Q-School Primer 2023: Second Stage Criteria with Commentary

 All aboard for Second Stage of PGA Tour Q-School! So, you thought First Stage was exciting? Well, this is where PGA Tour Americas exemptions (if nothing greater) are finalized, as all players who make it to Final Stage from here are guaranteed as much, along with conditional Korn Ferry Tour status (provided they aren't exempt to Final Stage as it is). Sixteen Umcees are among the 389 who've made it this far, excluding those exempt to Final Stage. This week includes three sites--one each in Alabama, Florida and Georgia--whose details will be revealed in my next post later tonight as of this writing. Two weeks later, a site in California and another in Georgia will play host to Second Stage action.

As with First Stage, those exempt to Second Stage have status on various lesser tours. Unlike First Stage, though, the exemptions are granted to those who have achieved something good on those tours, having met one or more of the following criteria:

1. PGA Tour members in the current season. This requires explanation, as it excludes those who have exemptions for 2024 on the Tour. It also omits the forty leading members who fail to retain or gain full membership this season. Heading into the RSM Classic, at least seven exempt players are close enough to the top 125 so that the bubble boy for Final Stage is Noh Seung-yul of South Korea at #172.
2. Winners of Korn Ferry Tour events the last three seasons. The 2020 and 2021 KFT seasons were merged due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so all winners from both years are exempt to this stage, along with the last two years.
3. Finishers #61 through #85 on the KFT Points List. The majority, but not all, will be exempt to next year's Korn Ferry Tour without having to ponder the reshuffle that occurs every four events or so.
4. Fifty or more career cuts on the PGA Tour by 9 October 2023. The cutoff for this criterion was the Sanderson Farms Championship.
5. Anybody who made the cut this year at a major or at the Players Championship. This is a modification of last year's category, as all cut-makers at those events were exempt to Final Stage a year ago. With the reintroduction of PGA Tour card availability at Q-school, the demotion is understandable.
6. The bottom half of the OWGR top 100 as of 9 October 2023.
7. Finishers #6 to #20 on the PGA Tour University rankings. The first two years (2021 and 2022), only graduating seniors in the top fifteen skipped First Stage. This year, five more got that privilege.
8. Finishers #6 to #25 in the PGA Tour Latinoamerica's Totalplay Cup standings or the PGA Tour Canada's Fortinet Cup standings. Last year, a top-ten finish in either points list sufficed to grant Final Stage entry off the bat. Next year, they'll just take the top ten from the year on the PGA Tour Americas and exempt them to Final Stage, along with five single-segment entrants.
9. The top five WAGR men's golfers as of 4 October 2023. This was the last WAGR ranking for men's amateur golf before the deadline of 9 October.
10. Top five and ties at this year's PGA Professional Championship. Not sure Michael Block, folk hero at this year's PGA Championship (not to be confused with the Professional Championship) will partake of this. He said he's focused on his club career.
11. #2 to #5 on the Japan Golf Tour's order of merit as of 9 October 2023. This is not the final, final OOM for the JGTO, but it includes all results through the ACN Championship, won by Yuki Inamori.
12. #2 to #5 on the most recent final OOMs for the PGA Tour of Australasia, Sunshine Tour and Korean PGA Tour. Since these tours have wraparound schedules--the first two due to their Southern Hemisphere location--it doesn't make sense to base on the current season's OOM.
13. Medical considerations. There are three criteria within this criterion. The first is mandatory, requiring that the player have played five to twelve KFT events this year--no more, no fewer.  The second step is to determine when he stopped playing, as he would need to be between #61 and #85 at the time of his sidelining. The third step revolves around the average points per event played, which must also be within that ranking position. This is ranked against all member players on the tour for purposes of valid comparison.

There is more at stake than PGA Tour Americas membership and conditional KFT status for next year at Second Stage. If a given golfer wins one of the five sites (including ties at the top), he gets to start the first eight KFT events in 2024, regardless of his finish at Final Stage. This includes the Argentine Open, which guarantees its winner a trip to the Open Championship, no questions asked. Good luck to all who have made it to Second Stage!

Edward the Scop