Men's Golf
- Thread starter Pilchard
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
If he wins that he's golden.
That's in August and the last event before the playoffs. Unless he wins it then it's just a prep tournament for Q school. Hopefully he has some other exemptions lined up either on PGA or Web.com early in the season to try and work into some level of status for the rest of the year. Otherwise hopefully he can be like Austin Cook and Monday qualify his way into events to get status on Web.com and earn PGA tour card - now he's a tour winner.
RiskyBusiness
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2011
- Messages
- 759
- Reaction score
- 35
Since he has no status, I believe his best opportunity will be to Monday qualify for Web.com tournaments. I think 4-12 folks qualify for each week’s tournament this way. You may get into the next week’s tournament if you earn a top 10 the previous week. Everyone else in the tournaments has “status” from Q-School.
You can earn your PGA Tour card by winning 3 tournaments (battlefield promotion), finishing in the top 25 on the money list or finishing in the top 25 at Q School. Since 2013, I think you have to earn your way to Q School through Web.com or PGA Tour earnings.
Does this sound about right? It is even harder to get on Tour now than it was before 2013. Once you earn status, it is a little easier to maintain playing privileges.
You can earn your PGA Tour card by winning 3 tournaments (battlefield promotion), finishing in the top 25 on the money list or finishing in the top 25 at Q School. Since 2013, I think you have to earn your way to Q School through Web.com or PGA Tour earnings.
Does this sound about right? It is even harder to get on Tour now than it was before 2013. Once you earn status, it is a little easier to maintain playing privileges.
Generally correct - on the web.com the top 25 each week get into the next week's event. Finish in top 25 in regular season money gets you onto PGA Tour as does top 25 in the 4 event "playoffs" (have to be in top 75 on web.com or 125-200 on PGA tour to get into the playoffs), though your positioning in those "50" spots determines your exact status on tour. I'd also be shocked if there are more than 5 monday qualifying spots for web.com events.
Q school only gets you status onto Web.com tour, then you have to get from there to PGA Tour (jon rahm excluded)
If you are not in the top 75 on Web.com tour money, you lose your status (pending past wins, etc) and have to go back to Q school. I would disagree with your comment that it's easier to maintain status once you earn it. You don't earn your way to Qschool, though if you were on tour you generally can skip some of the pre-qualifying and maybe even first stage (but still have to get through 2nd and final stage)
Last edited:
RiskyBusiness
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2011
- Messages
- 759
- Reaction score
- 35
Yes, I incorrectly referred to q school and meant to say 4 week playoff. Big difference.
My opinion on status is based on the adventures of JT Poston. He went out and Monday qualified on Web.com tour in 2016. He played great and managed to earn his card for 2017 by finishing in top 25.
He finished badly for the year on the PGA Tour in 2017 though. Although he usually made the cut, his $663,000 in earnings placed him at 130, below the needed 125 ranking.
He played poorly in the Web.com playoffs, but his 130 ranking from 2017 gives him some status on PGA Tour. He is #1 for the 30th way to qualify for an event, based on being in the 126 to 150 ranking from 2017. He will be able to play in the less popular events.
He has already taken advantage of this in the late fall version of the tour. He managed a tie for 4th in Las Vegas and already has about $406,000 in 2018 earnings. If he can get into enough tournaments, he has a decent chance to make top 125 for 2018. A couple of top 25 finishes would put him in great shape.
He is a great kid from Hickory, NC and I root for him. He is not as talented as Will, but he has already earned over $1,000,000 in two seasons.
So back to Will. Looks like his toughest test will probably be those Monday qualifiers and then having top 25 finishes to qualify for the next event.
My opinion on status is based on the adventures of JT Poston. He went out and Monday qualified on Web.com tour in 2016. He played great and managed to earn his card for 2017 by finishing in top 25.
He finished badly for the year on the PGA Tour in 2017 though. Although he usually made the cut, his $663,000 in earnings placed him at 130, below the needed 125 ranking.
He played poorly in the Web.com playoffs, but his 130 ranking from 2017 gives him some status on PGA Tour. He is #1 for the 30th way to qualify for an event, based on being in the 126 to 150 ranking from 2017. He will be able to play in the less popular events.
He has already taken advantage of this in the late fall version of the tour. He managed a tie for 4th in Las Vegas and already has about $406,000 in 2018 earnings. If he can get into enough tournaments, he has a decent chance to make top 125 for 2018. A couple of top 25 finishes would put him in great shape.
He is a great kid from Hickory, NC and I root for him. He is not as talented as Will, but he has already earned over $1,000,000 in two seasons.
So back to Will. Looks like his toughest test will probably be those Monday qualifiers and then having top 25 finishes to qualify for the next event.
