PGA Tour Q-School: These Guys Are Good!

If ever you had any doubts as to just how good tour professionals are, you need look no further than the PGA Tour’s Qualifying School.

The final stage of Q-School, which consists of six rounds played on the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament and PGA West TPC Stadium Courses, will conclude today in La Quinta, California.

After six rounds, the top-25 and ties will earn the golden ticket, otherwise known as a PGA Tour card. 

The pressure at Q-School is perhaps even more intense than that of major championship. 

These guys are literally playing for their financial future. 

The difference in the available prize money on the PGA Tour compared to the Nationwide Tour is staggering.

The leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour earned just shy of $450,000 in 2008. The 125th-ranked player on the PGA Tour earned more than $850,000 in 2008. 

This more or less means that a player will earn roughly doubled the amount of money on the PGA Tour as they would on the nationwide tour. 

Just imagine the pressure you would feel if you had an opportunity to literally double your income potential in six days.

Needless to say, there have been many shaky hands in La Quinta over the past six days.

The winner of the final stage of q-school, Harrison Frazar, finished at 32-under par through six rounds.

That is an average of 5.5 under par per round for six rounds, although it did help that Frazar carded a 59 in the fourth round, making him only the second player in q-school history to card a 59.

The cutoff point to earn a 2009 PGA Tour card was 19-under par.

That is an average of -3.16 per round for six straight days.

Other than being an exciting event to watch due to the excruciating level of pressure, q-school is a perfect demonstration of just how unbelievably talented tour professionals actually are. 

18 under par, which is an average of -3 per round, is simply not good enough for the PGA Tour; sorry, six incredible rounds of golf that get you to 18-under is only good enough for the Nationwide Tour, golf’s version of the minor leagues.

Just think of the best player you may know at your local golf club.  I think it is fairly safe to assume that there are very few of you out there who know a golfer that has the ability to card -18 over six consecutive rounds, which is still not even good enough to earn a PGA Tour card. 

Any of you out there who are flirting with a scratch handicap and tossing around the idea of quitting your day job to pursue a career in professional, might want to think twice as a scratch handicap does not come anywhere near sniffing the cutoff line for earning a PGA Tour card.

Q-school is referred to by many as golf’s fifth major due to the extreme level of pressure involved in the tournament.

But, Q-school is also the best demonstration of just how remarkably talanted even the average tour professionals are.