PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The drama is building at PGA Tour Q-School, where the top five and ties will be awarded the ultimate prize, exempt status in the big leagues for 2025.
“It’s what we’re all working for,” said Alistair Docherty, the 54-hole co-leader who is seeking to earn a spot on the Tour for the first time.
On Saturday, the wind died down a bit at Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass Country Club and the temperature ticked into the low 70s on a sunny day. There were several low scores, one day after no one managed to break par at Sawgrass CC.
The players will swap courses for the final round. There’s still much at stake beyond the top five as the top 40 and ties will earn exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour (12 guaranteed starts for the first 25 and ties, eight for the others).
Here’s a look at 10 with a legitimate shot to finish among the top five and ties and punch their ticket to the Tour in ’25.
Docherty, who turned professional in 2016 out of Chico State, is seeking his first Tour card in what is his ninth year as a professional. He shot 67 at Sawgrass CC to improve to 6-under 204 and share the 54-hole lead.
Docherty took up golf after an injury in hockey as a junior ended his playing career on ice.
“I told a couple of my friends that were on the team that I can’t play hockey anymore because I keep getting injured. I’m going to try to play golf. And that was before I could even break 90,” he said. “That’s what I’ve always wanted to do and I’ve stuck to it.”
Docherty nearly wrapped up a card this season on the Korn Ferry Tour. He needed a two-way T-2 finish at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to finish in the top 30 but Doc Redman’s birdie on the 72nd hole created a three-way T-2 finish and bumped Docherty out of the top 30. Docherty could’ve been deflated but he arrived with the right attitude this week.
“It’s going to happen when it’s supposed to happen,” he said.
Riedel finished No. 4 on the PGA Tour University ranking out of Vanderbilt and already has full status locked up for next season on the Korn Ferry Tour. As the only player to post all three rounds in the 60s, Riedel is tied for the 54-hole lead and poised to collect one of the Tour cards.
“My whole goal in the offseason’s to earn my PGA Tour card, that’s kind of my expectation and goal going into this week,” he said.
Kanaya is a former top-ranked amateur and a seven-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour. He’s showing his game can stack up on the PGA Tour, too. On Saturday, he maintained a spot in the top five, alone in third, with a 2-under 68 at Sawgrass CC.
Greco needed a birdie at the last hole of second stage in Memphis just to make it to final stage. He got it and he’s making the most of his opportunity. Greco birdied three of the final four holes to shoot 67 at Sawgrass Country Club and improve to 3-under 207 and T-4 heading into the final round.
Greco, who grew up in the Bay Area, played at a nine-hole course, Prune Ridge, and used to ride to it with three clubs tied to his bike with a bungee cord and said he could only afford the game thanks to Youth on Course. He played college golf at Jessup University, a NAIA school, and played on the PGA Tour Americas this season.
Asked if he had thought about what it would mean to earn a Tour card, he said, “I don’t really go there. I mean, obviously you want to play against the best players for the biggest amount of money and that’s definitely a part of it. But none of that affects the next shot. Any time I spend thinking about that is probably a waste of time.”
Shaun made double bogey at the par-4 18th at Sawgrass Country Club to shoot even-par 70 and fall into a tie for the final position at 3-under 207.
The former UCLA Bruin opened with a course-record 9-under 61 at Dye’s Valley and followed with a 6-over 76 at Sawgrass Country Club.
Shaun earned DP World Tour membership for the 2024-25 season with a solo 14th finish at final stage of its Q-School last month. He advanced through first and second stage of 2024 PGA Tour Q-School and was planning on withdrawing from second stage until he missed the cut by a shot at the Australian Open and was able to fly home in time to tee it up.
“All you can ask for is a shot at it,” he said. “Going into this week I already have some status on the DP and will get a decent schedule there. Coming here with five cards at stake, I knew it was a possibility but also thought it was a longshot statistically.”
Buckley slipped to 156th in the FedEx Cup Fall but after a 3-under 67 at Sawgrass CC, he’s T-4 with one round to go.
Buckley, 28, missed eight of his last nine cuts on the Tour, but he’s put himself in position to regain playing privileges for next season.
Hirschman shot 66 on Saturday at Sawgrass Country Club but admitted afterward that his 73 the day before in windier conditions was the better of the two rounds. The former roommate of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffer is in position to join him in the big leagues for the first time as he improved to 3-under 207 and a four-way T-4.
Hirschman, a former Oklahoma Sooner, has spent the last five seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour but finished 178th on the money list this year and had to go back to first stage.
“I feel like I got my competitive edge back and I lit a fire under me,” he said.
A return to his childhood coach, being less technical and his wife reminding him, as he put it, “that I’m a good golfer and that I don’t suck,” has Hirschman poised to make a childhood dream come true.
Griffin is glad Q-School isn’t a 54-hole event otherwise he’d be the odd man out. He’s alone in eighth place after shooting 1-under 69 at Sawgrass CC on Saturday. Griffin is a past champion on the PGA Tour and the 36-year-old, who has battled back from back surgery, would like another shot at being fully exempt, especially with a lot at stake next season with just the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup earning cards.
“I’m still super-hungry,” Griffin said. “I’d love to have another shot at the Tour.”
Alejandro Tosti, who started on the back nine, birdied two of his last three holes to shoot 65, the low round of the week at Sawgrass Country. That lifted Tosti to even-par 210 and T-10, three strokes off the pace to get a card.
Robby Shelton tied the low round of the day (with Pierceson Coody) at Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass, a bogey-free 64 to improve to 1-over 211. He carded four birdies in his final five holes. He’s T-15 but he’ll be playing his final round on the more difficult layout, Sawgrass CC.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 10 names to watch at PGA Tour Q-School (only 5 can make it through)
