Q-School for the coming PGA Tour season has just finished – it marks the end of an era where Q-School graduates can obtain a PGA Tour Card immediately by completing the three stages (six full rounds of golf) and finishing in the top-25.
This year’s Q-School was full of great stories. The winner, Dong-Hwan Lee, scored a total of 25-under. He turned pro in 2005 and earned a pair of victories on the Japan Golf Tour and was named the Tour’s Rookie of the Year in 2006. He played five full seasons on the Japan Golf Tour and has made 105 career starts with 26 top-10 finishes. Ross Fisher of England, who won two matches at the 2008 Ryder Cup also finished Q-School and finished T-2nd. He’s played a lot in America, but since hearing about the change in Q-School after this year, he decided to skip the season-ending European Tour event in Dubai to complete Q-School.
Another big name in the field at Q-School was Camillo Villegas, who won back-to-back FedEx Cup playoff events in 2008. After earning about $491,729, Villegas finished 144th on the PGA Tour Money List. This gave him a pass to the third and final stage of Q-school, but he missed three short putts on his final three holes that may have sealed his fate – a short par putt on 7 and birdies at 8 and 9. This left him at T-32nd. He ranked a career high 4th in Greens in Regulations behind Justin Rose, Bubba Watson and Lee Westwood – but putting was his undoing this year. He ranked 172nd on the tour in putting from inside 5 feet and was 164th in strokes gained putting. He’ll have to rely on sponsor exemptions, top-10 finishes in tournaments or through Monday qualifiers. Heath Slocum is also a well known name that failed to get his card through Q-School.
Another very unique story is of Si Woo Kim, a 17-year old South Korean with a “flawless swing.” He has become the youngest player to earn a Tour card through Q school and is already known by PGA Tour players who have played against him, more recently, Rickie Fowler, who faced him in the Korea Open last year. However, even though he finished T-20th, Kim is restricted to no more than 12 PGA Tour events as a non-member on sponsor exemptions, foreign exemptions or top-10 finishes prior to that date, because he cannot take on full membership until he turns 18 on June 28, 2013.   He can, however, Monday qualify as many times as he wishes.
The European Tour Q-school, as well as the LPGA Tour Q-School also concluded this past week. One of the biggest names that did not get their Tour Card was Christina Kim, the 2-time LPGA Tour winner and 3-time Solheim Cup player. She finished T-39th and like Villegas, will have to rely on sponsor exemptions.
We look forward to seeing some of these future stars of the game play this coming season!
Source:Â PGA Tour Q-School
