The Magnetic Pull of Competition

Logan Perkins was fighting tears.

As daylight faded on a windy Alabama afternoon, the 26-year-old searched for words to describe what he’d just earned: seven guaranteed starts on the HotelPlanner Tour, the DP World Tour’s equivalent of the Korn Ferry Tour. He’d never been to Europe. But as Robert Plant once sang, “Leaves are falling all around, time I was on my way.”

“You know, nothing’s gonna take you down by yourself,” Perkins said. He had missed Americas Tour qualifying by a single shot each of the past two years and had come up just short at U.S. Open qualifying. “It’s a tough game. I’m pretty happy to be standing right here right now.”

The West Virginia University product arrived at the RTJ Trail in Dothan, Alabama, chasing a rare opportunity. Europe’s most competitive developmental circuit, the Clutch Tour, was hosting a Q School. The top 25 would earn full status. Every Clutch Tour event carries OWGR points, and the top seven at season’s end receive HotelPlanner Tour status. More immediately, the top two at Q School would secure guaranteed starts on the HotelPlanner Tour.

That was the prize that brought 55 other players to Dothan. Including me.

On a blustery final day, Perkins and fellow competitor Clayton Seeber separated themselves from the field.

Seeber, a 2024 Long Beach State graduate, began the day two shots back and made two early bogeys. The conditions were demanding, and his position didn’t allow him to dwell on early mistakes.

“I had nothing to lose,” Seeber said. “I wasn’t under any pressure. I could just go full throttle.”

Two over through six, he steadied himself with birdies at seven and nine. Then his putter caught fire on the back: birdie-par-eagle-birdie-birdie. Seeber played flawlessly to the clubhouse, joining Perkins at 10-under, three clear of third.

“It means everything,” Seeber said. “I missed three-and-a-half years with two shoulder surgeries. I’ve been close at every Q School – missing by a shot or two.”

His patience paid off. He played his final 12 holes in eight-under — astonishing golf given the conditions and circumstances. I was in the group ahead of him, having a very different experience.

Nursing a back injury and having not competed outdoors since the first stage of Q School in October, I wasn’t exactly a favorite. Two close friends volunteered to take my bag across the 7,500-yard course on different days. Both made a long, difficult walk better.

I played the opening rounds with Clutch Tour winner and former Walker Cup player Angus Flanagan. The third member of our group was HotelPlanner Tour member Chase Hanna. Hanna was trying to secure more starts, but he struggled on the greens early and dug a hole too deep to escape.

COVID disrupted Flanagan’s college career and limited the professional exemptions that typically follow elite amateur success. The Englishman is still chasing a significant leap through the pro ranks. For a while in Dothan, it looked like he might get it. But when a strip of lead tape fell from his putter during the back nine of Round 2, the putts stopped dropping.

The Clutch Tour schedule is appealing. The season begins with an international series in the Middle East at former DP World Tour stops before arriving in London for the summer. Top players bypass the first stage of DPWT Q School, and three wins in a season earn immediate HotelPlanner Tour status. The purses mirror other mini tours — even exceptional play rarely provides a true living. But Clutch offers something more valuable: a pathway. For a developmental tour player, that’s everything.

My first two rounds were promising. I drove it well and gave myself plenty of birdie looks, but the putts weren't falling, and I stumbled on the final hole both days. Rounds of 71 and 70 left me three-under and three back heading into the final round.

My final round group included Grant Haefner, who qualified for last year’s U.S. Open and finished T-27 in the second HotelPlanner Tour event of the season in Cape Town. That finish should earn him more starts — though when they’ll come, he couldn’t say. A top-two at Clutch Q School would provide some control over his schedule.

After five steady pars and a birdie at the par-3 sixth, Haefner had momentum. He was greenside in two on the par-5 seventh and stood one pitch away from moving into striking distance. But he caught ground before the ball and had to scramble to save par. The chunky chip stole his momentum.

I was never a threat on the final day. My ball-striking wavered, and my chipping off dormant Bermuda was imprecise. I birdied two of my last four holes to shoot even par and tie for 10th, but it was disappointing.

Still, it was a first step back into competition. The next one will be better.

The Clutch Tour opens next month in Oman. I’m tempted. A mini-tour trip to a Middle Eastern country I know little about sounds like a writer’s dream.

More than that, I felt the magnetic pull of competition again.

That alone was worth the trip.