NtnBo, thx..

I hope Michael maybe does Canadian tour qualifying or Monday qualifies Victoria and Vancouver stops? Maybe with his pedigree he can get sponsors exemption. Also Vancouver golf tour may have event then too (nick Taylor played VGT event and won PGA event within 5 week stretch)

BO has it spot on. PGA Tour gives us whats called an Access Summary, it tells you who the last guy in for each event was last year and what his status was to get in. Based on that I will not get into any events based on my finish at Q-school. However, any events that I can get into via sponsors invite or a Monday qualifier can help elevate my status. The latin/south america events are all before the first reshuffle and there are no Monday qualifiers for them, so my only hope is to get into one on a sponsor's invite. There are 5 exemptions available each week. 2 restricted (web.com tour members only), 2 unrestricted (anybody eligible), and a web.com exemption (restricted) that web decides on and usually its a one and done kind of deal with that exemption. Since I do have status on web, I am eligible for all 5 spots, rather than just the 2 unrestricted like I was this past year.

Any money earned in any start on web will elevate my position in the reshuffle, so the sooner I can get into an event, the easier it will be to get more starts and earn full web status for the rest of the year. This is different than guys who have no status, they must top 25 to get into the next week, and keep this streak going to earn enough money to surpass #100 money on previous year money list in order to become included in the reshuffle. For me, I am automatically in it, so if I play in one of the South America events and finished T30 and earn say 5000, I wouldn't get in the next week, but when the first reshuffle happens I would jump past lots of guys in the reshuffle and may be able to get in to 2-4 of the next 4 events prior to the second reshuffle. If you are a member and keep making cuts, you don't have to worry about the reshuffle. Obviously goal is to do better than just make cuts, but thats just a step along the way. At this point, any money earned gets me closer to full status.

I am currently #76 of guys who have conditional status. Looking at the priority list, if you missed top 45 by one shot, you will maybe get in to two of the first four based on last year, or you could get in zero, it will be very close. Last year should be a pretty good indication of this year, so if you missed the number at q school by 2, you might get into 1-2 of the first 8 events max. Last year I think that guys down to about T90 got in to Nova Scotia and one other event I can't remember, maybe Knoxville. And Nova Scotia may have even gone outside top 100. But those were much further along in the season.

My finishing position would have got me not quite half the events in Canada and most of the PGA Latin America events. They haven't released schedules for these tours yet, but I should have decent access on each without needing to do q-schools for them.

So my goal is to get exemptions/qualify early on in the year and play solid in those starts so I can move up the reshuffle and get more starts. Basically I'm not as well off as I would have hoped to be making it to final stage, but by making it there I have some status and I won't have to do anything wild to elevate my status. Had I missed at second, I would have to monday qualify and try to run top 25s together for awhile as my only real hope of getting inside the top 156, 100, or 75 on the money list. Top 156 would get you into the last regular season event. Top 100 gets you in the reshuffle, straight into second stage, and conditional status (same category as me currently, but higher up). Top 75 gets you web.com finals and guarantees full status for next year. 156th was about 14.5k, 100th was 43k, 75th 67.6k. A top 10 would get you pretty close to 14.5k, top 25 usually 5-5.5k I think. So if you have no status, you need to string together at least a few good weeks to get top 100, unless you have a top 5. But if you are a member and already able to get in the reshuffle without having to surpass #100 on the list, one top 25 in the first 4 events would probably be enough to get in 3/4 events between first and second reshuffle would be my guess. And if you top 10 before the first reshuffle I would be surprised if you didn't get in any event. My buddy had very little money (T50 and T30ish in two events he played) and then finished T10 in cleveland last year and was in every event the rest of the year and he started with conditional status.

Ok wow, this was way longer than I anticipated. As you can see, pretty complicated system. Basic idea is that I'm better off making it to final stage than a guy who didn't because any money made helps me move up the priority and it gets easier to get in more events, compared to the guy who didn't make finals and has to Monday Q + Top 25 to keep playing, and even if he does and falls short of the 100 mark, won't be in the reshuffle even if he has back to back top 10s. So thats a positive, obviously wanted top 45 at minimum at finals, but not totally SOL with conditional.

Thanks for following along guys

i would really look forward to you maybe getting a sponsor's exemption to the web.com "east bay" tournament. that's not the name. does it still exist? i think i saw it last year (a guy on golfwrx.com was looking for a knowledgable - golf and the course itself - local caddy)... i might even try to come down to NoCal and wear my new cal bears nike polo.

