Ten players to watch at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s Final Stage

It’s a mind-bending, stomach-churning final exam that determines which players have the physical and mental fortitude to advance to professional golf’s highest level.

It’s PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s Final Stage.

This week marks the first time since 2012 that Q-School will award PGA TOUR cards, with Final Stage contested across 72 holes at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club, Thursday-Sunday. (Each player will play two rounds at each course; there is no cut).

The top five and ties after 72 holes will earn 2024 PGA TOUR membership, with the next 40 and ties earning guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. The next 20 and ties will earn guaranteed starts on PGA TOUR Americas. All players who tee it up at Final Stage receive conditional Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR Americas status at minimum.

The ladder of 2024 PGA TOUR-sanctioned status and eligibility will be finalized this week, and some players have more on the line than others. Nos. 126-150 on the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Fall standings will have conditional TOUR status at minimum, for example. Nos. 31-60 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List will have full Korn Ferry Tour status at minimum. These players are among those with a free roll of sorts to chase five TOUR cards (and ties). Some, though, have never made a Korn Ferry Tour start and could reshape their career prospects by finishing in that next 40 and ties.

An eclectic mix of rising stars and wily veterans will tussle for status at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s Final Stage. To prepare you for the action, here’s a look at 10 players to watch.

1. Keita Nakajima

The Japan native, 23, is widely accomplished at various levels of golf. He was ranked the world’s No. 1 amateur for 87 weeks, and he has notched six titles on the Japan Golf Tour, including three wins in the last six months. Now he eyes a PGA TOUR card. Nakajima earned direct access to Final Stage as the No. 1 player on the Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit, and he’ll head to northeast Florida with a laser focus on securing one of the top five spots. He has made 11 career TOUR starts, including six this season – highlighted by a T12 at the 2022 ZOZO Championship – and he stands No. 94 on the Official World Golf Ranking. “My main goal is to successfully play on the PGA TOUR,” he said in 2022, foreshadowing this week’s Q-School foray.

2. Sam Bennett

Most golf fans might remember Bennett from this year’s Masters Tournament, when he played in the final group during the third round at Augusta National, en route to a T16 finish. Then a senior at Texas A&M, Bennett impressed with poise and confidence that he belonged on that stage despite his lack of professional experience. Now he’ll look to channel those teachings into the pressure cooker of Final Stage, into which he gained direct access via the top five on the 2023 PGA TOUR University Ranking (he finished fifth). Bennett, 23, made 10 TOUR starts this year after turning pro, highlighted by a T20 at the RBC Canadian Open. He has ample experience against the game’s top players, which he’ll aim to use to his advantage as he battles many of them in northeast Florida.

3. Fred Biondi

As a senior at Florida earlier this year, Biondi authored a dream double; he earned the clinching point for the Gators in the NCAA Division I Championship’s title match against Georgia Tech, and he won the individual title at Grayhawk Golf Club outside Phoenix. Biondi finished No. 2 on the 2023 PGA TOUR University Ranking, behind phenom Ludvig Åberg – who proceeded to play in the Ryder Cup and win The RSM Classic – and he wouldn’t mind following in the Swede’s footsteps. Biondi, 22, grew up in Brazil and moved to Florida at age 14; he was a two-time state junior champion before heading to Gainesville. He was a First Team All-American as a junior and senior, and he enters Final Stage on the strength of back-to-back top-25 finishes on TOUR at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and The RSM Classic. He’s battle-tested and ready to roll in his home state.

4. Aldrich Potgieter

Potgieter gained notoriety in 2022 for winning The Amateur at age 17 – becoming the second youngest winner of the event which dates to 1885. The long-hitting South African has proceeded to prove that his game travels globally. He made the cut at this year’s U.S. Open and turned pro the following week – finishing T35 at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Compliance Solutions Championship – before hitting the Monday qualifying circuit (he also made a par-4 ace at the John Deere Classic qualifier, ultimately missing by one). After recharging for a couple weeks at home in South Africa, he rolled through Second Stage of Q-School in Valdosta, Georgia – earning medalist honors by four shots to secure guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts at minimum in 2024. Thus, he can deploy an aggressive strategy at Final Stage as he chases the five available TOUR cards – an approach suited to his propensity for power.

