Tag: Monday qualifying

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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Gianna Clemente, 14, shoots 65 in Cincinnati to Monday qualify for a third consecutive week on the LPGA

“I definitely didn’t expect a 65, but I got the putter on fire.”

It’s not just that Gianna Clemente has Monday-qualified for an LPGA event a third consecutive week. While that’s certainly impressive enough, consider that she also carded a 7-under 65 at Kenwood Country Club to win by three and earn her spot in the field at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati.

At 14 years old, Clemente becomes the youngest player to ever Monday qualify for three consecutive events. She’s also only the second player to do it, following in the footsteps of South Korea’s Hee-Won Han in 2001. Han went on to win six times on the LPGA.

“I definitely didn’t expect a 65,” said Clemente, “but I got the putter on fire.”

Gianna Clemente watches her tee shot on the fifth hole during the second round of the Dana Open presented by Marathon at Highland Meadows Golf Club on September 02, 2022 in Sylvania, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Monday marked the first time Clemente has qualified on the actual tournament course. Weather kept her from being able to play a practice round at Kenwood, but she did walk 14 of the holes. Her father and caddie, Patrick, walked all 18. Clemente said she didn’t sleep well the night before and chalked it up to life on the road.

Clemente qualified for the CP Women’s Open in late August followed by the Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio. She has yet to make the cut. The high school freshman was runner-up in her first U.S. Girls’ Junior appearance earlier this summer.

Anna Davis, 16, winner of the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, is competing this week on a sponsor exemption and saw her friend in the parking lot before she teed off.

“I just told her she’s big-time and to have a good round,” said Davis. “Yeah, but she’s a good friend of mine, and she’s solid. Especially being at that young of an age, I thought I was young, and then she just qualified three times in a row, and I was like, maybe I’m not that young.”

Amateurs must apply for an exemption to participate in LPGA local qualifiers. The Clementes live in Warren, Ohio, and Gianna went to the Dana Open as a kid, mostly following Lexi Thompson.

“I’ve learned that this is definitely what I want to do with my life,” said Clemente, “and this is where I want to belong in the future. I stick out a little bit now because I look young and I am young.”

Clemente said putting is what has held her back of late. Before Monday’s round, she used the metronome app on her cell phone to work on the speed of her stroke. She first began working with putting coach David Angelotti at Sea Island 18 months ago.

“I have a really naturally slow stroke,” said Clemente, “so I do my best to speed it up, and when I speed it up that works.”

Rain closed the course again Tuesday, so Clemente took the opportunity to catch up on her schoolwork. She worked on her world history, English, science and algebra classes prior to taking several calls from the media. She planned to get out her metronome again Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s definitely a lot easier to prepare now, having already seen the course,” said Clemente, “knowing what it looks like and knowing how to play it.”

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Meet 14-year-old Gianna Clemente, who has Monday-qualified for the last two LPGA events

It’s Gianna Clemente’s second time in as many weeks to Monday qualify.

SYLVANIA, Ohio – Lexi Thompson signed a glove for Gianna Clemente not far from where the 14-year-old stood on the first tee at Highland Meadows Golf Club on Tuesday giving an interview. From ages 5 to 10, Clemente and her family made the three-hour trek from Warren, Ohio, to Sylvania to watch what’s now known as the Dana Open.

“A lot of people still think I have the attitude of Lexi,” said Clemente, “really feisty, really serious at times. I literally wanted to watch Lexi for 18 holes, that was me as a kid.”

Clemente, a high school freshman who was runner-up at the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior, played in her first LPGA Monday Qualifier last week in Canada and earned a spot in the CP Women’s Open field for her first LPGA start. Incredibly, she Monday-qualified again for this week’s Dana Open, bouncing back from a late double with two birdies to shoot 3-under 69 and win the qualifier.

“I saw Lexi in the locker room in Canada,” said Clemente, “and I was just way too scared to go up and say hi.”

She played a practice round with Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion Anna Davis and Cristie Kerr and hit balls next to World No. 1 Jin Young Ko. (“I was like oh, oh my goodness.”) Clemente shot 69-74 to miss the cut in Ottawa.

“Just seeing everybody inside the ropes, Nelly and Lexi, all the big names you see on TV,” she said. “To be inside the ropes and playing, that was surreal.”

Mostly though, Clemente seems relatively at ease in the professional environment. Certainly when it comes to the media.

“I’ve always loved the cameras and attention,” she said.

Clemente was given an exemption to compete in the Monday qualifier for next week’s new Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati, as well. Amateurs must apply for an exemption to participate in LPGA local qualifiers.

Patrick Clemente, a former collegiate player at Youngstown State, gave his daughter her first set of plastic clubs when she was 18 months old. She played in her first tournament at age 5. The Clementes live on a golf course, Avalon Lakes, in Warren.

“At about 9, 10 as crazy as that sounds,” said Patrick, “you could see this is what she wanted to do.”

Gianna has done online schooling since the fourth grade, and at age 11, she became the third-youngest player to qualify for the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old Waverly. Only Lucy Li (10 years, 10 months, 4 days) and Latanna Stone (10 years, 11 months and 2 days) were younger.

Patrick, VP of sales for a manufacturing company, is on the bag most weeks. Both father and daughter typically have homework left to do once they leave the course.

“We’re seeing a little bit of overdue marks on my assignments right now,” said Gianna. “It’s OK. I’m going to do it later when I get back to the hotel.”

