5 Team Members set for 2nd Stage Q-School
Big congrats to the five QED Style Team Members who advanced through First Stage Q-School qualifying! Unfortunately, for most of the nearly 1,000 competitors there were simply Too Many Fives, but for those who kept their nerves in check, more challenges await.
The path to the Web.com Tour is a virtual minefield of obstacles. The process starts with Pre-qualifiying where 430 men play in one of six events. From those tournaments, 268 players (62%) made it into 1st Stage Qualifying. For those who get through Pre-Qualifying, life does not get easier as they will be faced with a whole new group of competitors who were exempt from Pre-qualifying. Included in the the 1st Stage field will be players with years of competitive experience who may have even played in a few PGA Tour events. It is then not surprising that only about 70 of the 430 Pre-Qualifier entrants will make it through to 2nd Stage.
1st Stage Q-School is the starting point for golfers who have enough Tour Status to exempt them from Pre-Qualifying but not enough to exempt them into 2nd Stage. Spread over the course of the month of October, 1st Stage qualifying is held in 12 different locations. Like 1st stage, golfers will need to finish approximately top 30 to move on (exact cut lines are determined by the number of participants and strength of the field).
We are proud of all of our team members who participated in these early stages and want to congratulate the five team members who will be competing in the 2nd Stage of Q-School. While winning 1st Stage does not come with any specific prize, high finishes do give the competitors preference in 2nd Stage locations. This means that both Zahkai Brown, T9 and Clay Ogden, T16 will likely get their top location choice.
In addition to Clay and Zahkai, Team QED Style will be represented by TourQuest members Mark Baker, KC Lim, Chris Gilman and Paul Imondi. Team TourQuest has spent the past year traveling the country competing in PGA Monday Qualifiers as preparation for the Web.com Q-School. That preparation seems to be paying off as each guy showed a ton of grit during 1st stage Qualifying. Most notable is Paul Imondi, who needed every stoke of his final round 65 to get through his 1st Stage.
Mark Baker wearing Silver Logan Polo
Joining these 5 men will be Andy Pope, who was exempt from the 1st Stage due to his top 100 finish on the Web.com money list. Andy will be looking to repeat his great run through 2013 Web.com Qualifying. Last year, Andy finished T11 and played in all the Web.com events.
2nd Stage Q-School begins November 11th, 2014. There will be 6 different locations that conclude on November 21st. For those who make the 2nd Stage cut, Final Stage and a Web.com Tour Card will await them.