5. Hayden Springer

Springer’s year has been marked by triumph and tragedy. After winning the 2023 PGA TOUR Canada’s season-long Fortinet Cup in September, his young daughter Sage passed away in November following a battle with Trisomy 18, a condition that causes severe developmental delays. Springer, 26, will certainly compete for more than himself at Final Stage, as he looks to honor Sage’s memory and earn his first TOUR card. Springer, who played collegiately at TCU, won twice in just seven PGA TOUR Canada starts this summer and added three other top-25s. As a top-five finisher on the Fortinet Cup, he earned direct access to Final Stage. As the season-long champion, he’s assured no worse than full 2024 Korn Ferry Tour status. Why not make it a TOUR card?

6. Marcus Byrd

Byrd has found great success on the APGA, including four titles this season, and he further proved his mettle for the big stage by advancing through First Stage and Second Stage of Q-School this fall. The next step is a PGA TOUR or Korn Ferry Tour card. Byrd experienced the rigors of high-level tournament setup at this year’s APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational at Torrey Pines, playing Torrey’s South Course the day after the TOUR’s Farmers Insurance Open (won by Max Homa) was completed. Byrd won that event by four strokes. The Middle Tennessee State alum has spent time living in his car while chasing his pro golf goals. He’s a dreamer with the requisite game to fulfill those dreams.

7. John Pak

The former college phenom has authored a redemption story this fall, advancing through Second Stage last month to earn a shot at his first TOUR card. Pak finished No. 1 on the 2021 PGA TOUR University Ranking after sweeping the Haskins, Nicklaus and Hogan awards as the top men’s college golfer, and he made six TOUR starts that summer. The New Jersey native made just one cut, though, then finished No. 145 on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Points List. Pak fought back with an eighth-place finish on the 2023 PGA TOUR Canada’s season-long Fortinet Cup – including a victory – and now he’s four rounds away from completing a full-circle climb to the TOUR.

8. Julian Suri

Final Stage will be a homecoming of sorts for the northeast Florida native, who as a kid spent hours grinding on the practice range at The Golf Club at South Hampton nearby. Suri played collegiately at Duke University and has pursued pro golf in a globetrotting fashion, including victories on the Challenge Tour and DP World Tour. Suri, 32, has competed in four major championships – including two top-30 finishes – but has made just two TOUR starts since 2019, the New York native focusing on international competition. He lost full DP World Tour status after the 2022 season and jumped between the DP World Tour and Challenge Tour in 2023. He advanced through First Stage and Second Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School this fall, setting the stage for perhaps a magical week ahead in Ponte Vedra Beach.

9. Chandler Blanchet

It’s been an interesting – but pleasant – autumn scenario for Blanchet, who won PGA TOUR Latinoamerica’s season-long Totalplay Cup in July. That meant full 2024 Korn Ferry Tour status at minimum and direct access to Final Stage, where he has a free roll at a PGA TOUR card. Blanchet played collegiately at West Florida and was named 2017 Division II Player of the Year; the Florida native has made just 22 of 53 cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour, but he found his stride this year in Latin America, winning twice in 11 starts and recording six other top-25 finishes. He concluded that campaign with a playoff victory at the Bupa Tour Championship in early July; that marks his most recent start in an Official World Golf Ranking event. He’ll be well rested, then, to chase his first TOUR card at Final Stage.

10. Ryan Gerard

The University of North Carolina alum appeared fast-tracked to the PGA TOUR earlier this year, finishing fourth at The Honda Classic as a Monday qualifier and placing T11 at the following week’s Puerto Rico Open to secure Special Temporary Membership. It was a meteoric rise after beginning the year with conditional Korn Ferry Tour status. Gerard, 24, recorded just one top-25 finish across his next 20 TOUR starts (a fifth-place finish at the Barracuda Championship) and finished the year with non-member points between Nos. 126-150 in the FedExCup Fall standings, a category that offered him a direct ticket to Final Stage – but without the conditional TOUR status offered to TOUR members who finished Nos. 126-150. Gerard thus faces a stern, distinct task this week: finish top-five to earn a TOUR card, or return to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024.