Monday Qualifiers: Sanderson Farms Championship

Here is a look at the four players who Monday qualified for the Sanderson Farms Championship. The last two spots were determined in an 8-for-2 playoff.

QUALIFIERS

Jay McLuen (66)
Age: 40
College: College of Charleston
Turned pro: 2000
PGA TOUR starts: 12
Cuts made: 3
Best finish: T16, 2013 OHL Classic at Mayakoba
PGA TOUR earnings: $96,455
Twitter: @jaybirdmcluen3

Q&A Jay McLuen

PGATOUR.COM: You have battled through some profoundly serious health issues, let’s go back to 2017 and what happened?

McLuen: It was Oct. 7, 2017, two days before Q-School. I was sitting on couch with the kids, watching cartoons or something like that. I just went into full cardiac arrest. There were no warning signs, no nothing. Just straight cardiac arrest. Luckily, my wife called 911 right away and the paramedics were able to revive me. Then as we were on the way to the hospital, they lost me again. The paramedics shocked me like seven times with those paddles. That happened on a Saturday. I left the hospital on like a Thursday or Friday and I haven’t had one issue since then. I go get routine checkups with my cardiologist every six months, but I haven’t had any problems since. I have a pacemaker and I’m just extremely lucky.

PGATOUR.COM: The story doesn’t stop for your family. You and your wife went through something very serious this year also, can you tell us what happened?

McLuen: My wife and I were trapped under a brush hog last May. She ended up losing consciousness and we had to perform CPR on her to bring her back. We have some land, and it’s been a cow pasture for the last 40 years. I decided to borrow my father-in-law’s brush hog and go out there and clear some stuff. I was out bush hogging and I caught some barbed wire in the brush hog. I got out and found there was a ton of barbed wire up there. So, I turned the tractor off, raised it up and wanted to see if we could get the barbed wire out from underneath there. As I got underneath there, I called my wife over to bring me the wire cutters. She climbed under there with me, and as we were underneath there the hydraulics gave out and it landed on both of us. It basically pinned her to the ground, and basically suffocated her. She couldn’t breathe. I was awake but I couldn’t move. I called for my little girl to go get our neighbors. They came and were able to pick it up with their tractor and get it off of us. When I looked over, she was purple, she wasn’t breathing. Luckily, our neighbor knows CPR and he told me what to do. He told me to just give her breaths and he would do all the pumping. By that time the ambulance had arrived. She was in cardiac arrest, had a collapsed lung. But she made it through all that and is back to work.

PGATOUR.COM: You struggled during your practice round and didn’t come into the Monday qualifier with a lot of expectations. Did that maybe help?

McLuen: I quit after 10 holes yesterday. It was slow. I was playing terrible. I went and hit balls for 3 hours. It didn’t get much better. I was just like, well I’m here, I’m going to go tee it up tomorrow and go see what happens. What do you know? I shoot 66, don’t make a bogey and get through easily. It’s a dumb game, man. I know when I’m playing my best, I can compete with anyone. This year has been rough, though. I just haven’t played well most of the year. It hasn’t been healthwise or anything like that. I just haven’t hit it good for like a year. And I’ve worked harder then I have ever worked. I came here and thought, maybe if I can get in, I can get a Big Green Egg or something. It freed me up a little.

Stephen Lewton (68)
Age: 37
College: North Carolina State
Turned pro: 2008
PGA TOUR starts: 1
Cuts made: 1
Best finish: 48th, 2014 CIMB Classic
PGA TOUR earnings: $19,180
Twitter: N/A
Notes: Has made four of 14 cuts so far on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020 … Played on PGA TOUR China in 2019 made ten of 13 cuts with six Top 25’s … Has a win on the Asian Tour in 2014 … Was a third-team All-American and Palmer Cup participant in 2006.

MJ Daffue (69, via an 8-for-2 playoff)
Age: 31
College: Lamar University
Turned Pro: 2012
PGA TOUR starts: 4
Cuts made: 3
Best finish: T22, 2020 Workday Charity Open
PGA TOUR earnings: $80,206
Twitter: @mjdaffue13
Notes: Has successfully Monday qualified in nine of his last 14 attempts across PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour … Monday qualified and finished T22 at the Workday Charity Open this year … This will be his fifth PGA TOUR start of this calendar year, and second of this season … Finished 72nd at the season-opening Safeway Open.

Zack Fischer (69, via 8-for-2 playoff)
Age: 31
College: University of Texas-Arlington
Turned Pro: 2011
PGA TOUR starts: 6
Cuts made: 2
Best finish: T14, 2019 Valero Texas Open
PGA TOUR earnings: $148,601
Twitter: @zackfisch3
Notes: In 2019, he Monday qualified for the Valero Texas Open and finished T14 … Has played 92 career Korn Ferry Tour events with a total of six Top 10 finishes … Medalist at the final stage of the 2013 Korn Ferry Tour Q-School.

NOTES

NOTABLE MISSES: Ryan Blaum 69 (playoff), JJ Killeen 69 (playoff), Zack Sucher 72, Matt Every 72, Norman Xiong 73

COURSE INFO
Deerfield Golf Club 6,899 yards, 73.2 rating, 132 slope

NEXT MONDAY QUALIFIER
Oct. 5: Shriners Hospital for Children Open, Boulder Creek Golf Club

NOTES FROM OTHER TOURS
Carson Young made a 35-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win on the LOCALiQ series

Monday qualifier Andre Metzger shot a final-round 67 to sneak into top 25 at the Wichita Open Supporting Wichita’s Youth and earn a spot into this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event.