Qualifying school - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In professional golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours

Professional golf tours

Professional golf tours are the means by which otherwise unconnected professional golf tournaments are organised into a regular schedule. There are separate tours for men and women, with each tour being based in a specific geographical region, although some of their tournaments may be held in other...

such as the U.S. based PGA

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

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 golfer

Professional golfer

In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...

s 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.

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour's is officially known as the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, but the organization also frequently refers to it as "Q-School." The system dates back to 1965, and as of 2009 involves four stages:

Pre-Qualifying Stage: Five tournaments held in September, all in warm-weather locations in the United States. Each is played over four rounds. This stage was introduced in 2006 with four tournaments (six in 2007, four in 2008). In each tournament, roughly 35 to 40 players, plus ties, advance to the next stage.
First Stage: Thirteen tournaments held in October (compared to 14 in 2005, before the introduction of Pre-Qualifying, 10 in 2006, 12 in 2007, and 11 in 2008), also in warm-weather locations in the United States. Each is played over four rounds. The participants are a mixture of Pre-Qualifying Stage winners and players who were exempted from Pre-Qualifying. Roughly the top 25 players plus ties in each tournament advance.
- Exempt into this stage: Members of international golf tours or Nationwide Tour
  Nationwide Tour
  The Nationwide Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either failed to score well enough at that level's Qualifying School to earn their PGA Tour card, or who have done so but then failed to win enough money to stay at that level...
  
  over past five seasons, applicants ranked 101-200 in Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) by deadline, those who played in a major over previous two seasons, Walker Cup
  Walker Cup
  The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested biennially in odd numbered years between teams comprising the leading amateur golfers of the United States and Great Britain and Ireland...
  
  members, top 20 amateur golfers in the world, anyone who made the cut in a PGA Tour event.
Second Stage: Six tournaments in November, also in warm-weather locations and each played over four rounds. Like the First Stage, certain players receive exemptions to this stage. Roughly the top 20 plus ties in each tournament advance.
- Exempt into second stage: 41-70 on Nationwide Tour money list, PGA Tour members, winners of Nationwide Tour events over past five seasons, applicants who made the cut in a major, applicants who have made 50 or more cuts on the PGA Tour, 51-100 in OWGR, top two available players from Asian Tour
  Asian Tour
  The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. The Asian Tour is administered from offices in Singapore...
  
  , Canadian Tour, Tour de las Americas
  Tour de las Americas
  The Tour de las Américas is the men's professional golf tour for Latin America.Top level tournament golf in Latin America has had an unstable history. Some of the national open championships in the region are long established, but they did not traditionally form a coherent tour...
  
  , or Sunshine Tour
  Sunshine Tour
  The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern Africa. For much of its history it was known either as the South African Tour or the FNB Tour, but it rebranded itself in an attempt to broaden its appeal...
  
  .
Final Stage: One tournament played over six rounds in late November-early December. The field consists of Second Stage winners and players who received exemptions into the Final Stage. The top 25 players, plus ties, earn PGA Tour cards for the following year. Their priority ranking for purposes of tournament entry is 24; this ranking enables them to enter most full-field events on the PGA Tour, but not more prestigious stops on the tour unless a substantial number of players in higher categories skip the events. For example, the top 125 players on the previous year's money list who are not otherwise eligible are at priority 19; sponsor's exemptions are priority 11; and winners of PGA Tour events in the previous two years are priority 9. The next 50 players plus ties after the top 25 earn Nationwide Tour cards for the following year, and any remaining finishers receive conditional status on the Nationwide Tour.
- Exempt through final stage: 126-150 on PGA Tour's money list, 26-40 on Nationwide Tour's money list, those with medical extensions, top three avaiable players from European Tour and Japan Golf Tour
  Japan Golf Tour
  The Japan Golf Tour is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third highest annual prize fund out of the regular men's professional tours after the PGA Tour and the European Tour. However since the early 1990s, the growth in prize money has not kept pace with...
  
  , top 50 in OWGR. A number of players who earned PGA Tour privileges through a Top 25 finish on the Nationwide Tour also play in this stage to improve their status.

