Stamp of Approval

Given this crazy year in golf it was only appropriate that one of the most important rounds of 2023, the final round of PGA Tour Q-School, was pushed back because of weather. But after a 10-year break between Q-Schools and one final 24-hour delay, Harrison Endycott, Trace Crowe, Blaine Hale, Raul Pereda, and Hayden Springer all earned PGA Tour cards on Monday. Thankfully, for both the players and their supporters, the five men made sure the finishing stretch was relatively drama-free. Pareda did need two chip-ins to steady his round, and Springer added some stress to his life with a 71st-hole water ball, but all five navigated the final hole with ease and (literally) stamped their names onto PGA Tour membership cards.

The beauty of Q-School has always been the eccentricity of its field. Of the five men to get through, only Endycott had previously held PGA Tour membership. Hale was ranked outside the top 4,000 in the Official World Golf Ranking this summer. And as Ryan French mentioned in Monday’s newsletter and has written about previously, Hayden Springer has been through hell and back after losing his three-year-old daughter last month to Trisomy 18. In three weeks time, all of them will have the opportunity to tee it up alongside some of the best players in the world.

While I won’t go as far as to say that the 2023 edition of Q-School was perfect, it was great to have a qualifying element back in the PGA Tour ecosystem. The format suited the tour well for many years, and while there’s an increased level of legitimacy that comes with promoting members from the Korn Ferry Tour, having an avenue for players to bypass that system and get to the top certainly makes for appealing underdog stories and a more open system overall. Heading into next season, anyone who followed these five players or heard about their backstories will have new reasons to watch the PGA Tour.

Golf is best with players from different backgrounds and with varied life experiences. Thanks to Q-School, the PGA Tour has five new characters in the mix next season. We’ll all be better for it.

For more on the Q-School graduates, check out Ryan French’s wrapup on mondayq.com and the PGA Tour’s profile of all five players.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.