I'm assuming the Stoneware tournament will still be on the schedule. They haven't released the full schedule to us yet, but it won't be in the first half of the season. Last year it was end of July, so it would be great to get a spot in that one. I'm hoping that by then I won't need it since it will fall later in the season and I will instead be on off my number. I was on the short list for it this past year but another one of my teammates from Cal got the spot. It would be nice to play in that event again since it was one of our home courses for Cal.

Something else important about having conditional status is cost and time frame to enter PGA and web.com Monday qualifiers. Somebody with no status has to pay $450 as compared to $100 for conditional status guys. They don't have to do the pre-qualifiers for PGA events. They also have two or three extra days to enter.

Just gives some extra flexibility to schedule planning and saves some days and money. Will also give access to tons of excellent golf courses to practice at.

BO

michael, the two BC tourneys (victoria, vancouver) are on the canadian tour. now top 5 guys from canadian tour get web.com card. and i think further down guys get minimally decent status.

i see the canadian tour has seasonal qualifying april 21-24 at la purisma in santa barbara (lompoc)......

lots of big players have played on canadian tour. stricker for one. i remember seeing him play in vancouver. both he and mike weir had their wives caddying i think.

alot of guys you'd know play on canadian tour. darren wallace, nick taylor, eugene wong, john ellis from san jose).. i think chris williams played some canadian events this year... kevin spooner another guy you might know. most are washington guys. chris killmer... etc.

nick taylor is interesting.. i think he had been pretty frustrated since turning pro off being #1 amateur in world. as he told the newspaper people think he's practically on pga tour but he isn't exempt anywhere. and web.com qualifying is tough for anyone. nick was playing really small local mini-tour events and dominating. winning $1500 etc.

anyway, he had middling success for a few years on canadian tour. then he had a bunch of top 5 and top 15 finishes. either made top 5 or top 10. got some reasonably web.com status.

on web.com had good enough finishes to stay in rotation... a top 10 or two. a few top 30's... he gets his PGA card.

then he wins his 3rd or 4th tournament... so he's a pga winner.

but all he really did was perform very well on canadian tour for 1 season. have mediocre to good web.com season.... and then he won a PGA event.

i think he was frustrated thinking he was so far away from his golf goals. but he really wasn't at all.

anyway, i think that's a nice story.

Sounds like this kind of personifies the problem with the new qschool. You can play some damn solid golf and not get status anywhere. Also, just read stadler's post. That just sounds like...almost unfair. Theoretically speaking, there are guys that could top 40 on the PGA Tour who could languish for years playing just a few events a year if they don't happen to play well in those specific events. I guess the positive thing is, there are a lot of good golfers out there and with the reshuffles and stuff, they all get "a chance", even if it's just one or two chances to do something.

One problem is simply depth.... Nick Taylor was world #1 and NCAA player of the year but there are probably 10-20 guys every year as good, 50-100 very close and 1000's quite close.. Graduating every year...

How many guys have been good enough to skip qualifying school or web.com recently?

I think Ricky... Obv rory on another tour Sergio..... Hadwin came pretty close but that was partly due to some kind of local entry to Canadian open

Phil/tiger... Who else? Gary hall berg.? Yes, I'm old

Justin Leonard, Jordan Speith. Foreign guys don't really count because they had access due to good play on foreign tours.

BO

i think it would be exciting to have it such that the top X NCAA players (seniors only??) get a web.com or even a pga tour card. obviously it would have to be a very small number and there would be huge debates/fights over formulae used.

maybe have 2-3 NCAA majors a year and tabulate those results to a top 3 or 4 making web.com. and of course there would have been the normal regional competitions that would get guys ranked to go to the NCAA majors.

i guess though that guys like cantley and lovemark could just pop up to the pga tour for 1st year out of college, do not much and then they're back in the "grinding to move up" rat race anyway.

Bo, thanks. i agree the foreign guys don't count but i do think rory and sergio pretty much contending on tour under 20 years anyway.

The Nationwide Childrens Hospital event at Ohio State took a format where all first-team NCAA All-Americans got invited to their event every year (10-11 total). Then that event became part of the Web Finals so last year they had the Mylan Classic take over that format, but that tournament is no more so no tournaments this year had the All-American format. It's a cool format, I know Daniel Summerhays and Ben Kohles both won on their All-American start. Some years they would go down to second-team All-American if guys on first declined. For instance, last year I was invited to Mylan as first-team, but it was at the same time as the Western Amateur which is probably the second biggest event of the summer behind US Am. With Walker Cup selections at the end of the summer, basically everyone in contention declined because they wouldn't be playing against all their competition if they went to the web.com event.

For guys that won if they weren't already professional they had 60 days to accept web.com tour membership so I think it every case the guys turned pro.