Last edited:
tigerswood
Well-known member
Very true. But for every JT Poston, there are 100 or more top college golfers who can't cut it end up on the mini tours and/or flame out in a couple years.
One of my good friends was an All American and ended up waiting tables at an Italian restaurant to supplement his mini-tour income until he made it to the Web.com and then PGA at 25. Will's got quite the pedigree from college/amateur events as well, so hopefully he can have a quicker ascension.
I'm with you there, though I believe getting into the web.com playoffs (either from PGA 125-200/web top 75) you're guaranteed some level of status on the Web. So he's set with his partial PGA status and likely not full but pretty close web status (considering he was a prior year PGA tour member) and didn't need to go back to Q school. If you get to tour and aren't in the 125-200 bucket you're back to Q school or if you're outside of top 75 web you're back to Q school.
Just know from a few people how tough it really is to even get to the web.com tour let alone PGA even for really good college players. Monday qualifying is very difficult and you just have to get on a heater like JT did to go from no status to great status. Rooting for Will all the way. Not knowing all of the details, but to be a half semester short of graduating and not having status seems like a tough time to turn pro. Trying to finish degree while focusing on golf will be difficult.
TheReff
Rod Griffin
- Joined
- May 15, 2011
- Messages
- 6,384
- Reaction score
- 561
That is great! It will be hard on Wake obviously but it is hard to fault a young man who is doing what he thinks is best for him. He starts out a brand new year going pro. Trying to make a living, just like all of us do. Top Web.com guy made over $500,000 so that is not too shabby if he were to be that good. Even if he isn't he can get his feet wet with several sponsor invitations in PGA events and qualify on Mondays, plus play overseas. He will do just fine & hopefully give us a 4th player on the PGA tour soon.
Deacsfan27
Well-known member
I love how when it's golfers going pro it's "hey he's gotta do what's best for him", but when it's basketball players going pro it's "wow it's a shame he couldn't stay four years and get his degree."
Wonder what the driving force behind that is?
Wonder what the driving force behind that is?
Teamramrod
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2011
- Messages
- 2,386
- Reaction score
- 208
TheReff
Rod Griffin
- Joined
- May 15, 2011
- Messages
- 6,384
- Reaction score
- 561
I also think it is great when basketball players like CP3, Rodney Rogers, Jeff Teague, Al-Faroq Aminu, James Johnson & John Collins all leave early for the NBA. This is great for Wake Forest to have them in the highest level of their sport, carrying their good name & game at the highest level. It was also a great plus for Wake Forest basketball when we were the ONLY school to have 3 players to be in the same NBA All-Star game a couple of years ago. So whether it is golf, football or basketball, it never bothers me because it is up to the individual person as to when they want to earn a living.
DownEastDeac
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
- Messages
- 2,898
- Reaction score
- 698
I honestly can't say I've heard anyone with that take in the last 15 years. Even those of us who selfishly want them to stay 4 years, for the most part think they should be able to go straight to the pro's if college ain't their thing.
tigerswood
Well-known member
You make this sound like it's easy to do. Sponsor invitations are extremely hard to get, and the European Tour is even more competitive than the Web.com.
Maybe you're missing the part of this thread where people are questioning the golfer's decision.
TheReff
Rod Griffin
- Joined
- May 15, 2011
- Messages
- 6,384
- Reaction score
- 561
About 14 qualifying spots on Monday for the Web.com tour plus various other foreign tours. I didn't say in the sentence you highlighted that he was going to the European Tour did I? There are lots of places to make money in golf while honing his game for the Q school.
There are logical reasons to question the decision here - he is (apparently) only one semester from finishing his degree, has no guarantee of success or income as a professional golfer, and is going to have to perform very, very well pretty quickly to even have a chance of making a consistent living. Whereas he could have stayed one more semester, competed at the highest level of college and amateur golf, obtained his degree, and, with continuing excellent performances, heightened his profile and possibly made it easier to succeed on tour next year. He could even have given Q-school another go.
You can't really compare his situation with a basketball player who leaves early because he has a guarantee of getting drafted and having a guaranteed contract.
That being said, it is not for me or anyone to second-guess his decision - he has to do what he thinks is best for him. Maybe he hates school and actually was not on track to graduate? Who knows?
Zalatoris is a studly player. He's performed very well in the Walker Cup and other events with PGA players and I think will be a very successful pro. He will likely complete the ~4 classes I imagine he needs to get his degree. Sticking around this spring is more about giving himself a full season of pro golf vs. finishing what he started with his team. Agree with scooter, not for us to second guess as fans. It's his life.
BacktoBack
Doctor Of Cerumen
TITCR