Final Round Preview

It’s final stage at Q-school, where 176 players are battling for PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour cards. Here’s a simple breakdown of who gets what and what it actually means for next season.

Five
The top five finishers in Florida earn PGA Tour cards for 2026. One important tweak this year: it’s only five cards. No ties. The last two years, ties got in. This year? Playoff. I don’t love the change, but a playoff for a PGA Tour card is going to be pure chaos in the best way.

The Next 40 and Ties
After the five PGA Tour cards, the next 40 and ties earn exempt KFT status. That means guaranteed starts through either the second reshuffle (10 events) or the third reshuffle (14 events) of the 2026 season.

A key note here: plenty of players in this field are already fully exempt on KFT for next season. They’re only here chasing a PGA Tour card. But they still count toward the “Next 40.” So if 20 already-exempt guys finish inside the Next 40, that leaves only 20 plus ties new exempt players.

Everyone Else
Every player at final stage is a conditional KFT member—even if a guy finishes dead last by 20 shots. But anyone outside the Next 40 isn’t guaranteed starts. With all the changes on the PGA Tour, no one really knows how fields will shake out, but if you miss the number by one or two, you’ll get some starts. Three or four? Maybe a few. Below that? Dicey. Very dicey.

Everyone outside the guaranteed KFT category will also have full Americas Tour membership.

Why Conditional Membership Matters
Conditional players are eligible for the reshuffle. This matters because if they get into an event via Monday qualifying or a sponsor exemption and then actually play well, they can jump way up the priority ranking and turn one start into several more.

What Is a Reshuffle
Think of it as a re-ranking. Fields are built off a giant priority list, basically 1 through 250-ish, based on last season’s (mainly) or previous season’s performance. A few times each year, after a set number of events, the Tour hits the reset button on part of that ranking.

Example
Let’s say a guy finishes last at Q-school. His initial priority number is so bad he won’t get into anything. But he Monday Q’s into the third event, makes the cut, and finishes T10. After the first reshuffle (after the fifth event), he gets re-ranked and suddenly jumps way up the list. Now he’s getting starts. After the 10th event, it reshuffles again. And so on.

(Yes, this is deep in the weeds, but this is how guys go from “no status” to “surprisingly full season.”)

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The courses: 

Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass- 6,847 yards, Par 72, rating 74.0, Slope 134

Sawgrass Country Club- 7,069, Par 72, rating 74.9, Slope 146

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PGA Tour winners in the field

Luke List

Cameron Champ

Adam Hadwin

Jim Herman

Ted Potter Jr.

Ben Martin

SY Noh

Lanto Griffin

Russell Knox

Taylor Moore

Trey Mullinax

Nick Hardy

Andrew Putnam

Camilo Villegas

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Player with the most world wide wins

Ryo Ishikawa- The 34-year-old has 20 Japan Tour wins. After struggling a bit in his first go around on the PGA Tour, he looks to get back. 

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Highest ranked in OWGR

Doug Ghim- 146th

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Former LIV members

Turk Pettit

Travis Smyth

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Podcast guests from this week

Callum McNeill

Beau Breault

David Carey

Michael Miller

Andre Chi

Listen to our podcast here Apple Spotify

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Players who went from Pre-Q to Final Stage

Parker Holekamp

Greyson Leach

Tyler Leach

Marshall Meisel

Tyler Wilkes (h/t to Korn Ferry Tour for this stat) 

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Former NCAA Champs

Fred Biondi- Read my story about his climb back here. 

Braden Thornberry

Pettit 

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Opera Singers (no, really)

Jay Card III

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Other players I’ve written stories about in the past 

Hunter Eichhorn- How a kid from a tiny little town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan became a pro golfer. Read it here

JJ Grey- Why Sam Asbury will be with him always

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GOATS

Spencer Levin

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Crosshanded Player

Patrick Welch

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TV: 

It will be on Golf Channel, not sure of what times. I’ll tweet out times. 

‍Leaderboard

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