After skimming this thread my question is, why can't an 8 handicap break 100 at the Masters? I assume an 8 can typically get the ball in the air in the generally right direction and that he will rarely miss the green from inside 100 yards. So what goes wrong if he lays up every hole, playing nothing bigger than a hybrid? Does he three putt half the greens? Does he miss the green with a sand wedge half the time? Does he not keep it in the fairway with two iron shots?

Also that means he has to give a pro shooting par 28 strokes. The pro isn't a +20 (ok, ESC but still). What gives? Maybe this hypothetical amature doesn't get any practice rounds?

An 8 will average 83 or so at his home course for starters. But there's at least two things you don't quite understand.

1, the simple one. He might have 50 putts. An 8 has zero clue just how fast those greens are. If they were flat he'd have tons of three-putts. And they're not flat, they are simply the most undulating greens you'll ever see. And he'd have no clue how they break.

2, a little more complicated. The grass on the fairways is mowed so close and tight that any mis-hit at all results in disaster. Amateurs don't know how to hit from tight fairways, they're used to a nice cushion under the ball for more forgiveness. So they might be lucky to hit half the greens with a wedge. And some holes they'd have almost zero chance such as 15. That shot is ultra scary even for the tour pros, one of the reasons so many guys go for it in two.

Factor in things like 7400 yards is scary long for mortals, not being able to play from the bunkers because of much less sand than they're used to, chipping issues from tight lies, and pissing their pants on the first tee because it's Augusta National.

BO

Agree 100%! If you have never been to The MAsters you have no clue at the up and down the course is...side hill lies...and the tightest fairways you will ever see. Then as Bo said the putting will drive them mad...you will almost never see greens like Augusta....period.

For sure. The strokes taken around the greens for an 8 would be the biggest contributor to a huge number. Seeing them in person you really can appreciate the undulations. I can only imagine actually reading putts and how many other subtleties there are.

At risk of blasphemy, the greens have to border on unplayable for the average guys when running at tournament speed. Were you to get those conditions somewhere that isn't Augusta National, regular guys would probably call it unfair and never return.

That said, I assume that for regular member play, the greens run at a more reasonable speed.

I've been told by those who've played it that the greens are slower and the golf course as a whole is significantly softer. Makes sense as the course is open only during the cooler, rainier seasons. When the tournament comes the weather is more conducive to firmer conditions.

Stads can certainly chime in on this with firsthand knowledge.

BO

After I responded I found an old email from a friend who, in 2010, played both Oakmont and Augusta National. His take with respect to the greens and overall playability was:

The greens aren't as fast as Oakmont but just as difficult. You never have a flat normal lie. But the sand is so soft and white. Walking over the Hogan Bridge was also something I will never forget.

I'd love to hear Stads take on "normal" versus tourney conditions.

My dad got the chance to play it like 5 or 6 years ago. He was probably around an 8 at the time, played after the tournament sometime before they shut down for the summer. He shot 90 if I recall correctly.

Ive played Peachtree in Atlanta a couple of times, and it is supposedly very similar to Augusta. According my fiend who is one of the pros there, the biggest difference is Augusta's greens are smaller. He has played Augusta too many times to count since there are a ton of Augusta members at Peachtree. Last time I played Peachtree was October, the day of their Club Championship and I was coincidentally playing with my uncle who took my dad to Augusta. He also alluded to the similarity of the courses, just Peachtree's greens were faster(they were insanely fast).

Given the above I don't think it's impossible an 8 breaks 100 at The Masters. Maybe 25-40% of the time they can do it.

This is spot on. Fairways and greens were much softer first time I went to play the course. The second trip I made was only a couple weeks before the tournament and tee to green the course was firmer and faster.

one thing i think is probably underestimated in mid to high handicappers playing 7600 yard courses is just putting a ball in play off the tee... probably not an issue at augusta (not sure how long it is either) but at a ton of other super tips tees i know it's a huge issue............. then your game/swing totally falls apart from overswinging.

Mind you the course from member tees and during the winter is not all that difficult of a course relative to tournament conditions and tees. Course plays like 6200 or less from member tees

Stads did the Monday Q at Turtle Bay in Hawaii but didn't make it shooting even, took -5. But hopefully he's spending some quality time up on the North Shore. Noticed one of his Cal teammates was there as well.

Tadd Fujikawa and Gipper Finau didn't even make it out of the pre-Q where it took +2.

Noticed the top high schooler here in the DFW area was there as well making it through the pre-Q and then shooting even on Monday. Must be nice.

BO

BO..... thanks for posting this info.... minus 5 is very good but i assume monday qualifying is brutally competitive.

He's listed in the published field for Pebble Beach next week.

http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/a...-am/field.html