The chase for PGA Tour cards began this week at 13 first stage qualifying sites across the country.
They will be vying for spots in five second-stage qualifiers, with those pared again to join the final field of 168 at PGA Tour Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, Dec. 12-15 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley and Sawgrass Country Club.
Some players have already started the grind at pre-qualifiers. Two area players, University of North Florida graduate Robbie Higgins and Samuel King of Ponte Vedra Beach, an Episcopal graduate who played college golf at Cornell, have made it to first stage, Higgins with a tie for ninth in Greenville, Ala., and King with a tie for 20th at Gunter, Texas.
Higgins is in the field for a first-stage qualifier at the Country Club of Ocala that was to have begun on Oct. 8 but has been postponed indefinitely because of Hurricane Milton’s projected path across Central Florida.
Other area players in the Ocala field are former PGA Tour player Jeff Klauk, past Times-Union high school players of the year Branden Mancheno (Mandarin) and Joshua Lee (Fleming Island) and Jacksonville University graduate Alexandre Vandermoten.
Other players with area ties are in first-stage qualifiers from Florida to the Midwest:
Wilderness Ridge Country Club, Lincoln, NE, Oct. 8-11: Former UNF player Nick Infanti.
Club at Indian Springs, Broken Arrow, OK, Oct. 8-11: Sandalwood and UNF graduate Travis Trace.
Bermuda Run Country Club, NC, Oct. 15-18: Taylor Funk of Jacksonville, a past Times-Union high school player of the year at Ponte Vedra; Chris Baker of Jacksonville Beach; and John Augenstein, Parker Gillam, Austin Morrison and Jack Rhea of St. Simons Island.
The Preserve at Iron Horse, West Palm Beach, Oct. 15-18: King and 2023 NCAA individual champion and former University of Florida player Fred Biondi.
Lake Caroline Golf Club, Madison, MS, Oct. 15-18: Joey Garber and Ben Boyle of St. Simons Island, Ga.
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Magnolia Grove, Semmes, AL, Oct. 22-25: Bolles graduate and past Times-Union player of the year A.J. Crouch of Jacksonville, Cody Montgomery of St. Simons Island.
Champions Point Golf Club, Henryville, IN, Oct. 22-25: Jared Wolfe of Nocatee and Derek Bard of Jacksonville.
Abilene Country Club, TX, Oct. 22-25: Dillon Board of Jacksonville, a Baldwin graduate, Reid Davenport of St. Simons Island.
Rockwall Golf and Athletic Club, Rockwall, TX: Bradley Arrington, St. Simons Island.
The Landings, Deer Creek, Savannah, GA, Nov. 19-22.
Hammock Beach Conservatory, Palm Coast., Dec. 3-6.
Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, Valdosta, GA, Dec. 3-6.
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Highland/Marshwood Courses, Dothan, AL, Dec. 3-6.
Valencia (CA) Country Club, Dec. 3-6.
Event: Black Desert Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Black Desert Resort, Ivins, Utah.
What’s the purse? $7.5 million ($1,350,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner).
Who won last year? This is the first for the event.
How to watch on TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Sunday, 5-8 p.m.).
Area players entered: Tyson Alexander, Chandler Blanchet, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Nico Echavarria, Harris English, Ben Griffin, Lanto Griffin, Patton Kizzire, Philip Knowles, Keith Mitchell, Andrew Novak, Raul Pereda, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg, Tim Wilkinson, Carl Yuan.
Notable: The PGA Tour’s return to Utah for the first time since the 1963 Utah Open is being celebrated in multiple ways. PGA Tour veteran and St. George, Utah, native Jay Don Blake, 65, is playing on a sponsor exemption and will get his 500th Tour start. He’s the oldest to reach that milestone in 40 years. … Ogden natives and BYU teammates Zac Blair and Patrick Fishburn, who tied for fourth as a team at the Zurich Championship, are in the field. … Mike Weir, the International Presidents Cup captain and a former BYU player, is playing on a sponsor exemption. The Canada native has a residence in Park City. … Jacksonville native Bud Cauley, who tied for fifth in last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship, tied for fourth in the 2011 Korn Ferry Tour Utah Championship. … The late Tom Weiskopf designed the course.
Event: Buick LPGA Shanghai, Thursday-Sunday, Qizhang Garden Golf Club.
What’s the purse? $2.1 million ($315,000 to the winner).
Who won last year? Angel Yin defeated Lilia Vu on the first playoff hole for her first LPGA title.
How to watch on TV: Golf Channel (Wednesday/Thursday to Saturday/Sunday, 11 p.m.-4 a.m.).
Area players entered: Auston Kim.
Notable: The four-week Asian Swing begins, with events upcoming in Japan, Korea and Malaysia. … Rose Zhang, Celine Boutier, Alexa Pano, Hannah Green and Ruoning Yin lead the field.
Event: SAS Championship, Friday-Sunday, Prestonwood Country Club, Cary, N.C.
What’s the purse? $2.1 million ($315,000 to the winner).
Who won last year? Rod Pampling shot 68 or better all three days and topped Steven Alker by two shots.
How to watch on TV: Golf Channel (Friday-Sunday, 2-5 p.m.).
Area players entered: David Duval, Fred Funk, Jim Furyk, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh.
Notable: This is the final regular-season event. The top 72 players on the money list advance to the Charles Schwab Playoffs next week at the Dominion Charity Championship in Richmond, Va. … Ernie Els leads the money list with $2,209,317, followed by Steve Alker ($2,021,973) and Stephen Ames ($2,021675). … Arjun Atwal is on the bubble at No. 72 with $236,323, with a lead of $5,068 over Woody Austin. … Singh ($579,997) is 34th on the money list and Duval ($356,865) is 53rd and will advance to the playoffs.
Black Desert Championship: Hard Rock Bet has Mitchell as the favorite at +1600, followed by Seamus Power and Kurt Kitiyama (+25000).
Buick LPGA Shangai: Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand is +650, with Ruoning Yin (+1200) and Xiyu Lin (+1300) next.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour Q-School quest begins with first-stage qualifying tournaments