Next month, Gianna heads to the Amundi Evian Juniors Cup in France. She’ll also try to defend her title at AJGA’s Ping Invitational at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

As for turning professional early, Gianna said she can’t yet talk to college coaches but isn’t ruling anything out.

“For now, I do want to go to college,” she said. “But we’ll see what happens. I still have a lot of time.”

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Schupak: On any given Monday, PGA Tour dreams come true

Mike Visacki’s week at the Valspar Championship, a tournament he played as a Monday qualifier, are a reminder that dreams come true.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Sam Burns took home the trophy and the seven-figure check, but Mike Visacki won the week.

The video of the Monday Qualifier’s teary-eyed phone call to his father after holing a 20-foot birdie putt to win a playoff for the last of four spots into the Valspar Championship has been viewed more than 12 million times.

The moment went viral because of its authenticity – a 27-year-old grinder who never gave up on his dream, even if it meant working at a driving range or living at home with his parents.

Visacki’s story came along at a time when the golf world was coming to terms with the PGA Tour’s Richie Riches getting even richer, divvying up $40 million in Player Impact Program money that pays for box-office buzz rather than how many birdies and bogeys they make. (Could a MQFer qualify for the PIP money grab because Big Mike is surging?)

Here was Visacki, whose father grew up in a home of mud and hay in Yugoslavia and bought his first pair of soccer shoes for $20 when his family immigrated to the U.S., giving voice to the little guy who’s trying to make ends meet on golf’s mini-tour circuit.

William McGirt can relate. He remembers how it felt to cash a $16,000 payday at the Cabarrus Classic on the 2007 Tarheel Tour and pay off his credit card. His big splurge? A GPS. McGirt struck it big, winning the 2016 Memorial Tournament and more than $10 million in career earnings. But he’s never forgotten where he came from or how fortunate he is that he made it.

“There’s a hundred guys on the mini tours who can beat my brains out on the right course,” McGirt said.

The line between success and failure is razor sharp. The futility of McGirt’s quest is memorialized in lipped-out putts on the final green to miss advancing to the final stage of Q-School in 2007 and 2008.

“You look back at it and you’re kind of like, I don’t know if it’s ever going to happen,” McGirt said. “But you keep busting your butt and you grind and all you want is a chance.”

Monday Qualifying is a tough road that can seem the longest of long shots to acquiring status, but 2018 Masters champ Patrick Reed is the poster child for how the dream can be real.

Just four years ago, Keith Mitchell was plying his trade on the Korn Ferry Tour when he was one of four qualifiers into the 2017 Valspar Championship. He finished T-11 in his PGA Tour debut and it spring-boarded him to play well the rest of the year.

“It let me know I could play out here if I had my best stuff,” Mitchell recalled. “I’d put it up there with the most memorable weeks I’ve ever had.”

By 2019, he was a Tour winner at the Honda Classic and has earned more than $5 million in his career. What did he make of Visacki’s story going viral?

“Four guys do it most every week. I’m glad the world got to see what it was like and the feelings that every single one of those four guys have usually,” Mitchell said. “He just happened to get on film.”

Kudos to the PGA Tour, pushed by the yeoman’s effort of Ryan French, Mr. Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1), to shed light on mini-tour life, for being in Tampa last Monday to capture Visacki’s heartfelt exchange with his father, just as they had captured Nick Hardy’s fist pump in Phoenix. Any given Monday is the motto of those who chase the qualifying dream. As mini-tour pro Dominic Formato put it, Visacki served as a much-needed reminder to all the dreamers out there that “sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is closer that it seems.”

Visacki feels like this year’s Ho-Sung Choi, a social media darling who capitalized on his new-found celebrity to gain other sponsor invites. (Note to Big Mike: start writing letters to tournament directors.)

“I’m definitely going to try to do a lot more Mondays now, now knowing this experience,” Visacki said after shooting 74-71 to miss the cut. “It’s eye opening and it definitely makes me want to get out here and continue to be out here. This is amazing.”

Actually, it’s just another Monday on the PGA Tour.

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This player posted 108 in a Korn Ferry Tour Monday qualifier

The Monday qualifier for the Veritex Bank Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour amounted to one very long day for this group.

Connor Murphy started his day at Trophy Club (Texas) Country Club with an 11 on the par-4 first hole. It wouldn’t be terribly significant but for the fact that Murphy was entered in a Monday qualifier for this week’s Veritex Bank Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Unfortunately it got worse – much worse – from there.

Murphy, from Encino, California, had two more doubles and a triple on the front nine at Trophy Club, but also made four pars and a birdie at the par-5 fifth – far and away the highlight of the day. After turning with a 14-over 50 on the front nine, Murphy went off the deep end. His back nine ended with a 12 on the par-5 18th hole for a 58.

At 36-over 108 for 18 holes, Murphy finished 139th, last of those to finish the round and 16 shots behind Taylor Carruthers, an amateur from Granbury, Texas.

Here’s a look a Murphy’s full scorecard.

After looking at the card, what’s arguably most remarkable about Murphy’s day is how one of the two men paired with him fared. Josh Hart, a professional from Jupiter, Florida, managed a 2-under 70, which still left him four shots short of being in contention for one of four spots in the tournament. Amateur Anthony Gregory, the third member of the group, had an 86.

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