The Q-school season is almost over. DPWT, LIV, and PGA Tour all finished their Q-schools over the past month. The Asian Tour final stage in January will officially conclude the season.
At TPC Sawgrass in Florida, the PGA Tour handed out five PGA Tour cards and 40 more exempt KFT cards. To put a bow on the season, I profiled the five players who earned PGA Tour cards. I also highlighted some of the heartbreaks and clutch performances from the rest of the field.
Harrison Endycott
Age: 26
Turned Pro: 2017
Endycott had the least amount of pressure of the five who ended up earning PGA Tour cards. He finished 136th in FedEx points this season and had a conditional status for next season already locked up. That being said, there are 550,000 reasons why it was a huge win.
Players that have full status get a $500,000 advance to begin the season. The money is an advance on tournament winnings with the remaining balance forgiven if a player fails to reach $500K in earnings. Endycott would not have been eligible for the advance as a conditional member. In addition to becoming a full PGA Tour member, Endycott also earned $50,000 for topping the leaderboard.
Trace Crowe
Age: 27
Turned Pro: 2020
In early July, Crowe was in danger of falling so far down the KFT points list that he would miss out on events. In late July at the NV5 Invitational in Chicago, Crowe was the last player in the field. That week, he shot a four-round total of 25-under and won in a playoff. He finished the season 38th in points, just eight spots short of earning a PGA Tour card. The former Auburn Tiger went into Q-school knowing he had a place to play next year. After finishing second this week, that place to play is now the PGA Tour.
Blaine Hale Jr
Age: 26
Turned Pro: 2019
Hale is exactly why Q-school is so great. After a solid college career, Hale turned pro and although he has found success on the mini-tours, he had yet to get through Q-school. Hale began Q-school with the same hope all the players have: a PGA Tour card. 12 rounds later, he earned his card and in a few short weeks, will tee it up at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Hayden Springer
Age: 2006
Turned Pro: 2019
If you are a subscriber you know Hayden's story. I have been lucky enough to know the Springers for a few years and am ecstatic that Hayden got his card. Just a month after losing their daughter, Springer will head to the PGA Tour. It is the story of the year. I hope he wins the Sony.
Raul Pereda
Age: 27
Turned Pro: 2018
Pereda has played very well on the LatinoAmerican Tour for multiple seasons, but hasn't been able to make the jump to the Korn Ferry Tour. He will now skip that step and head directly to the PGA Tour, where he has just one career start. A third-round 66 at the more difficult Sawgrass Country Club propelled Pereda up the leaderboard, and despite a tough start to the final round with an early double bogey, he hung on.
Heartbreak:
Satoshi Kodaira- The winner of the 2018 Heritage on the PGA Tour made a late run for one of the five PGA Tour cards. On both the challenging 17th and 18th holes, Kodaira barely (and I mean BARELY) missed long birdie putts. Had one of them fallen, he would have earned full status back. Instead, he will have to rely on his past champion's status.
Doc Redman- The veteran of 122 PGA Tour events (he got his status after Monday Q'ing and finishing T2 at the Rocket Mortgage in 2019) came to the par-five 16th hole at Dye's Valley just one off the PGA Tour card number. The 16th was the easiest hole on the course, but Redman's second found the water and made a bogey. He missed his card by two shots and will be relegated to the KFT for next season.
The Next 40 (and ties) earned exempt KFT cards. Here are some stories from that group of players.
Bryce Hendrix- Hendrix has played most of his pro golf on the GPro Tour in the Carolinas. He had three wins this season and finished second on their Order of Merit. He turned pro 4 years ago and has two career KFT events. There has been a lot of talk about his talent, so it will be interesting to see what he does next season.
Cooper Dossey- I have (along with many others) been warning people that he would break out soon. The former All-American from Baylor surprisingly struggled this year in Canada but found his game at Q-school. It will be no surprise to see him earn his PGA Tour card next season.
Braden Thornberry- The former top-ranked amateur in the world has dominated this Q-school season. He got through first and second stages at DP, LIV, and PGA Tour Q-school. After opening with 78 in the first round last week, things looked pretty grim. Thornberry battled back with a pair of 66s in the second and third rounds. He did it all with a badly banged-up thumb he injured at LIV Q-school.
