Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz was among the 78 golfers to qualify for the final round of the PGA Tour Champions.
Smoltz will compete for one of five cards at TPC Scottsdale Champions Course at the end the week.
Smoltz was a pitcher for 21 years and won 213 games. In his three previous attempts to qualify for Q school, Smoltz has never finished higher than 54th place in the first round.
Smoltz was a World Series winner with the Atlanta Braves. He was awarded the National League Cy Young Award in 1996. In 2015, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He hasn’t played on the PGA Tour Champions in 2021 but he has competed in nine events, including the U.S. Senior Open 2018.
The following are other notables and hopefuls that will be at TPC Scottsdale in the coming week:
- Notah Begay III is back for the second consecutive year at qualifying.
- Todd Demsey is a former Arizona State golfer who enjoys using persimmon clubs
- Shaun Micheel’s only PGA Tour victory was the 2003 PGA Championship
- Ted Purdy grew up in Tucson, down the I-10. He attended the University of Arizona.
- Bryan Hoops, 54, an amateur from Scottsdale, has 19 holes-in one, 15 of which were in tournaments.
- Jonathan Kaye won two PGA Tour tournaments, including the 2004 FBR Open at TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course (now the WM Phoenix Open).
- Dick Mast is 72 years old and has played in 360 PGA Tour tournaments, as well as another 191 Champions Events without a single win. He has won four times on the Korn Ferry Tour. The most recent was in 1999. Andrew Marshall had to withdraw at the last moment, so he was able to get in.
The first tee time is Tuesday at 8:30 am local (10:30 am ET). ET). Smoltz will be playing with Daniel Chopra and Jason Bohn, at 8:52 am local time, off the first tee. The event ends on Friday. Anyone interested in attending is welcome to attend.
