Q-school’s demise ends drama of making the cut for PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is killing one of the most compelling spectacles in professional golf with its decision to scrap Q-school.
Beginning next year, the minor-league Nationwide Tour will basically be the only path to “the show” that is the PGA Tour.
Commissioner Tim Finchem announced this week he was set to do away with what is officially called the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, among changes supposedly designed to breathe new life into the Tour.
Q-school has been around since 1965, evolving over the years into a long process of elimination. It begins with a series of multiple four-round pre-qualifying events scattered across the U.S., with thousands of hopefuls taking part annually. That is followed by more than a dozen 72-hold first-and second-stage tournaments, then a final stage, which includes six rounds (108 holes) with the top 25 players, plus ties, earning PGA Tour cards for the next season. The top 25 on the Nationwide Tour money list also qualify under the current system.
Q-school is a gruelling survival test, and arguably the ultimate proving ground in sports. The toughest part is the final stage, which involves drama, heartbreak and joy that no reality TV show can come close to matching.
In his terrific book, Q School Confidential … Inside Golf ’s Cruelest Tournament, author David Gould gave perhaps the best description of what will be missed with the demise of the event, especially the final stage:
“At six full rounds – with no cut – it is longer than most heavyweight fights, and it unfolds like a black-and-white gangster movie in which most characters come to a bad end,” Gould writes.
“The tournament is a spectre of failure on which all the success of the pro golf tour is built. You can’t understand the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship or even the importance of 18th place at the John Deere Quad City Classic if you don’t understand Q School.
“Survivors often walk away feeling numb relief rather than triumph.”
Beginning in 2013, the Nationwide Tour – a legitimate U.s.-based developmental circuit – will be the only way for newcomers – and those who have lost their cards – to reach the PGA Tour.
Under the new system, the top 75 players on the Nationwide Tour money list, along with players who finish 126th to 200th on the PGA Tour list, will be seeded, perhaps in a similar fashion to what we see now in the Fedex Cup playoffs. They will then play in a series of three tournaments at the end of the season, with the top 50 survivors qualifying for the PGA Tour the following season.
Many issues will come into play with the new qualifying process. One that comes to mind immediately is what it might mean for the future of the Canadian Tour.
In the past, players from the Canadian Tour had the option of going directly to Q-school, and many succeeded in reaching the PGA Tour. If that door is no longer open, and all roads to the show will go through the Nationwide Tour – which is expected to have a new title sponsor in 2013 – what real value will the Canadian Tour have?
There will surely be interest and drama with the new format, but it won’t be the same and certainly can’t be as compelling as what the golf world has witnessed at Q-school for the past 47 years.
That’s a shame. Promising start: Sherbrooke’s Maude-aimée Leblanc fired a final round, 2-under 70 on Sunday, her best round, en route to a tie for 51st at even-par 288 in her LPGA Tour professional debut at the RR Donnelly Founders Cup in Phoenix. She earned $4,669 U.S. He said it: “I am very proud of the fact I do not cheat when I’m playing golf. Anybody who plays with me, they’ll say I count my strokes.” – U.S. President Barack Obama, in a recent interview with Sports Guy Bill Simmons. Some reports say the president has a 17 handicap.