Who advanced from First Stage of PGA TOUR Champions Q-School
3 Min Read
Written by Staff
First Stage of the 2022 PGA TOUR Champions Qualifying Tournament has been conducted this week at three sites across the United States.
Players who advance from First Stage will compete at Final Stage of the PGA TOUR Champions Qualifying Tournament, set for December 6-9 at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona.
The top five finishers at Final Stage of Q-School will be fully exempt into all open, full-field events on the 2023 PGA TOUR Champions.
Finishers 6-30 at Final Stage shall be eligible to apply for PGA TOUR Champions Associate Membership for the 2023 season, which will afford them the opportunity to enter 2023 PGA TOUR Champions weekly event qualifiers.
Here’s a look at who advanced through First Stage of PGA TOUR Champions Q-School this week. (Note: The Florida and Mississippi sites were contested Tuesday-Friday, with the Nevada site contested Wednesday-Saturday).
Buckhorn Springs; Valrico, Florida
Seventy-three players competed for 16 spots. Kris Blanks earned medalist honors at 12 under, carding a final-round 67 to surge up the board from sixth place. Blanks, 50, famously won the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2014 Chitimacha Louisiana Open after entering the final round in a tie for 38th, carding a final-round 62 and then surviving a playoff against Brett Stegmaier. The Georgia native also won the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2008 Bank of America Open, and he finished runner-up at the PGA TOUR’s 2010 Puerto Rico Open and 2011 RBC Canadian Open.
Notables to advance: Craig Bowden finished solo second at 9 under. The three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner has also spent several years as an equipment rep on the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour … Cliff Kresge finished T3 at 9 under. The three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner famously fell into the water at Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School in 2000, en route to earning his TOUR card … Tim O’Neal finished T12 at 1 under. The APGA veteran and three-time PGA TOUR Latinoamerica winner finished T19 at the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach this fall.
Notables to miss: Guy Boros finished T17 at 2 over. The son of Hall of Famer Julius Boros won the TOUR’s 1996 Air Canada Championship and three Korn Ferry Tour titles … John Smoltz missed the 54-hole cut at 12 over. The eight-time All-Star baseball pitcher won the 1995 World Series with the Atlanta Braves.
Grand Bear GC; Saucier, Mississippi
Fifty-nine players competed for 13 spots. Three players shared medalist honors at 1 under: Michael Brown, Tim Bogue and Gibby Gilbert III. Bogue, a longshoreman in the San Francisco Bay Area, famously slept in a rental van en route to Monday qualifying for this year’s DICK’S Sporting Goods Open in upstate New York. Gilbert, son of three-time PGA TOUR winner Gibby Gilbert II, has made 40 career starts on PGA TOUR Champions, highlighted by a T12 at the 2019 SAS Championship.
Notables to advance: Fran Quinn finished T4 at 1 over. The four-time Korn Ferry Tour winner also qualified for the 2022 U.S. Open in his native Massachusetts … Jody Bellflower finished T4 at 1 over. The former Korn Ferry Tour pro has spent time as a salesman in the accounts recovery industry; five years ago, he saved a man’s life while fishing in Georgia.
There was a five-way T12 at 6 over, requiring a 5-for-2 playoff to determine the final two players to advance. Bobby Collins and Marion Dantzler survived the playoff, outlasting Kevin Kraft, Jay Jurecic and Roderick Bastard.
Notables to miss: Brad Adamonis finished T17 at 7 over. The Rhode Island native is a Korn Ferry Tour winner and finished runner-up at the TOUR’s 2008 John Deere Classic … Joe Summerhays finished T28 at 13 over. The 2020 Utah Section PGA Player of the Year and is cousin of Korn Ferry Tour pro Daniel Summerhays.
CasaBlanca; Mesquite, Nevada
Seventy-five players are competing for 17 spots. The site will conclude on Saturday, November 19.