Tag: Dick Mast

PGA Tour Champions Q school final features a former major winner, a former Major Leaguer, a Golf Channel analyst and a 72-year-old

Smoltz will be vying for one of five cards that will be handed out at TPC Scottsdale.

Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz is among the 78 golfers who earned a spot in the final stage of qualifying for the PGA Tour Champions.

Smoltz, 55, will be vying for one of five cards that will be handed out at the end of the week at TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course.

Smoltz won 213 games over a 21-year career as a pitcher. In three previous attempts at Q school, he hasn’t finished better than tied for 54th in the first stage.

Smoltz won a World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 1995. He won the National League Cy Young award in 1996. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.

He hasn’t competed on PGA Tour Champions since 2021, but he has played in nine events overall, including the 2018 U.S. Senior Open.

Other notables/hopefuls at TPC Scottsdale this week include:

  • NBC/Golf Channel reporter Notah Begay III, back at qualifying for a second year in a row
  • Former Arizona State golfer Todd Demsey, who likes to use persimmon clubs
  • Shaun Micheel, whose lone PGA Tour win was the 2003 PGA Championship
  • Ted Purdy, who grew up down the I-10 in Tucson and went to the University of Arizona
  • 54-year-old amateur Bryan Hoops of Scottsdale, who claims 19 holes-in-one, with 15 of them coming in tournaments
  • Jonathan Kaye, who won two PGA Tour events, including the 2004 FBR Open (now the WM Phoenix Open) at the TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course
  • 72-year-old Dick Mast, who’s played in 360 PGA Tour events and another 191 Champions events without a win. He does have four victories on the Korn Ferry Tour, the most recent in 1999. He got in the field at the last minute after Andrew Marshall withdrew

The first tee times are Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. local (10:30 a.m. ET). Smoltz is playing alongside Daniel Chopra and Jason Bohn at 8:52 a.m. local time off the first tee. The event concludes on Friday. Admission is free for anyone interested in attending.

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Dick Mast shoots a 66, breaks his age by five shots, qualifies for SAS Championship on PGA Tour Champions

Let’s take a minute and acknowledge one of the old dudes.

With all this talk about the next generation of golf stars, let’s take a minute and acknowledge one of the old dudes.

Two days after Tom Kim, all of 20 years old, won for the second time on the PGA Tour, 71-year-old Dick Mast shot a 66 to break his age by five shots and earn his way into the final regular-season event on the PGA Tour Champions, the SAS Championship.

Mast qualified into an event last year when he was 70 but outdid himself Tuesday, carding seven birdies and two bogeys at Pine Hollow.

Mast notably once won a regional PGA Tour qualifier at 32 under in 1985. He’s made a combined 656 starts on the three tours. He has four Korn Ferry Tour wins but none on the other tours.

Now that Mast is in the SAS, there’s more than just trying to win this week on the line. The PGA Tour Champions has a “Wildcard Weekend” subplot in play which could see him sneak into the three-tournament Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.

The top 72 golfers after the SAS make the playoffs, but, if a golfer not in the top 72 finishes in the top 10 this week, that golfer gets a spot in the playoffs, and, bumps out whoever was 72nd (unless the first playoff event does not have a full field, then no one gets bumped out). Michael Allen is currently 72nd in the standings.

The “Wildcard” has been in play since 2016 and there’s only one spot available, but no one has pulled it off yet.

Mast has only played one other Champions event in 2022 where he earned $2,327 in prize money. Steven Alker, who has three wins in 19 events, leads the Schwab standings at $2,730,615.

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Craig Bowden, Stephen Leaney lead Final Stage of PGA Tour Champions Qualifying Tournament

Seventy-eight players are competing for five spots on the PGA Tour Champions 2020 season at the Final Stage of the Qualifying Tournament.

Seventy-eight players are competing for five spots on the PGA Tour Champions 2020 season at the Final Stage of the Qualifying Tournament at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona.

After Day 1 of the event, Craig Bowden and Stephen Leaney share the lead after they shot 65s on Tuesday.

Frank Esposito and Robin Byrd are tied for third. Robert Karlsson, Thongchai Jaidee, John Riegger, Bob Sowards, Paul Stankowski, Carlos Franco and Jesus Rivas are tied for fifth.

Brandel Chamblee, an analyst for Golf Channel, is T-17.

Other notables include major champions Todd Hamilton (T-24), Michael Campbell (T-43) and Shaun Micheel (T-75).

Also sitting T-43 is Dick Mast, who is 68 years old. Two weeks ago, he almost shot his age during the qualifying stage.