when the demise of Q school was first percolating has merit (although golfers who have apprenticed on the Web.com Tour have historically done better on the PGA Tour), the only people who have ever loved Q school are those who have never played in one.

A golfer can become infamous at Q school but not famous. It is a pass-fail exam, and the failures have tended to get more attention than the successes. Most of the blunders that have become grisly lore happen late -- during the back nine on Monday of the finals -- but pressure builds, and games crack, in anonymity much earlier.

"Due to the sheer scale of the event, the stories that get passed around are of players who get through 99 or 100 holes in great position, then fall apart for keeps, scattering strokes all over the final homeward nine," David Gould writes in his richly-detailed 1999 book, Q School Confidential: Inside Golf's Cruelest Tournament. "Behind these easily spotted tragedies are the untold stories of players whose courage ran dry at an isolated moment, doing swift but permanent damage that the player alone can appreciate."

But plenty of golfers also show sporting bravery at Q school, coming through in the clutch despite sweaty palms and nervous stomachs to attain -- or, often, regain -- the chance to live out a dream.

Golf, especially Q school, is about keeping on and plugging away. No one showed more perseverance at Q school than Mac O'Grady who qualified 30 years ago on his 17th attempt despite shooting 79-76 in the opening two of his six rounds at the finals.

Donnie Hammond won that Q school at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass CC by a record 14 shots, but Q school is one tournament where winning really doesn't matter. A golfer just needs to be "inside the number." That fall those who got PGA Tour cards along with Hammond and O'Grady were Nick Price, Dan Forsman, Ken Green, Russ Cochran, Loren Roberts, Tom Lehman and Jeff Sluman.

Among the competitors in 2012's first stage are a Wadkins (Travis), a Tway (Kevin) and a Sindelar (Jamie).

There is also a Nicklaus.

That's Nicklaus Newcomb, a young Kentuckian in the field at Madison, Miss.

At Q school, it is about the game not the name, but a little karma never hurt.

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(Photo by AP Images)

Another piece of PGA Tour puzzle appears to be settled

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:51:00 GMT

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Another piece of the 2013-2014 PGA Tour puzzle appears to have been settled.

The current Fall Finish events that will move to the beginning of a split-calendar season in 2013 are likely to be worth full FedEx Cup points. The PGA Tour Policy Board still has to vote on the measure, but that was the recommendation the board received from Player Advisory Council, which met Tuesday at the RBC Heritage.

The tournaments in question are the Justin Timberlake Shriner's Hospital for Children Open, Fry's.com Open, The McGladrey Classic and the Children's Miracle Network Classic. Additional co-sanctioned events in Asia like the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic also would be worth full FedEx Cup points.

Photo by Getty Images

"The thinking was that if we're going to go through all this trouble to change the schedule and incorporate the fall events into the regular season, the points should be equal to the other events on the schedule," said Jim Furyk, one of four players on the Policy Board.

Hey, Nobilo, you and the Tour got it wrong about Q-school! We need it.

Bob Carney — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:26:00 GMT

Yesterday the Tour officially ended what had become over decades the most excruciating week in golf: Q-school. Henceforth, the Nationwide "developmental" Tour will be the path to the big time. Golf Channel commentator Frank Nobilo...

Despite What Some Say, Changing Q School Is Good For The Pro Game

Frank Nobilo — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

John Huh is a wonderful story, but Q school doesn't always serve the game's best interests.

Like Them Or Not, Changes Are Coming To The PGA Tour

John Feinstein — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

John Feinstein discusses the proposed changes to the 2013 PGA Tour schedule.

Colt Knost's hot streak continues in Hawaii

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:45:00 GMT

HONOLULU -- Colt Knost begins his second round Friday at the Sony Open in Hawaii three strokes off the lead set by Canada's Graeme DeLaet and still feeling like he can roll 7s and 11s and hit blackjack at will.

And who cares if today is Friday the 13th, no less?

It's a feeling born of good fortune plucked from the pit of dyspeptic despair that golfers know only too well.

Knost, 26, of Dallas, didn't even expect to get into the season's first full field event on the PGA Tour this week at Waialae CC after being among the last men to earn his tour card last month at the National Qualifying Tournament in La Quinta, Calif. The numbers fell right. They have been of late.

Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Just consider the manner in which Knost secured the card. Last month at Q-School he had walked off the last green in tears after making a double-bogey on the final hole at the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West. He fell to 8 under for the tournament, right on the cut line.

GW Monday: Is Q School about to change?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:32:00 GMT

From the Dec. 12 issue of Golf World Monday:

For all the angst it has caused since it began in 1965, PGA Tour Qualifying School has also been a gateway of dreams and an on-ramp to bigger things. Survive the stress, earn a card -- the rest was up to you. It's no surprise, then, that news of the potential demise of this enduring institution after 2012 has created a lot of chatter.

Brendon Todd was recently medalist at Q School.

The PGA Tour is considering changes that would stop Q school from being a direct path to the PGA Tour. Currently, cards go to the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour money list (the class of 2011 is shown) and 25 from Q school.

Instead, all 50 PGA Tour cards would be determined through a three-tournament series comprised of Nos. 1-75 on the Nationwide Tour money list and 75 players (Nos. 126-200) who didn't qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Q school would be only for earning status on the Nationwide Tour.

Several factors are behind the potential shake-up, including the PGA Tour's attempt to obtain a new sponsor for the developmental circuit after Nationwide departs next year and the fact that players with Nationwide Tour experience have retained their PGA Tour cards at a much higher percentage than those without it (87 percent vs. 13 percent in the last six years).

Related: Five historic Q School grads

Still, during that same period J.B. Holmes, Anthony Kim, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson and Rickie Fowler (among others) went from college to Q school to PGA Tour success. The success of those young stars, a couple of whom the tour utilizes in its marketing, will make it difficult to completely end Q school as we know it.

-- Bill Fields

(Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)