Meet the five players who earned their cards at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – It’s a feeling that only a few current PGA TOUR pros have felt: earning their TOUR cards at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry.

For the last 10 years, Q-School only served as a source of Korn Ferry Tour status, not as a route to the PGA TOUR.

However, that changed this year when the pathway to the PGA TOUR was opened back up for the first time since 2012

PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry culminated this week at Final Stage. Four rounds for a golfer to change their lives. A finish inside the top five and ties guaranteed a PGA TOUR card and a dream come true.

Harrison Endycott earned medalist honors, shooting a final-round 67 on Monday at TPC Sawgrass' Dye’s Valley to win by four strokes. The final round was postponed Sunday due to significant rainfall in northeast Florida.

Endycott spent the final round on cruise control, but that was a distinction he had alone. There was still plenty of uncertainty about who would fill out the other four spots after him. And the drama delivered.

Meet the five golfers who earned full status on the PGA TOUR for 2024.

Harrison Endycott

Age: 27
Career PGA TOUR starts: 33
New PGA TOUR member? No

A rookie on the PGA TOUR last year, Endycott narrowly missed out on the top 125 in the FedExCup to secure full status for next year. He already had conditional status clinched for 2024, however, so he could play this week with the security of a safety net.

That meant Endycott entered the week with less pressure than most. No matter what, the Australian was likely to play 15 events on the PGA TOUR.

“A sixth-place finish does nothing for me,” Endycott said Thursday, admitting he would be more aggressive than usual. That aggression resulted in a runaway victory. He made 16 birdies to just three bogeys.

Endycott now has a full schedule to get acclimated to his second year on TOUR. His first was a learning year. The Australian battled inconsistency, missing 20 of 33 cuts. His best finish was solo 10th at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. It was one of two top 15s he carded in the fall of 2022. He had just one in all of 2023.

Endycott was highlighted on “The Turn,” a PGA TOUR docuseries that followed four golfers’ journeys through the FedExCup Fall. During the filming, Endycott revealed that he gave up alcohol following the 2023 Wyndham Championship.

"I got sick of feeling like crap all the time,” he said.

Endycott earned his first PGA TOUR card via the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season, with the highlight of his year being a victory at the Huntsville Championship in Alabama. Enydcott was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. He helped his home country to a win in the 2016 World Amateur Team Championship, partnering with PGA TOUR player Cameron Davis and Korn Ferry Tour player Curtis Luck. Endycott turned pro in late 2017 and eventually worked his way to the Korn Ferry Tour after two seasons on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica (2018 and 2019).

Blaine Hale, Jr.

Age: 26
Career PGA TOUR starts: 0
New PGA TOUR member? Yes

From the mini tours to the PGA TOUR.

Hale began Q-School with no status, having only played one PGA TOUR-sanctioned event (2022 Veritex Bank Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour) in his career. He entered this week ranked 4,120th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Now, Hale will tee it up weekly with the world’s best.

His story encapsulates the Q-School ethos, grinding from relative anonymity and seizing his moment when it arose this week.

Hale was a member of Oklahoma’s 2017 NCAA Championship team as a sophomore, winning his match in the finals against Norman Xiong, another incoming TOUR rookie. Hale graduated in 2019 and was part of a wave of young players that had a crucial year of play wiped out by COVID-19. He attempted to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour through Q-School multiple times but never earned any status. He performed well on the All Pro Tour this year with five top 10s in 10 events.

“I put so much pressure on myself that second time I got to try Q-School that I just didn’t play very good that year,” Hale said. “It’s been kind of a weird start with COVID; kind of felt like I was behind everyone else.”

He’s behind no longer. He finished solo third at 9-under, perfectly timing up his first successful Q-School week.

Trace Crowe

Age: 27
Career PGA TOUR starts: 3
New PGA TOUR member? Yes

Crowe was in the mix to earn his PGA TOUR card at this year's Korn Ferry Tour Championship, but shot 76-74 on the weekend to fall outside the top 30 on the season-long points list.

The Auburn alum thought he got too ahead of himself, letting emotions get the best of him. He vowed not to have a similar finish to Q-School presented by Korn Ferry.

“Let’s not miss out twice,” he said.

His final round at Dye’s Valley on Monday was indicative of that lesson learned. Crowe carded a bogey-free front nine and made four birdies on his back nine to finish 11-under and tied for second. He was one of four players to card four rounds in the 60s.

It’s a tournament Crowe very easily could have missed. He entered 2023 with only conditional Korn Ferry Tour status. He wasn’t scheduled to play in the HomeTown Lenders Championship in April, but fog delayed the start until Friday, causing Chris Baker to withdraw and Crowe to take his place. Crowe finished 11th that week to earn extra starts and jumpstart his season. Three months later, he won the NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank.

His rise was aided by that moment of good fortune, but is a credit to Crowe alone.

Hayden Springer

Age: 26
Career PGA TOUR starts: 4
New PGA TOUR member? Yes

Springer already locked up a full season on the Korn Ferry Tour after finishing atop PGA TOUR Canada's points list. No need for that anymore. He’s going straight to the PGA TOUR.

The Nashville native won two of his seven PGA TOUR Canada starts this season and finished inside the top 10 in another two. They were Springer's first two professional victories. He has primarily played mini tours and some PGA TOUR Latinoamerica events since he turned pro in 2019.

Springer attended and graduated from Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club, Texas, a school named for the World Golf Hall of Fame member who lived two miles from the campus. Springer won the 2019 Big 12 Championship at TCU.

It’s been an emotional month for Springer. His young daughter Sage passed away last month at age 3 after battling Trisomy 18, a severe developmental disorder stemming from an extra chromosome. Sage wasn’t initially expected to make it out of the hospital after birth, but she persevered as a tough and happy little girl.

“She’s special,” Springer said. “She’s very special. She’s so special, and we’re going to miss her forever. There’s no way around that, but she was strong. She was a fighter. We always said she had strength in heart, and that will stay with us forever.”

Springer finished 8-under, tied for fourth, navigating three bogeys on his back nine to earn his card by one stroke. His drive found the water on the difficult par-4 17th, but he saved bogey and locked his card up with a par on 18.

Raul Pereda

Age: 27
Career PGA TOUR starts: 1
New PGA TOUR member? Yes

Pereda got a taste of the PGA TOUR this spring. He spent the rest of the year desperate to get back again.

Now, he his the only active PGA TOUR player of Mexican descent.

“I've always dreamed about putting Mexico back on the PGA TOUR,” he said.

It was in Pereda’s national open that he made a name for himself. He shot an opening-round 65 at the Mexico Open at Vidanta in April to vault up the leaderboard in his first PGA TOUR start.

He struggled from there but proved plenty entertaining. He filled the scorecard over his final three rounds with 11 birdies, 13 bogeys, two eagles and two double bogeys. It proved to him that he belonged.

“That really put in perspective to me that I'm capable of playing in the biggest leagues out there, in big scenarios, and I did great,” he said.

It was an entertaining finish to Q-School for Pereda as well. He chipped in for birdie twice on the back nine to secure his TOUR card by one shot.

Pereda played four years at Jacksonville University before turning pro. He spent the last four seasons playing primarily on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, twice finishing 12th in the Totalplay Cup standings. He locked up conditional Korn Ferry Tour status by making Final Stage but had no guaranteed starts on the tour before this week. Instead, he will play as a full-status member on the PGA TOUR.