Qualifying school

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 Specific qualifying schools
- 1.1 PGA TOUR
- 1.2 European Tour
2 Further reading

In professional golf the term Qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S. based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the tour for the following season, otherwise known as a "tour card", meaning that they can play in most of the tour's events without having to qualify. They join the leaders on the previous year's money list/order of merit and certain other exempt players as members of the tour.

Getting through the qualifying school of an elite tour is very competitive and most professional golfers never achieve it. There can be up to four stages to negotiate, each of them like a regular golf tournament with only a small number of players going on to the next stage. The Final Qualifying School may be played over up to six rounds, compared with the standard four rounds in a professional golf tournament. However players who are successful at Qualifying School can reach the elite level of competition very quickly.

Other methods of getting onto an elite golf tour include:

Finishing near the top of the money list/order of merit on the tour's official developmental tour, such as the Nationwide Tour for the PGA Tour, the Challenge Tour for the European Tour or the FUTURES Tour for the LPGA Tour.
Winning a specified number of tournaments on the tour's official developmental tour may grant an exemption. For example, both the PGA Tour and European Tour grant a "battlefield promotion" to any player who wins three events on its developmental tour in a season. Such a player is exempt from qualifying on that tour for the remainder of that season. (NB: The PGA Tour season is entirely contained within a calendar year, but the European Tour season starts in November.)
Winning a tournament on the tour after gaining entry to it through its qualification event or as a sponsor's invitee.
Winning enough money on multiple events on the tour as a qualifier/sponsor's invitee to meet whatever criteria the tour may lay down for promotion to full membership. For example, this is how Tiger Woods first earned his PGA Tour card.
Special categories for elite golfers: Most tours offer automatic memberships to golfers with outstanding achievements such as winning a recent major championship or making a recent Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup team.

For complete lists of exempt categories on various tours, see the following pages:

Some lower status tours are open to any registered professional who pays a membership fee so they don't have a Qualifying School.

[edit] Specific qualifying schools

[edit] PGA TOUR

The PGA TOUR's qualifying school is officially known as the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, but the organization also frequently refers to it as "Q-School". The system dates back to 1965 and it currently involves four stages (see this link to the 2006 results, and also the official application, which includes the criteria for exemption to a particular stage):

Pre-Qualifying Stage: Four tournaments held in September, all in warm-weather locations in the United States. Each is played over four rounds. This was a new stage for 2006. Slightly more than 40 players (in 2006, 41 to 43, depending on the size of the field), plus those who tie for a qualifying spot, advance to the next stage.
First Stage: Ten tournaments held in October (down from 14 in 2005), all in warm-weather locations in the United States. Each is played over four rounds. The participants are a mixture of Pre-Qualifying Stage winners and players who were exempted from Pre-Qualifying. In 2006, the number of qualifiers to the next stage depended on the size of the field, ranging from the top 25 to the top 27. All players who tie for a qualifying spot advance to the next stage.
Second Stage: Six tournaments in November, also in warm-weather locations and each played over four rounds. Like the First Stage, certain players receive exemptions to this stage. In 2006, three of the tournaments qualified the top 20 plus ties, and the remaining three qualified the top 19 plus ties.
Final Stage: One tournament played over six rounds in late November-early December. The field consists of Second Stage winners and players who received exemptions into the Final Stage. The top 30 players, plus ties, earn PGA TOUR cards for the following year.

[edit] European Tour

In 2007 the European Tour will have a three stage Qualifying School:

First Qualifying Stage: six tournaments in various European countries, each played over four rounds.
Second Qualifying Stage: four tournaments, each of four rounds, at four different courses in Spain.
Final Qualifying Stage: a single tournament played over six rounds at two courses in Spain.

The leading 30 players and ties at Final Qualifying receive category 11 membership of the European Tour, which entitles them to entry to a substantial number of European Tour events, but not to the more prestigious stops on the tour unless a large number of players in higher exemption categories skip those tournaments.