96 golfers in Monday qualifier vie for final three spots in $20 million WM Phoenix Open

The qualifier was first likened to an opposite-field event a couple years ago.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — To someone who didn’t know any better, the driving range at sunny McCormick Ranch Golf Club didn’t look any different Monday. Each hitting space was occupied with golfers slowly working their way through their buckets of Pinnacle practice balls.

A player in his 60s showed his friend his new driver head cover featuring Cartman from the animated TV show South Park. A younger golfer in his late 20s practiced in a black hoodie and camouflage joggers.

But this wasn’t any other Monday, as just feet away was Harrison Endycott, a PGA Tour pro from Australia. Fellow Aussie Aaron Baddeley was on the practice green with his two kids, hair as long as their dad’s.

Harry Hall, a 25-year-old Englishman who played at UNLV, had a Trackman stuffed in his Callaway Paradym tour bag on a brand new push cart.

2023 WM Phoenix Open Monday qualifier
Harry Hall practices at the range at McCormick Golf Club ahead of the 2023 WM Phoenix Open Monday qualifier. (Photo: Todd Kelly/Golfweek)

“I know I’ve got a PGA Tour schedule for the rest of the year and I’m a rookie and I’ve got tournaments I’ll definitely be in so this would be a perk,” Hall said. “I’m a Vegas boy so I like the desert, I enjoy the crowd and that’s why I’m here.”

Another Tour rookie, Ben Griffin, who’s 30th in FedEx Cup points, was at the qualifier because he doesn’t yet have enough status to already be in the Phoenix Open field.

But it’s not just rookies in the qualifier field. Grayson Murray, Martin Trainer, Kevin Chappell, DJ Trahan, Bo Van Pelt and Robert Garrigus were there, too.

SCORES: WM Phoenix Open Monday qualifier

In all, 96 golfers took to the Pine Course to vie for one of the final three spots in the 2023 WM Phoenix Open. The qualifier was first likened to an opposite-field event a couple years ago but this year in particular it makes sense that there’s so much interest as it’s the first full-field designated event and features a $20 million purse with a $3.6 million first-place prize.

Baddeley is a past champion at TPC Scottsdale with more than $25 million in career earnings. He has made six cuts in eight outings in 2023, including two top-10s but didn’t snag one of the five coveted sponsor invitations. As he put the finishing touches on his pre-round warm-up, a fan noticed him, told him good luck and added: “Maybe next time you won’t have to put up with this.”

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Baddeley, whose 12-year-old daughter took it upon herself to write a letter to the Thunderbirds, who run the Phoenix Open, asking them to offer her dad a spot. That plan fell through so a day after finishing tied for 37th at the weather-plagued AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Baddeley slept in his own bed at his Scottsdale home and drove to qualifier.

“I was disappointed not to get in for sure,” he said. “My game’s in a good spot, and being up there in the FedEx [60th], I thought I had a good chance, past champ. Already have two top-10s, the game is really good.”

The qualifier might have had even more golfers but the Monday finish at Pebble Beach altered a lot of plans.

There were 19 pros on the original entry list who withdrew from the qualifier, including Nick Hardy, the Phoenix Open’s first alternate.

At least two golfers who wanted to play the qualifier couldn’t. Eric Cole, T-15 at Pebble, and Sung Kang, T-29 at Pebble, scrambled from the Monterey Peninsula and landed at Scottsdale Airport about six miles north of McCormick Ranch about 30 minute before their 1:40 p.m. local tee time. But they were too late.

The Monday qualifier finished before dark and without a playoff, with Andre Metzger shooting a 65 to lead the way. Brett White and Dalton Ward each shot a 66, making those three the ones who advanced to 2023 WM Phoenix Open.

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Monday qualifier for $20 million WM Phoenix Open loaded with PGA Tour veterans

The WM Phoenix Open, the first full-field designated event of 2023, is brimming with anticipation.

With a $20 million purse and a $3.6 million first-place prize, the WM Phoenix Open, the first full-field designated event of 2023, is brimming with anticipation. And it’s not just fans clamoring to get on the property at TPC Scottsdale.

The event will be without Adam Scott and Will Zalatoris but every other big name on the PGA Tour will be teeing it up.

For many others, the desire to get in the field has reached unprecedented levels, as last-minute scrambling has been taking place all week around the Phoenix area with eight pre-qualifiers and an upcoming Monday qualifier.

It’s the second year there were eight pre-qualifiers and each one sold out. That’s right, 78 golfers paid $250 to fill up each of the 624 spots at eight golf courses around town. And the competition was fierce.

“I don’t know if you saw the scores but it was ridiculous,” said Bill Ibrahim of the Southwest Section PGA, which runs all the qualifiers. “There was a guy who shot a bogey-free 64 and didn’t get through. It’s insane.”

The PGA Tour sets the criteria for advancing out of the pre-qualifiers and it was determined with eight of them that only the top two and ties from each would advance.

Berk Harvey of San Jose posted the best score of the week with a 62 at a City of Phoenix municipal golf course called Aguila. George Markham of Phoenix and Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Ontario, Canada, each shot 63s at Aguila to advance. Jared du Toit of Scottsdale topped his pre-qualifier with a 64 at Western Skies Golf Course in the suburb of Gilbert. The highest advancing score was a 67, shot by five players at the 500 Club in Glendale.

In all, 26 golfers finished top two or ties and have punched their tickets to Monday. Of those 26, two are amateurs: Joe Neuheisel of Scottsdale (the son of former Colorado, Washington and UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel) and Leon Acikalin of Phoenix. Amateurs need a handicap of 2 or lower to get in the pre-qualifier.

As of mid-day Friday, there were 118 golfers in the Monday qualifier, according to Ibrahim, who said the field could swell in the next few days. With that many golfers though, the Monday qualifier likely won’t finish until Tuesday. Any frost delay would disrupt timing and Ibrahim, who joined the SWSPGA in 2017, says there’s been a playoff every year he’s been in Arizona to determine those precious three spots.

Already on the list for Monday are some well-known PGA Tour veterans: Byeong Hun An, Kevin Chappell, Robert Garrigus, Will Gordon, Ben Griffin, Harry Higgs, Grayson Murray, Ben Taylor, Martin Trainer and Bo Van Pelt.

“It’s gonna be littered with PGA Tour players,” said Pat Williams, tournament chairman for the 2023 WM Phoenix Open of the Monday qualifier. “We’ve got so many players at the professional level who already live here in metro Phoenix, so it’s convenient. And then you’ve got the elevated the designated status and people want to play for a lot of money.”

A more significant change could be on the horizon, however, one that might bring an end to these manic Mondays.

“The PGA Tour still hasn’t decided the criteria they’re going to use for these designated events moving forward. Indications point to them all being some type of invitational,” said Ibrahim. “If they decide the elevated events are invitationals. … then the open qualifying aspect will be gone, which would be a shame because we all know golf is very unique in that having that open qualifying, even if it’s just one spot or three spots, it certainly gives these guys an opportunity to change their lives.”

With the big money up for grabs in these designated events, even a top-20 finish could be enough to alter the futures for some of these golfers.

“It’s a great thing about golf. Anybody can try to make it,” Ibrahim said. “If you have the talent you certainly can compete and try to get into the event and potentially change your life.”

The WM Phoenix Open is a designated event in 2023. The PGA Tour hasn’t released its 2024 schedule yet, and it’s unclear how many designated events will be played in the future. The WM Phoenix Open has expressed interest in remaining a designated event, according to Williams, but the Tour will make the final decision.

“Our hope would obviously be to execute this year and in a way that the Tour will give us the same honor the following year,” he said.

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