The event won’t attract much media attention in the early stages, but golf careers can be made and lost in the PGA Tour qualifying that will begin in earnest this week.
During the next two weeks, 14 “first stage” tournaments will be held around the country, and dreams of plenty of Coloradans — as well as many other top-level golfers — will be on the line.
While PGA Tour cards won’t be handed out until the third and final stage — Nov. 28-Dec. 3 in La Quinta, Calif. — many competitors will lose out on that opportunity by the end of this month.
And the stakes are only compounded by the fact that this will be the final Q-school in which PGA Tour cards will be awarded. Starting next year, the final reward in the qualifying process will be spots on the Web.com Tour.
But even with the PGA Tour door still ajar for Q-school competitors this year, the odds are still heavily stacked against most of the players. After pre-qualifying weeded out many golfers, the first stage will be where most players enter — and exit — the process.
Though the number of golfers who will advance to next month’s second stage hasn’t yet been announced, typically about one out of four Stage I players advance. Then those who do move on will have to survive the second stage to get to the finals, where the top 25 finishers and ties will earn 2013 PGA Tour cards and the other competitors will gain some Web.com Tour status.
PGATour.com hasn’t yet revealed the fields for next week’s first-stage tournaments, but the players who will compete this week (Tuesday through Friday) are set.
A total of 15 golfers with strong Colorado ties will play at one of the six sites being utilized this week. Included are the last three CGA Players of the Year — Zahkai Brown, Gunner Wiebe (pictured) and Steve Ziegler — along with current Web.com Tour player James Love, a former University of Denver golfer.
Also scheduled to compete is 2006 HealthOne Colorado Open champion Dustin White of Pueblo West and Colorado Springs’ Tom Glissmeyer, who qualified for the U.S. Open as a 16-year-old in 2003.
Here are all the local competitors and where they’ll be playing in this week’s first-stage tournaments:
Oct. 16-19 in Lantana, Texas — Nick Hodge of Littleton, James Love of Denver, former CSU golfer Dustin Morris, former Fort Collins resident Drew Stoltz.
Oct. 16-19 in Dayton, Nev. — Former CU golfer Justin Bardgett, Jeff Franks of Highlands Ranch, Darrin Hall of Lakewood, Dustin White of Pueblo West, Gunner Wiebe of Aurora, Steve Ziegler of Westminster.
Oct. 16-19 in Palm Desert, Calif. — Zahkai Brown of Arvada, Tom Glissmeyer of Colorado Springs.
Oct. 16-19 in Madison, Miss. — Former Durango resident Tom Kalinowski, Nick Mason of Denver, Blake Moore of Denver.
Meanwhile, Champions Tour qualifying starts this week. Two regional tournaments are set for this week — Murrieta, Calif., and ChampionsGate, Fla. — and one Oct. 30-Nov. 2 in Montgomery, Texas.
Those who advance will gain berths in the Champions Tour Q-school finals Nov. 13-16 in Coral Springs, Fla.
Among the local players entered in regionals are PGA professional Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale and former Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo.
