At the end of each season, the golf Tours of the world are divided into two sets of players: those who have secured their playing rights for the following year and those who must fight to earn them, writes BRENDAN BARRATT.
Celebrated author John Feinstein refers to Qualifying School as the tournament that ‘separates champions from mortals’.
With entire careers potentially at stake, it must surely rank as one of the most gruelling events in any sport. Every single shot on every single hole could be critical and, as players progress from stage to stage, the numbers are whittled down until a gathering of grizzled veterans and talented hopefuls fill the Final Stage field. Of that, only a fraction will walk away with their dreams fulfilled while the others will face some difficult choices.
Yet passing through Q-School remains something of a rite of passage for professional golfers – and the series of events throws up more than its fair share of hard-luck stories and drama, all at a hefty price.
PGA Tour
Cost: Pre-Qualifying Stage $3,000, First Stage $5,000, Second Stage $5,000, Final Stage $4,500
Up until 2012, the PGA Tour held a Qualifying School series of tournaments where players could ultimately earn their Tour cards outright. For those who advanced through Pre-Qualifying, First Stage and Second Stage, six rounds of the most nerve-racking golf awaited. At the end of this, just 30 players had been whittled down to earn their rights to play on the most lucrative Tour in the world.
In 2013, however, Q-School morphed into a qualifying event for the feeder Korn Ferry Tour. The only route to the PGA Tour was to play your way into the top 30 players at the end of the season.
These days, however, there are once again PGA Tour cards up for grabs, but only for the top five players and ties at Korn Ferry Q-School, with the next 40 players securing their full cards on the Korn Ferry Tour. All others in the field will obtain conditional playing rights on the Korn Ferry Tour, which guarantees a certain number of starts.
Of course, not all players face the daunting prospect of starting at the Pre-Qualifying Stage – depending on their status for the year, players will drop into various stages and try to work their way back.
Players who win the various stages are rewarded. In 2023, South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter won his Second Stage event and secured his Korn Ferry card before the Final Stage of qualifying even began. This year, compatriot Barend Botha won a First Stage event and guaranteed himself a card on the PGA TourAmericas. He would later earn his Korn Ferry card for 2025 by finishing fourth on the Order of Merit.
DP World Tour
Cost: $3,600
The DP World Tour follows a more traditional model. Players are whittled down through the various stages until the final field of 156 gathers in Spain for the Final Stage of Qualifying School in November.
Final Stage consists of six rounds, with only the top 20 and ties – down from last year’s 25 – earning their rights on the DP World Tour.
LPGA Tour
Cost: Pre-Qualifying Tournament $2,500, Qualifying Tournament $4,000, Final Qualifying up to $2,500
The LPGA Tour hosted a Pre-Qualifying event in August, where the top 80 players from the field of 156 players advanced to the Qualifying Tournament, held late in October in Venice, Florida.
From there, players will advance to Final Qualifying, which takes place in Alabama in December. The top 25 players and ties will earn their LPGA Tour cards, with the remainder of the Final Qualifying field securing their rights to play on the feeder Epsom Tour.
Champions Tour
Arguably the hardest Tour to qualify for is the PGA Tour Champions, where last year 78 players competed for just five cards in the Final Stage of Q-School.
Of the field of 78, 51 players had advanced from First Stage qualifying.
Sunshine Tour
Cost: R8,000
Currently, for players to earn their Sunshine Tour cards, they need to make it through the First Stage of qualifying (top 40 and ties), before finishing in the top 20 (and ties) at Final Stage.
For those missing out, it could be another year on the feeder Tours, such as the Big Easy Tour.
Asian Tour
Cost: $2,450
Perhaps reflecting its growing status, the Asian Tour is taking its qualifying outside Asia, with one First Stage qualifying event being held in Australia in September and two in the US in October/November.
The remaining four First Stage events will be played in Thailand in December, before the 2025 Q-School Final takes place at Lake View Resort & Golf Club, also in Thailand.
– This article first appeared in the Autumn 2025 issue of Compleat Golfer magazine.
