And after the first round, there are 42 players battling it out for those spots.
Twenty-nine players advanced after the first 18-hole round, with Kerry Mountcastle leading the pack after an 8-under 64 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. The cut, which was top-20 and ties, came at 2-under 70, and included players like Braden Thornberry, the 2017 NCAA individual champion, and Martin Trainer, who has 131 starts on the PGA Tour.
In addition to the 29 players who advanced from the first round, the 13 exempt players into the second round will join the competition come Saturday, where scores will reset. The top 20 players (no ties) after Saturday’s 18-hole round will advance to Sunday’s 36-hole final, with the top three earning status for the 2024 LIV Golf season.
Some of those golfers to miss the cut include Chris Stroud, who voiced his displeasure with the PGA Tour last week. He bogeyed two of his last three holes to miss by one. Jeff Overton, Turk Pettit and Jazz Jannewattananond are others who are also heading home empty handed.
All 154 players who started the week at final stage already had Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2020. This week was about improving status.
WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – A year ago, Curtis Thompson went 14 under at the first stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School and missed advancing by a shot. There’s a lot to unpack in that, not the least of which is the difficulty of making a living as a professional golfer. Thompson, who turned professional in 2014, left Lakeland, Florida, that week ready to be done with this lifestyle.
“Hung it up for two or three months and didn’t really know what to do with myself,” he said.
On Sunday, Thompson holed a 30-footer for birdie on the final hole of Orange County National’s Crooked Cat course that he believed would send him to a playoff with Braden Thornberry for fully exempt status on the developmental tour in the 2020 season. Turns out both men earned full status for the following year.
All 154 players who started the week at final stage already had Korn Ferry Tour membership for next season. This week was about improving status. Only Thornberry and Thompson are fully set up for next season. The top 10 players (and ties) earned what amounts to 12 guaranteed starts next year while Nos. 12-40 earn eight starts.
“It’s a long day,” Thompson said of a final-round 66 that got him to 21 under. “It’s hard to stay focused for some of it. There’s a few different things you’re thinking about. How do I stay inside the number? How do I stay inside the top 10 and then at the end, how do you try to win it?”
In a field of varied professional experience, Thompson has probably seen as closely as anyone what it takes to compete at the very top level. The former LSU player competed on the Korn Ferry Tour from 2015-18. Struggling with his game, he took all of 2019 off and used a year of uncertainty to test out his caddie skills. He worked as both a club caddie and also carried the bag for his younger sister Lexi Thompson, who is currently No. 10 in the Rolex Ranking.
Curtis Thompson carries his sister Lexi’s bag at the 2018 CME Group Tour Championship. (Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Curtis was on the bag about this time last year when Lexi won the CME Group Tour Championship, which now awards the largest check in women’s professional golf. With so much golf in the Thompson family – older brother Nicholas was also at final stage, though a T-53 finish didn’t do much to improve his status – hanging it up was never really a viable option for Curtis.
“There’s been a lot of downs in the last two years,” he said. “Six months ago, didn’t know if this was possible.”
Thornberry, meanwhile, is on the way up. This time last year, he was a senior at Ole Miss. He entered Q-School uncertain whether he’d turn professional or return to college to finish his senior season – which was a challenging mindset to face in itself. He ultimately chose the former option, but without guaranteed starts, faced a hectic year.
“It’s very much a relief to know I can pick my schedule and basically play wherever I want,” Thornberry said of the co-medalist perks he secured with his closing 65.
Thornberry poured in putts on the front nine. Thompson, playing in the same group, said he’d never seen anything like it. Thornberry opened with birdie, then made six consecutive from Nos. 4-9 before the putter went cold on the back nine. His only birdie was at No. 17.
“It’s hard to complain when you made that many on the front,” he said.
At Q-School, when one player birdies, it tends to have a ripple effect on everyone else in the field. Zach Zaback might be the best example of that.
When Zaback birdied No. 18 on the Panther Lake course, it bumped him from 11 to 12 under, effectively moving the cut-off for status right up with him. That was potentially year-changing for the 12 players who were sitting at 11 under with an outside chance.
Duke senior Chandler Eaton was among them. Having come so close to earning something tangible for next year, he said he had some questions to ask before he made any immediate decisions about his future.
