PONTE VEDRA BEACH (Fla.) — The final round for PGA Tour Q-School will now be held on Monday.
The two host courses at TPC Sawgrass, Sawgrass Country Club and Dye’s Valley, were rendered unplayable by more than four inches rain on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Harold Geyer, PGA Tour’s chief referee, said that both golf courses were unplayable due to the overnight rain. They require extensive maintenance. The decision was made to delay the final round due to the expected conditions and the expectation of further delays. This is within the rules and regulations that allow us to finish Monday.
It will be the third consecutive year that Q School concludes on Monday. All start times will be officially delayed to Monday, December 18, at the original times posted (between 8:45-11:00 am. ET) and in the original groupings announced for the final rounds.
Mother Nature played a major role in the week. She first brought high winds and cold temperatures. The game plan of moving tee time up an hour on Saturday worked perfectly as the final group finished just as rain began to fall. In the third round, preferred lies were used on both courses to ensure that players played one round each under the same conditions.
The Tour’s Meteorologist reported that 4.3 inches of rainfall fell since 3:00 p.m. On Saturday, the levels were closer to 4 inches on Sawgrass Course which is known for having good drainage and closer to 5 in some parts of Dye Course where drainage is not as good.
The final stage of PGA Tour’s Q-School is the first time in a decade that PGA Tour cards are on the line. The top five finishers, including ties, will receive PGA Tour memberships for 2024 after the 72-hole event.
The top 40 finishers in 2024 will be exempt from multiple reshuffles, allowing them to have between 8 and 12 starts, depending on where they finish. The next 20 finishers, including ties, are exempt from the Latin America Swing during the 2024 PGA Tour Americas Season. All other finishers who do not fall into the categories above will receive conditional membership to both the PGA Tour Americas and Korn Ferry Tour for 2024. Many players withdrew after realizing that their chances of improving on the status they already had for next year were low. As of Sunday morning, 16 players had withdrawn from a field of 165 that began on Thursday. The waiting game has begun for those whose future is in doubt — at least until next year.
Ryan Gerard said that there was a lot at stake. “Someone is going to miss the card by a single shot and live with it for eternity. Someone else will make it, because they did something ridiculous in the final stretch. They could make a lot of money next December and change their lives forever because 72 holes were played in December.”
The field will not know until Monday who is going to the PGA Tour, and who will be spending another year on the Korn Ferry Tour.
