Canadian Tour will be well Represented at PGA Tour Qualifying School
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:17:18
Opening-stage action begins Tuesday at five sites in the United States and continues the following week when eight other courses play host to first-stage tournaments.
Of the 14 players who won official Tour events this past season, 13 will be in the hunt for PGA Tour playing privileges at Q-school, including Canadians Rob McMillan (Winnipeg, MB), Derek Gillespie (Oshawa, ON) and Matt
Daniel (Richmond, BC). Canadian Rookie of the Year David Hearn of Brantford, ON will also tee it up at Dayton Valley GC in Dayton, NV. Former U.S. amateur champions Hank Kuehne and Jeff Quinney, who each had a pair of triumphs this past season, are exempted into second stage of qualifying by virtue of their 1-2 finish on the Tour Order of Merit.
"On behalf of the Canadian Tour, I would like to wish all our players the best of luck as they begin Qualifying School," said Canadian Tour Commissioner Ian Mansfield. "They have shown they have the talent and the drive to realize their goals, and there is no doubt in my mind that we will be seeing some of these players on the PGA Tour next season."
Last year, Tour members Ian Leggatt (Cambridge, ON), Jess Daley (Chicago,IL) and Kenneth Staton (Ormond Beach, FL) earned PGA Tour cards at Q-school, while six others earned exempt cards onto the Buy.com Tour.
Second stage play will run the weeks of November 4th and 11th at six sites, with the final stage slated to be contested December 4-9 at PGA West (Stadium and Nicklaus courses) in La Quinta, CA. The PGA Tour will award cards to the low 35 qualifiers plus ties after the final stage has wrapped up.