Etienne Papineau- The Canadian is another example of what makes Q-school and pro golf great. In his four years at West Virginia, he never ranked better than third on the team in scoring average. However, after graduating in 2021, he worked hard on his game and now has full KFT status.
Keita Nakajima- Already with four wins on the Japan Tour (one as an Amateur), the 23-year-old and former number-one ranked amateur squeaked through on the number to earn 8 guaranteed KFT starts. After two rounds, he was in contention for a PGA Tour card, but a third-round 75 ended any hope of grabbing one of the Tour cards. It will be interesting to see if Nakajima plays a full KFT schedule.
Alistair Docherty- Despite finishing 86th in KFT points Docherty had to go back to first stage and breezed to final stage. However, he opened the final stage with a 78 and was in a tie for 155th place. Over the next 54 holes, he went 11-under – the best in the field – and easily earned full KFT status.
Clutch Performances:
Dawson Armstrong: On the more difficult Sawgrass CC, Armstrong was three strokes outside of the number with five holes to play. Included in the final five holes were the two most difficult holes on the course. All Armstrong did was birdie four of the five and earn exempt KFT status. Absolute stones.
Russell Knox- Almost all players with some PGA Tour status locked up for next season withdrew once their chance of earning one of the five PGA Tour cards was gone. But Knox showed up on the final day despite having no chance at one of the five, and shot a final round 65. The 65 improves his KFT status a bit, but I just respect him grinding his ass off in a basically meaningless round.
Heartbreak
Julian Suri- Q-school is just so brutal. Coming to the last hole, Suri needed a par to lock up guaranteed starts on KFT. His drive on the closing hole nearly found the water, and he attempted his second shot while standing on the water's edge. With the ball well above his feet, Suri hit a shank out of bounds and ended up making a triple bogey. In one hole, he went from eight guaranteed starts to probably getting just a few the entire year.
Blake Elliot- See above. Elliot was in the same position as Suri, needing a par on 18 to earn guaranteed starts. He made a double bogey.
Overall Q-school stats:
Of the 53 players that finished with exempt cards on either the PGA or KFT:
12 started at first stage
9 started at second stage
32 started at final stage
Quick Note to all of you:
I have done a terrible job putting out extra content for subscribers only. I am sorry. There is no excuse. I am prioritizing more subscriber-only content: special pods, merch opportunities, and much more are in the works. I am sorry and can't thank you enough for your support.
Ryan
Harrison Endycott
Age: 26
Turned Pro: 2017
Endycott had the least amount of pressure of the five who ended up earning PGA Tour cards. He finished 136th in FedEx points this season and had a conditional status for next season already locked up. That being said, there are 550,000 reasons why it was a huge win.
Players that have full status get a $500,000 advance to begin the season. The money is an advance on tournament winnings with the remaining balance forgiven if a player fails to reach $500K in earnings. Endycott would not have been eligible for the advance as a conditional member. In addition to becoming a full PGA Tour member, Endycott also earned $50,000 for topping the leaderboard.
Trace Crowe
Age: 27
Turned Pro: 2020
In early July, Crowe was in danger of falling so far down the KFT points list that he would miss out on events. In late July at the NV5 Invitational in Chicago, Crowe was the last player in the field. That week, he shot a four-round total of 25-under and won in a playoff. He finished the season 38th in points, just eight spots short of earning a PGA Tour card. The former Auburn Tiger went into Q-school knowing he had a place to play next year. After finishing second this week, that place to play is now the PGA Tour.
Blaine Hale Jr
Age: 26
Turned Pro: 2019
Hale is exactly why Q-school is so great. After a solid college career, Hale turned pro and although he has found success on the mini-tours, he had yet to get through Q-school. Hale began Q-school with the same hope all the players have: a PGA Tour card. 12 rounds later, he earned his card and in a few short weeks, will tee it up at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Hayden Springer
Age: 2006
Turned Pro: 2019
If you are a subscriber you know Hayden's story. I have been lucky enough to know the Springers for a few years and am ecstatic that Hayden got his card. Just a month after losing their daughter, Springer will head to the PGA Tour. It is the story of the year. I hope he wins the Sony.
