The annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as Qualifying School or Q-School, was historically the main method by which golfers earned PGA Tour playing privileges, commonly known as a Tour card. From 2013 to 2022, Q-School granted privileges only for the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour's official developmental circuit, but in 2023 it began to again award a small number of PGA Tour cards.
At the PGA of America's annual meeting in 1963 Earl Stewart, a club professional from Dallas, first brought up the idea of having a qualifying school. Two years later at the inaugural q-school he explained to the press on the purpose of the event. "It is designed to take the burden of making a judgement on a proposed player's talent away from the local level," he said. "Formerly the various sections were responsible for screening and qualifying a man for the tour, but all they do now is screen and recommend for the new qualifying tournament." [1]
In several early years (1968–69, 1975–81), two separate tournaments were played, one in the spring and one in the fall. [2] The format of the tournament has changed several times, ranging from a 72-hole tournament to a 144-hole tournament. [2] The current format (in place since 1982) is 108 holes over six days in late November and early December. [2] Before 2013, the top 25 players and ties earned their tour cards. [2] The next set of fifty finishers earned full Korn Ferry Tour cards. [3] The remaining participants received conditional Korn Ferry Tour status.
The 2012 Qualifying Tournament was the last to grant playing privileges for the PGA Tour. On March 20, 2012, the tour announced radical changes to its season structure and qualifying process, [4] and announced further details on July 10 of that year. [5]
The 2013 season ended with The Tour Championship in September, and the 2014 season began the following month. Since then, the Qualifying Tournament only grants playing privileges for the Korn Ferry Tour (known as the Nationwide Tour at the time of the March 2012 announcement). A new series of three tournaments known as the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, held in September, grants 50 PGA Tour cards to a field consisting of the top 75 on the Korn Ferry Tour money list and the golfers placed 126 to 200 on the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup points list. The top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour money list before the Finals receive PGA Tour cards, with total money earned in the Finals determining the remaining 25 card earners. [5]
For 2023, qualifying school again awarded PGA Tour cards, this time to top five plus ties in the final stage. Those in the top 40 plus ties were guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. The next twenty plus ties earned full status of the PGA Tour Americas, while all others who reached the final stage received conditional Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas status. The 2023 edition of Q School also awarded privileges on the PGA Tour Americas to First Stage medalists and those outside the Top 40 in the Final Stage. Second stage medalists also earned eight Korn Ferry Tour starts.
The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. Those who are on the top 30 of the money list at year's end are given PGA Tour memberships for the next season. Since the 2013 season, the Korn Ferry Tour has been the primary pathway for those seeking to earn their PGA Tour card. Q-School, which had previously been the primary route for qualification to the PGA Tour, has been converted as an entryway to the Korn Ferry Tour.
PGA Tour Canada, commonly referred to as the Canadian Tour, was a men's professional golf tour headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The United States based PGA Tour took over operation of the tour on November 1, 2012, at which time it was renamed PGA Tour Canada. In 2015, Mackenzie Investments became the umbrella sponsor of the tour, branding it as the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada.
The FedEx Cup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction in 2007 marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Since its inception, the competition has been sponsored by FedEx.
In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the tour for the following season, otherwise known as a "tour card", meaning that they can play in most of the tour's events without having to qualify. They join the leaders on the previous year's money list/order of merit and certain other exempt players as members of the tour.
The Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance is the year-end golf tournament of the Korn Ferry Tour. It has been played at a variety of courses; starting in 2019 it will be played at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana as part of a 10-year deal. Since the 2008 edition, the purse has been $1,000,000, with the winner receiving $180,000.
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The PGA Tour is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, as well as the PGA Tour Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour, as well as the PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamérica, and formerly the PGA Tour China. The PGA Tour is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, a suburb southeast of Jacksonville.
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The Korn Ferry Tour Finals is a series of three golf tournaments that serve as a means of earning PGA Tour membership for the following season. The series, which until 2019 consisted of four tournaments, replaced the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament in 2013.
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