Raul Pereda shakes hands with Augusto Nunezon following the third round of the PGA Tour Q-School. | Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images
PGA Tour Q-School awarded five players with PGA Tour cards for the 2024 season, thus changing their lives forever.
PGA Tour Q-School is not for the faint of heart.
The experience is an absolute grind, as hundreds of golfers vied for just five PGA Tour cards over four months. Pre-qualifying for this year’s Q-School began in September, with the first stage occurring in mid-October. This year’s Q-School also happened to be the first of its kind since 2012, before the tour shifted to a wraparound schedule.
The PGA Tour returns to a traditional, calendar-based schedule in 2024, hence the re-establishment of Q-School this year.
Alas, the top 156 players from those qualifying stages received invitations to the Q-School Finals in Ponta Vedra Beach, Florida, where Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass Country Club awaited them.
So, too, did wind, rain, and nasty weather. The conditions made an already difficult experience even more challenging. The final round was postponed to Monday because of the rain.
But Harrison Endycott of Sydney, Australia, did not seem too bothered by the pressure and the weather. He emerged victorious at Q-School, winning the 72-hole stroke play event by four strokes over Trace Crowe.
Endycott did a great job managing the course and battling the conditions. He finished atop the leaderboard thanks to his four rounds in the 60s, two of which were 5-under 65s.
Like Endycott, Crowe carded four rounds in the 60s and earned his PGA Tour card for 2024.
“It’s a dream come true. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet,” Crowe said.
“Words can’t really explain it.”
A native of Easton, South Carolina, Crowe signed for a 3-under 67 to finish in solo second at 11-under overall. He relied on his short game to get the job done.
Then, Blaine Hale, Jr., the 4,210th-ranked player in the Official World Golf Rankings, finished in third place.
Hale, Jr. shot rounds of 67-66-67-71 to earn his PGA Tour card for next season, proving that rankings are just a number and that anyone can play their way onto the tour. He played collegiately at the University of Oklahoma.
And finally, finishing in a tie for fourth and thus earning their cards, sits Raul Pereda of Mexico and Hayden Springer of Nashville, Tennessee.
Pereda was on the outside looking in after stumbling on the 6th and 7th holes. He doubled the par-4 6th after driving it into the penalty area. Then he continued to slide on the next hole, as he dropped another shot.
“My sports psychologist back in the day always taught me how to look at [a round] like a boxing fight,” Pereda said of his struggles early in the round.
“You’re going to hit, but you’re going to get hit, as well. I got hit early in the round, and I still had 12 holes to go, so I might as well put some punches out there. I did it in the best way, not putting but chipping, so the course definitely felt that jab.”
His round turned around at the 10th hole, where he chipped in for birdie from off the green. Then, four holes later, Pereda chipped in again, which got him to 1-under on the day and to 8-under overall.
“I hit a good chip, and the ball went in,” Pereda said after the round. “It’s not that I tried to make it, it’s just I hit a good chip, I hit my spot, and the ball went in, and hooray, I guess.”
Pereda’s superb short game helps him become the only active player of Mexican heritage on the PGA Tour for 2024.
Springer, meanwhile, overcame unimaginable adversity to claim his card for next season. His 3-year-old daughter, Sage, passed away on Nov. 13 after being diagnosed prenatally with Trisomy 18, a severe developmental disorder stemming from having an extra chromosome.
But now, with a PGA Tour card in hand, perhaps Springer can use his platform to help spread awareness about Trisomy 18.
He shot a 1-under 69 to finish alongside Pereda at 8-under.
And yet, as five players achieved their dreams, hundreds of others saw their goals slip away.
Not all hope is lost for all of them, however.
The next 40 finishers and ties beyond the top five earn status on the Korn Ferry Tour, giving dozens of golfers quality playing opportunities.
But what is great about Q-School is that anyone can play well, and reap the rewards. Because at the end of the day, it comes down to something quite simple: shoot the lowest score.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
