Qualifying school


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.
Getting through the qualifying school of an elite tour is very competitive and most professional golfers never achieve it. There can be up to four stages to negotiate, each of them like a regular golf tournament with only a small number of players going on to the next stage. The final qualifying school may be played over up to six rounds, compared with the standard four rounds in a professional golf tournament. However players who are successful at qualifying school can reach the elite level of competition very quickly.
Some lower status tours are open to any registered professional who pays a membership fee so they do not have a qualifying school.

Q-Schools

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour's qualifying school was officially known as the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, but the organization also frequently refers to it as "Q-School." The system dated back to 1965. The 2012 edition involved four stages:
A number of players who earned PGA Tour privileges through a Top 25 finish on the Web.com Tour also played in the final stage in attempts to improve their status and order in the reshuffle. The reshuffle alternated between Q School and Web.com Tour graduates, with higher-finishing players getting more priority in tournaments. The initial reshuffle began with the Q School medalist, then 2nd place on the Web.com Tour money list, second in Q School, and so on. The order would change according to season earnings after the eighth tournament of the season, the Masters, Players Championship, U.S. Open, and British Open, again with the highest earning players receiving higher priority into tournaments.
Web.com Tour graduates did not count against the 25. In the event that there were less than 25 after the Web.com Tour graduates were discounted, those in the next position were given PGA Tour cards, as in 2010 and 2011. In 2011, twenty-six golfers originally earned tour cards, which also included Web.com Tour graduates Roberto Castro and Mark Anderson. As there were fewer than 25 after Castro and Anderson were not counted, Nathan Green, Colt Knost, and John Huh were also given Tour cards for 2012. Huh was the most successful of the three, winning at Mayakoba, playing in all four stages of the FedEx Cup, and finishing 28th on the money list en route to Rookie of the Year honors. Knost did well enough to keep his Tour privileges, while former PGA Tour winner Green finished outside the Top 150.
The 2012 Qualifying Tournament was the last to award PGA Tour privileges. The tour announced in March 2012 that after the end of the 2013 PGA Tour season in September of that year, the 2014 season will begin the following month, and future seasons will begin in October of the previous calendar year. As a result, from 2013 on, the Qualifying Tournament will only award privileges on the Web.com Tour. New PGA Tour cards for the 2014 season and beyond will instead be awarded at the end of a four-tournament series, known as the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, in which the top 75 money winners on the Web.com Tour and non-exempt golfers placing between 126 and 200 on the FedEx Cup points list will be eligible. The top 25 on the Web.com Tour money list heading into the Finals will receive PGA Tour cards, with the remaining 25 cards to be awarded based on money earned in the Finals. The Finals money list will determine the priority placing for all 50 card earners in the coming season, including those earning cards through the Web.com money list.
In 2015, Web.com Tour Q School was reduced to a four-round event.

European Tour

The European Tour has a three-stage qualifying school:
The leading 30 players and ties at Final Qualifying receive category 11 membership of the European Tour, which entitles them to entry to a substantial number of European Tour events, but not to the more prestigious stops on the tour unless a large number of players in higher exemption categories miss those tournaments.
The leading 30 players also receive category 4 membership of the second tier Challenge Tour, with the remainder of those making the 72-hole cut being granted category 7 status, and those missing the cut, category 12. Any player not making it through to the final stage is able to take up category UR1 membership, with limited opportunities to participate in tournaments during the season.

LPGA Tour

The LPGA operates a qualifying school with two stages:
The Champions Tour, the PGA Tour's circuit for golfers age 50 and older, has its own "Q-School." As of 2011, it involves two stages:
Other methods of getting onto an elite golf tour include: