PGA Tour
The Valero Texas Open Monday Q holds a special place in my heart. In 2019, (Florida Man) Corey Conners got through a six-for-one playoff at the Monday Q. That Sunday, he birdied three of his final five holes to win his first PGA Tour event. He won the event again in 2023.
Hopefully this week, we get a repeat—with one of the two Monday qualifiers finding a way to win.
The two players who got through:
Nick Hardy — It’s been a long couple of years for the former University of Illinois standout, but there have been signs this year—especially over the last couple of weeks—that things might be slowly turning around.
Hardy, along with partner Davis Riley, won the 2023 Zurich. Since then, Hardy has struggled. He lost his PGA Tour card last season after his Zurich exemption ran out.
This year on the Korn Ferry Tour, he’s made three of five cuts, but his best finish is T33, and he sits 114th in points. Because of that, he wasn’t in last week’s KFT field and has turned his attention to PGA Tour Monday qualifiers.
Last week, he missed a playoff spot by one. This week, he carried that good play over, firing a 66 to earn his second PGA Tour start of the year.
Charlie Crockett — I’m calling it now (please don’t be a jinx): the former Mizzou standout is going to make the cut and have a great week.
Crockett has become something of a Dakotas Tour legend in his short time as a pro. Last year, he played seven events on that tour and had two wins, a runner-up, two third-place finishes, and a worst finish of ninth.
He made over $70,000 in those seven events and won the money list by nearly $30,000. This will be his first PGA Tour start.
Full Field Scores HERE
Korn Ferry Tour
The KFT is in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., this week for the LECOM Suncoast Classic. Around 240 players across two sites teed it up for eight total spots. The final spot will be decided Tuesday morning after a playoff was suspended due to darkness.
Seven of the eight qualifiers are:
Garrett Reband — The former Oklahoma standout fired a 63 and will make his second KFT start of the year.
J.J. Grey — One of my favorite people in golf, with one of the best stories in the game. A few years ago, I wrote about his good friend Sam and why his memory lives on every time J.J. tees it up. You can read that here.
Tomás Cocha — The four-time Latinoamérica Tour winner earned his third start of the season after a bogey-free 64. It will be the 34-year-old’s 35th career KFT start.
Will Cannon — A few years ago, Cannon was working in a factory, unable to find the money to keep his career going. After securing a sponsor, he quickly quit his job and earned his KFT card through Q-School. Last season, he finished 79th in points but has yet to make a cut in four starts this season.
Ricardo Celia — The 34-year-old Colombian has made one of three cuts this season on the KFT. He’s a two-time winner on the Latinoamérica Tour.
Mike Visacki (Big Mike) — Known throughout the Florida mini-tour scene as “Big Mike,” Visacki will play on the KFT for the first time in three seasons. In 2021, he Monday qualified for the Valspar, and his interview went viral. Later that week, Justin Thomas gave him a check to help keep his career going. The last few years, Mike has been teaching in Florida.
Alex Price — The 2023 Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the top player in Division III before playing a fifth season at LSU, where he competed in all 11 events. In his final season at Christopher Newport (a Division III school in Virginia), Price had a win-loss record of 1,020–15—meaning he was beaten by just 15 players the entire season.
The final spot will be decided between Austin Squires and Dawson Jones, who will finish their playoff Tuesday morning.
Full Scores HERE
Access Golf
Access Golf, which sponsors around 25 pros, held a unique qualifier for a spot in the Myrtle Beach Classic—an opposite-field event in May.
Instead of selecting one of their players for the sponsor exemption, they had them compete in a 36-hole qualifier for the spot.
The winner was Grant Haefner, a pro from Michigan.