Raul Pereda
Age: 27
Turned Pro: 2018
Pereda has played very well on the LatinoAmerican Tour for multiple seasons, but hasn't been able to make the jump to the Korn Ferry Tour. He will now skip that step and head directly to the PGA Tour, where he has just one career start. A third-round 66 at the more difficult Sawgrass Country Club propelled Pereda up the leaderboard, and despite a tough start to the final round with an early double bogey, he hung on.
Heartbreak:
Satoshi Kodaira- The winner of the 2018 Heritage on the PGA Tour made a late run for one of the five PGA Tour cards. On both the challenging 17th and 18th holes, Kodaira barely (and I mean BARELY) missed long birdie putts. Had one of them fallen, he would have earned full status back. Instead, he will have to rely on his past champion's status.
Doc Redman- The veteran of 122 PGA Tour events (he got his status after Monday Q'ing and finishing T2 at the Rocket Mortgage in 2019) came to the par-five 16th hole at Dye's Valley just one off the PGA Tour card number. The 16th was the easiest hole on the course, but Redman's second found the water and made a bogey. He missed his card by two shots and will be relegated to the KFT for next season.
The Next 40 (and ties) earned exempt KFT cards. Here are some stories from that group of players.
Bryce Hendrix- Hendrix has played most of his pro golf on the GPro Tour in the Carolinas. He had three wins this season and finished second on their Order of Merit. He turned pro 4 years ago and has two career KFT events. There has been a lot of talk about his talent, so it will be interesting to see what he does next season.
Cooper Dossey- I have (along with many others) been warning people that he would break out soon. The former All-American from Baylor surprisingly struggled this year in Canada but found his game at Q-school. It will be no surprise to see him earn his PGA Tour card next season.
Braden Thornberry- The former top-ranked amateur in the world has dominated this Q-school season. He got through first and second stages at DP, LIV, and PGA Tour Q-school. After opening with 78 in the first round last week, things looked pretty grim. Thornberry battled back with a pair of 66s in the second and third rounds. He did it all with a badly banged-up thumb he injured at LIV Q-school.
Etienne Papineau- The Canadian is another example of what makes Q-school and pro golf great. In his four years at West Virginia, he never ranked better than third on the team in scoring average. However, after graduating in 2021, he worked hard on his game and now has full KFT status.
Keita Nakajima- Already with four wins on the Japan Tour (one as an Amateur), the 23-year-old and former number-one ranked amateur squeaked through on the number to earn 8 guaranteed KFT starts. After two rounds, he was in contention for a PGA Tour card, but a third-round 75 ended any hope of grabbing one of the Tour cards. It will be interesting to see if Nakajima plays a full KFT schedule.
Alistair Docherty- Despite finishing 86th in KFT points Docherty had to go back to first stage and breezed to final stage. However, he opened the final stage with a 78 and was in a tie for 155th place. Over the next 54 holes, he went 11-under – the best in the field – and easily earned full KFT status.
Clutch Performances:
Dawson Armstrong: On the more difficult Sawgrass CC, Armstrong was three strokes outside of the number with five holes to play. Included in the final five holes were the two most difficult holes on the course. All Armstrong did was birdie four of the five and earn exempt KFT status. Absolute stones.
Russell Knox- Almost all players with some PGA Tour status locked up for next season withdrew once their chance of earning one of the five PGA Tour cards was gone. But Knox showed up on the final day despite having no chance at one of the five, and shot a final round 65. The 65 improves his KFT status a bit, but I just respect him grinding his ass off in a basically meaningless round.
Heartbreak
Julian Suri- Q-school is just so brutal. Coming to the last hole, Suri needed a par to lock up guaranteed starts on KFT. His drive on the closing hole nearly found the water, and he attempted his second shot while standing on the water's edge. With the ball well above his feet, Suri hit a shank out of bounds and ended up making a triple bogey. In one hole, he went from eight guaranteed starts to probably getting just a few the entire year.
Blake Elliot- See above. Elliot was in the same position as Suri, needing a par on 18 to earn guaranteed starts. He made a double bogey.
Overall Q-school stats:
Of the 53 players that finished with exempt cards on either the PGA or KFT:
12 started at first stage
9 started at second stage
32 started at final stage
Quick Note to all of you:
I have done a terrible job putting out extra content for subscribers only. I am sorry. There is no excuse. I am prioritizing more subscriber-only content: special pods, merch opportunities, and much more are in the works. I am sorry and can't thank you enough for your support.
Ryan
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