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

The holiday season is approaching and for some professional golfers, there’s no better gift than a PGA TOUR card.

At PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s Final Stage the top five finishers and ties will earn that gift for the upcoming season.

This week marks the final leg of the months-long Q-School journey, which opened at pre-qualifying in September and progressed to First Stage (October) and Second Stage (November and early December) which determined the final field for Final Stage in northeast Florida. The 171-player field for the 72-hole Final Stage extravaganza, contested across TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club (two rounds at each course), will feature a wide range of rising stars and veteran pros. Some advanced all the way from pre-qualifying, some earned direct exemption to Final Stage, and others fell in between.

There will be no cut at Final Stage, which essentially seeds players on the 2025 eligibility ranking for the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR Americas – with the ultimate carrot of PGA TOUR membership for the top five and ties. After those #TOURBound players, the next 40 and ties will earn guaranteed starts on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour (25 and ties earn 12 guaranteed starts, with remaining finishers in the category receiving eight guaranteed starts). All remaining finishers at Final Stage earn conditional status for the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour season, in addition to being exempt through the Latin America Swing of the 2025 PGA TOUR Americas season.

There’s a lot on the line at PGA TOUR Q-School’s Final Stage, where players of varying pedigrees and career paths will intersect for a high-stakes week – competing against each other, their own minds, and two demanding venues.

Here’s a capsule look at 10 players of intrigue who are set to compete at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s Final Stage.

1. Zach Bauchou

Bauchou was part of Oklahoma State’s acclaimed 2018 men’s golf team, which swept Alabama to win the national title, 5-0, and which included three 2025 PGA TOUR members in Viktor Hovland, Austin Eckroat and Kris Ventura. Two months ago at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, Bauchou came agonizingly close to adding his name to that list, and he’ll have another chance to do so at Q-School’s Final Stage. Bauchou led by four into the weekend at French Lick, and he held a one-stroke advantage into the final day, but he closed in 4-over 76 to finish T9 and end the season at No. 34 on the Points List, four spots outside the top 30 for a TOUR card.

It was a steady season with 10 top-25 finishes in 24 starts, proving he has the game to compete at the highest level when he gets there. A new dad, Bauchou might also have some karma working for him at Final Stage – last year, he withdrew midway through the opening round to fly home for the birth of his first child, son James. He sacrificed the chance for a TOUR card to ensure his presence for a life memory that cannot be duplicated, and perhaps this week he’ll author another unique moment, one of the #TOURBound variety.

2. Sam Bennett

Bennett arrived on the Korn Ferry Tour with ample buzz; he won the 2022 U.S. Amateur and competed in the final group for the final two rounds of the 2023 Masters (finishing T16). The Texas A&M alum compiled a steady 2024 Korn Ferry Tour campaign with 18 made cuts in 24 starts, including 10 top-25 finishes, and he entered the season finale as the bubble boy at No. 30 on the season-long standings, with 30 TOUR cards available. Bennett struggled to a final-round 78 at French Lick for a T65 finish, and he was knocked outside the top 30 by tournament winner Braden Thornberry. The silver lining: Bennett is fully exempt on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour, and he can free-wheel for a TOUR card at Final Stage.

At age 24, he displayed a well-rounded game in his first full season as a pro – ranking inside the Korn Ferry Tour’s top 60 in each of total driving, greens in regulation and putting average – a profile that should translate to the next level. This week, he’ll try to get there.

3. Pierceson Coody

Coody turned pro in the summer of 2022 as the top-ranked player on PGA TOUR University, a year before No. 1 earned direct PGA TOUR access, but he quickly showed his elite game was plenty to win and win again – the University of Texas alum notched three wins in 33 Korn Ferry Tour starts across 2022 and 2023. Coody’s rookie TOUR season in 2024 was steady if unspectacular; he made 15 cuts in 27 starts, with four top-25 finishes highlighted by a runner-up at the ISCO Championship in July. It wasn’t quite enough to secure a full card for 2025, as he placed No. 131 on the final FedExCup Fall standings after beginning the autumn schedule at No. 120. Coody can expect a fair number of TOUR starts via his conditional status, but he wants more and can play aggressively at Final Stage, purely chasing a top-five finish and with minimal repercussions if things go bad.

4. Alistair Docherty

Two months ago, Docherty fell on the wrong side of one of the Korn Ferry Tour’s most gripping bubbles in recent memory, and he’ll look to wipe that sting from his mind at Final Stage. Docherty entered the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance at No. 46 on the Points List, needing something special for a chance at his first TOUR card. He came up with something special, closing in 4-under 68 at French Lick for an eventual runner-up finish – and his prospects for finishing inside the top 30 came down to the final group on the course Sunday, where Brian Campbell and Doc Redman each faced a mid-range putt on the closing hole, neither with a TOUR card on the line (Campbell was safely in, Redman was confirmed out). If one missed, Docherty would finish in a two-way T2 and earn the final card. If both made, Noah Goodwin would be in. Both made; Goodwin was #TOURBound, and Docherty finished No. 32 on the Points List with a three-way T2 at the season finale. Docherty has had two months to wrestle with this scenario and allow it to fuel him for another chance at a card – which he’ll take this week in northeast Florida.