“It’s a weird type of pressure,” he said of the week. “I definitely feel like I’m a more mature player than I realized. I feel like I can hang with these guys.”
Mr. Monday earns status
Chip McDaniel, the player who garnered the moniker “Mr. Monday” after making something out of a season he entered with no status on any tour, was another one of the men left out at 11 under.
McDaniel, who successfully Monday qualified for three PGA Tour events in 2019 in addition to navigating his way through U.S. Open sectional qualifying, hammered his driver on No. 18 of Crooked Cat into a fairway bunker on the left side of the hole. He blasted it out to 20 feet and had to face that putt with an electronic scoreboard in his sightline. He said he didn’t pay much attention to that.
The 24-year-old had birdied No. 17 to give himself a shot, but ultimately missed the birdie putt on No. 18 to finish T-41.
“I have status,” he said. “This time last year I didn’t have status. I learned a lot this year, playing with the big boys.”
John VanDerLaan during the final round of the final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
John VanDerLaan navigated his way to 18 under and a T-7 finish – which was just good enough to earn 12 guaranteed starts for 2020. VanDerLaan, who won the 2018 NCAA Division II individual title at Florida Southern, made sure to sign up for the first-stage qualifier at the Mocs’ home course in nearby Lakeland, Florida.
VanDerLaan was a combined 40 under for the first and second stages (which he played at another familiar course in Brooksville, Florida), and won second stage by eight shots (interestingly, over Broc Everett, the 2018 Division I NCAA medalist).
The 23-year-old felt that a culture of winning at Florida Southern helped shape him as he charted his way to a professional career.
“No matter how far you go, you have to win if you want to be successful,” he said. “I kind of had a little bit of it, but it definitely molded me more into that when I was there.”
Taking the next step
Perhaps nobody, though, represents the long and arduous road to professional success quite like Taylor Dickson. With a T-13 finish and eight guaranteed starts for the next year, Dickson will finally make his first sanctioned tour start after bouncing around mini-tours since his graduation from Winthrop University in 2015.
“Getting in the car, driving all over, just to play some golf,” he said of that journey.
Dickson has filled the downtime in those past four years doing odd jobs for his dad, who owns a Napa Auto Parts store. He’s careful to clarify that he’s an errand guy, not a mechanic. A budding Korn Ferry career might be the big break that allows him to move out of his parents’ house as he continues pursuing the dream.
Dickson was “late” to pick up this game as an 11-year-old. How he has blossomed since.
“I used to get down on myself some, and that’s probably one of the reasons it took me so long. This year I just tried to believe in myself that I can hit the shots required to play out here with these guys.”
Curtis Thompson, the brother of Lexi Thompson, has a one-shot edge with varying levels of Korn Ferry Tour status is on the line.
The top of the leaderboard at the final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School was looking quite crowded until Curtis Thompson birdied his final two holes Saturday on Orange County National’s Panther Lakes course. Ultimately, the birdie at No. 18 bumped him out of a seven-way tie and into the solo lead in Winter Garden, Florida.
At 15 under, Thompson will take a one-shot edge over six men into the final round – where varying levels of Korn Ferry Tour status are on the line. Finish first (or tied for first), and a player earns fully exempt status for the 2020 season. Past the medalist, the rest of the top 40 players and ties earn some level of guaranteed starts on the developmental tour next year.
Thompson is the older brother of LPGA star Lexi Thompson, who is the only female in the field at this week’s QBE Shootout across the state in Naples.
Curtis celebrated his 27th birthday on Saturday. The former LSU player turned professional in 2014 and is fighting to make his way back on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he played from 2015-18. The player who says he’d be a motivational speaker if he wasn’t a professional golfer has struggled over the past few seasons, but a big day on Sunday could him set him back on track.
Interestingly, Curtis’ older brother Nicholas, 36, is also in the field but is tied for 58th after a third-round 74 on Panther Lakes.
The group tied for second at 14 under includes Braden Thornberry, who has bounced around the top of the leaderboard all week. Thornberry had a 65 on Panther Lakes in the third round, matching the score he posted on Crooked Cat in Round 1 that got him an immediate share of the lead.
