The year 2023 in golf, which began this past 5 January with the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions, concluded (for all intents and purposes) last Monday, 18 December at the first true PGA Tour Q-School since 2012. As with that year's medallist, the 2023 Q-school champion is eligible for the Presidents Cup Internationals, as Harrison Endycott of Australia beat his nearest challenger, American Trace Crowe, by four strokes (-15 to -11). Raul Pereda of Mexico, who is also International-eligible, was also among the five recipients of PGA Tour cards for 2024,. He tied with Hayden Springer on -8 over what turned out to be five days, as Sunday's action was moved to Monday due to rain at the Sawgrass complex (hence the asterisk in the title). The only other player to earn a PGA Tour card was Blaine Hale Jr, who finished third on -9.
But PGA Tour status wasn't the only incentive on the line. The next forty and ties among those who finished the 72 holes would receive Korn Ferry Tour starts; there were 48 such players. Exactly two-thirds of them--32 in all--earned two reprieves from the reshuffle, which is based primarily on the points list. The remaining sixteen earned one reprieve. This, of course, assumes that a given player in this range hadn't already earned full status on the KFT for 2024.
The third tier of incentives awarded the top 20 and ties after that PGA Tour Americas exempt status for the Latin American segment, which will consist of six events in spring 2024. Twenty-eight players finished in this tier, including two Umcees. However, one of them--Frankie Capan III--already has a full KFT ride for 2024 after finishing #51 this year on the points list. That leaves an obvious choice for the final Upper Midwest Connection of the Week for Anno Domini 2023...
Van Holmgren.
The Plymouth, Minnesota product who went to Wayzata High School and played at North Dakota State for two-plus years before transferring to Florida Gulf Coast on the other side of the Sunshine State made his first trip to Q-school finals somewhat remunerative. In his pro career so far, Holmgren has had some heartache. Two years ago, a putt lipped out or he would've made KFT Q-School finals. Then he had status on last year's PGA Tour Canada but only finished 64th in the Fortinet Cup, narrowly missing out on retaining his card with three MCs. Undeterred, Holmgren grinded his way through two stages of this year's PGA Tour Q-School and got back his card on the number (+3). It's not the Korn Ferry Tour yet, but he is one step closer to that goal. Hopefully he does well enough in 2024 to retain PGA Tour Americas privileges into the Canadian segment and even upgrades, perhaps, to tours higher up.
Only one golfing matter remains for 2023, and that is the Top Ten Upper Midwest Connections of the Year. Look for it by the time the Sentry's field is preliminarily announced on 29 December, if not sooner.
Edward the Scop
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