5. Austin Greaser

Greaser wrapped up an esteemed career at the University of North Carolina this past spring, finishing No. 3 on the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking to earn Korn Ferry Tour membership. Although he fought through the inevitable learning curve of professional golf – making just five cuts in 13 starts – his tie for fourth at the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS offered a glimpse of sky-high potential. The Ohio native ranks third on the Tar Heels’ all-time career scoring average list (71.04), and he medaled at his NCAA Regional site in both 2022 and 2024. He was an honorable mention All-American in his first two collegiate seasons, third team as a junior and second team as a senior – demonstrating a consistent work ethic as he ascended the ranks. That next step could come soon, perhaps as soon as this week, where he looks to finish high enough to guarantee Korn Ferry Tour starts in early 2025 – or perhaps get hot and punch his ticket to the PGA TOUR.

6. Takumi Kanaya

Kanaya burst onto the world golf scene in 2018, winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur to earn spots in the 2019 Masters and The Open Championship. The Japan native held the No. 1 spot on the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro in 2020 (he also won that year’s Mark H. McCormack Medal, a prestigious amateur honor), and he’s a seven-time Japan Golf Tour winner. Now he looks to earn his first PGA TOUR card. Kanaya, 26, advanced through Second Stage last week in California to earn a tee time this week in northeast Florida. Kanaya has made 25 career PGA TOUR starts, including 11 in major championships. He has featured inside the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking, but he has never held official PGA TOUR membership. This week, he looks to change that.

7. Christo Lamprecht

There’s a lot at stake for the recent Georgia Tech grad at Final Stage, as he’ll try to either earn his first PGA TOUR card or secure guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2025. The lanky, long-hitting Lamprecht finished No. 2 on the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking to earn Korn Ferry Tour status this past summer and a direct ticket to Final Stage; he finished No. 140 on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List and then made three TOUR starts during the FedExCup Fall. Lamprecht’s elite game should be plenty to finish inside the top five at Final Stage – he has featured as No. 1 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking and won the 2023 British Amateur – but the question is, which game will show up?

Lamprecht finished T5 in his fourth Korn Ferry Tour start at The Ascendant presented by Blue, but he also missed seven cuts in 10 starts, working through the inevitable learning curve as a young professional golfer. The South African has through a swing change throughout the fall, gradually increasing his comfort level inside the ropes; perhaps this is the week where it all comes together.

8. Charles Reiter

The long-hitting, free-spirited Californian turned heads at this year’s U.S. Open, registering jaw-dropping ball speeds on the range at Pinehurst No. 2, but until this autumn he had struggled to crack the code at Q-School. That changed last week, where he carded a 5-under 67 in the final round in Palm Coast, Florida (the site’s lowest final-round score), to advance to Final Stage on the number and earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the first time. Reiter will eye guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts at Final Stage – and if he can maximize his distance advantages, a PGA TOUR card could await at the end of the proverbial rainbow. Reiter, 25, played collegiately at the University of San Diego and has made five TOUR starts – including the last two U.S. Opens – in addition to nine PGA TOUR Canada starts in 2023, ranking No. 82 on the season-long standings. After authoring one of Second Stage’s most sterling finishes, Reiter’s raw talent and scoring prowess could be matching up at just the right time.

9. Hayden Springer

A year ago, Springer finished top-five at PGA TOUR Q-School’s Final Stage to earn his first PGA TOUR card. The TCU alum nearly earned a fully exempt 2025 TOUR card via the FedExCup Fall, finishing at No. 127 on the year-long standings after riding the top-125 bubble at the season finale. Springer, 27, will enter 2025 with decent conditional status at minimum but will return to the site of his inaugural #TOURBound moment looking to go 2-for-2 in this newest version of Q-School. Last year, Springer earned his card mere weeks after the passing of his first daughter Sage at age 3 due to complications from Trisomy 18, leading to an ecstatic yet bittersweet celebration that Sunday in northeast Florida with his wife Emma and several friends and supporters. Springer notched four top-10 finishes in 26 starts as a TOUR rookie, including carding a historic 59 at the John Deere Classic.

He’ll be hungry to improve on that record in a second season where he’ll be better adjusted to venues and the TOUR’s rigors. He just wants as many starts as possible, and Q-School is a potential means to that end.

10. Shad Tuten

It was a heartbreaking scene for Tuten at the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Championship, as he would have earned his first PGA TOUR card if not for a two-stroke penalty for failing to properly replace his ball in the 15th fairway during the final round, which ultimately left him No. 32 on the season-long standings. (The beneficiary, Rafael Campos, has since become a PGA TOUR winner at last month’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship). This week, Tuten has a chance to lock away those battle scars and earn his first TOUR card via the top five and ties. Tuten didn’t compete at Final Stage a year ago due to a heart condition that arose after the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, and he returned to Korn Ferry Tour action midway through the 2024 season, showing well with six top-25 finishes in 13 starts. The Georgia native knows his well-rounded game, which has steadily improved through his nine years as a pro, is plenty capable for the game’s highest level. With four strong rounds in northeast Florida, he could get there.