European Tour

The European Tour has a three-stage qualifying school:

First Qualifying Stage: eight tournaments, held in various countries around Europe, each played over four rounds.
Second Qualifying Stage: four tournaments, each of four rounds, at four different courses in Spain.
Final Qualifying Stage: a single tournament played over six rounds at two courses in Spain.

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

Challenge Tour

The Challenge Tour is the second tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and as with on the main European Tour and the European Seniors Tour, some of the events are played outside of Europe...

, 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

The LPGA

LPGA

The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

operates a qualifying school with two stages:

Sectional Qualifying: Two tournaments played over four rounds, one in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

and the other in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, held in September and October. These tournaments are scheduled so that they do not conflict, and golfers may enter one or both sectionals. The entry fee is $4000 for one sectional or $5000 for both. The top 30 players, plus ties, from each sectional advance.
Final Qualifying Tournament: A single tournament held in late November-early December at the LPGA's home base of Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, USA. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city has a population of 64,211. Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Deltona – Daytona Beach – Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which the census bureau estimated had...

, played over five rounds. No extra fee is charged for entry. The survivors of Sectional Qualifying are joined by 10 players from the LPGA's official developmental tour, the FUTURES Tour
FUTURES Tour
The LPGA Futures Tour, previously styled in uppercase as FUTURES Tour and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed FUTURES Tour, is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour...

, with priority granted based on their position on the FUTURES Tour money list. While the top 10 finishers on the FUTURES Tour money list are granted Tournament Division Membership in the LPGA, the top five finishers do not enter Q-School. Finishers from 6 to 10 can, and usually do, enter Q-School in an effort to improve their priority position.

The top 40 players, plus ties, receive Tournament Division Membership. Their priority position varies depending on their Q-School finish:

The top 20 finishers receive Category 11 membership, which entitles them to entry in most full-field events apart from the more prestigious events. Note that this does not include ties—if the top-20 cut includes more than 20 golfers, the players tied for the last position go to a sudden-death playoff to reduce the qualifiers to exactly 20 players. They alternate with the golfers who finished between 81 and 90 on the previous year's LPGA money list.
Finishers between 21 and 30 receive Category 16 membership.
Finishers between 31 and 40 receive Category 20 membership.

Other qualification methods

Other methods of getting onto an elite golf tour include:

Finishing near the top of the money list/order of merit on the tour's official developmental tour, such as the Nationwide Tour
Nationwide Tour
The Nationwide Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either failed to score well enough at that level's Qualifying School to earn their PGA Tour card, or who have done so but then failed to win enough money to stay at that level...

for the PGA Tour, the Challenge Tour
Challenge Tour
The Challenge Tour is the second tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and as with on the main European Tour and the European Seniors Tour, some of the events are played outside of Europe...

for the European Tour or the FUTURES Tour
FUTURES Tour
The LPGA Futures Tour, previously styled in uppercase as FUTURES Tour and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed FUTURES Tour, is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour...

for the LPGA Tour.
Winning a specified number of tournaments on the tour's official developmental tour may grant an exemption. For example, both the PGA Tour and European Tour grant a "performance promotion", also informally known as a "battlefield promotion", to any player who wins three events on its developmental tour in a season. Such a player is exempt from qualifying on the higher tour for at least the remainder of that season; on the PGA Tour, the exemption runs for the entirety of the following season.
Winning a tournament on the tour after gaining entry to it through its qualification event or as a sponsor's invitee. Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

secured his PGA Tour card by winning the Las Vegas Invitational in October 1996 as a sponsor's invitee, and went on to win another event two weeks later.
Winning enough money on multiple events on the tour as a qualifier/sponsor's invitee to meet whatever criteria the tour may lay down for promotion to full membership. Even without his 1996 tournament wins, Woods would have earned his tour card by finishing in the top 125 on the 1996 money list, since he had three other top-5 finishes as a sponsor's invitee that season.
Special categories for elite golfers: Most tours offer automatic memberships to golfers with outstanding achievements such as winning a recent major championship
Men's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

or making a recent Ryder Cup
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe...

or Presidents Cup
Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world less Europe. Europe competes against the U.S. in a similar but considerably older event, the Ryder Cup. The Presidents Cup is held biennially...

team.

For complete lists of exempt categories on various tours, see the following pages:

PGA Tour

European Tour

LPGA

Other qualification methods

See also

Further reading