Thornberry is back at final stage as a professional this year. He was halfway through his senior season at Ole Miss last year, and ultimately turned professional before the spring season despite not finishing high enough to earn guaranteed starts. Thornberry won the 2017 NCAA individual title and was formerly the No. 1-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Of the two college players in the field, Duke senior Chandler Eaton is in position to slide into the top 40 on Sunday. He is 7 under and tied for 50th, but only one shot out of a large tie for 38th. Kansas senior Andy Spencer, the other amateur, is 2 over and T-140.
Tommy Gainey, who made headlines for his arrest earlier in the week for allegedly soliciting a prostitute in nearby Polk County, is also on the bubble. He is 6 under and T-58 through three rounds. He was only one off the lead after Thursday’s opening round.
Sometimes it takes a few years to find the right formula for success, particularly at Q-School. Alistair Docherty can attest to that.
WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – Sometimes it takes a few years to find the right formula for success, particularly where Q-School is concerned. Alistair Docherty can attest to that.
Docherty, 25, fizzled out in the first stage of two previous attempts at earning Korn Ferry Tour status. On Thursday, he ended the opening round of final stage one shot off the lead. The Pacific Northwest native posted a 6-under 65 on a soggy day on Orange County National’s Panther Lakes course. He had five birdies and an eagle at the par-5 14th that he set up with a “perfect 2-iron.”
“Caddie had a good read on it because I would have missed it,” Docherty said of the resulting 12-footer. “Give that one to the caddie.”
Docherty should get plenty of credit – for preparation and maturity, if nothing else. Since graduating from Chico State, an NCAA Division II program that finished as the national runner-up in 2015 when Docherty was a senior, the bulk of Docherty’s competitive experience has come on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada.
For a young professional just starting out, cost-saving measures are understandably in play. Docherty took that route in choosing a pre-qualifying start for Korn Ferry Tour Q-School. He went to St. George, Utah, to stay with a friend while competing at SunRiver Golf Club.
In retrospect, a high-altitude venue like SunRiver downplayed his advantage as a big hitter.
“Every time I got there, it just wasn’t my week,” Docherty said. “I like playing golf courses that are a little more difficult. Kind of eliminates some of the field. My length usually is to my advantage and that course just didn’t suit me.”
Docherty had been wintering in La Quinta, California, but this year moved to the Phoenix area and began work on his swing with Andy Patnou. A roommate introduced the two. Slowly, Docherty’s game began falling into place.
Docherty advanced through first stage at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, in September. He was third at the second-stage qualifier at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, California, a course he was familiar with from playing rounds with a host family member when he first turned professional.
A change in scenery seems to have done it for Docherty, but for 45-year-old Tag Ridings, the secret to an opening 7-under 64 on the Panther Lakes course was a new putter. Ridings, who guesses he’s played Q-School (through several iterations) 14 times over the span of his 22-year career, put a Piretti putter with a new shaft in his bag before the first round.
“I’d actually been putting really nicely,” Ridings said. “In fact, I only built it because I felt I had been putting so well, I didn’t feel like I had been searching. Just kind of a see-what-happens type of thing.”
Ridings had seven birdies and an eagle in his opening round.
Braden Thornberry played the Crooked Cat course in 7-under 65 and tied Ridings for the lead. There is no cut this week’s event, and every player will play two rounds on each of Orange County National’s two courses.
Thornberry advanced to final stage as an amateur last year, halfway through his senior season at Ole Miss. After finishing T-72, which didn’t earn him any guaranteed starts for the 2019 season, Thornberry ultimately turned professional for the spring. He made 14 Korn Ferry Tour starts but played the weekend only six times.
Now that he’s established as a professional, Thornberry thinks Q-School might even be a little easier to attack mentally. Either way, you’re playing for your living.
“I wouldn’t say there was less pressure last year, obviously there was another option,” he said. “Honestly, that probably made it a little bit tougher. You weren’t fully making up your mind either way, there’s that little it of doubt – if I finish here what am I going to do. This year, it’s pretty clear cut.”
After three more rounds, the top 40 finishers and ties will receive a number of guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2020 relative to their position on the leaderboard. The medalist (and ties) receives fully exempt status for the upcoming season.
