The two elements of golf tournaments that the PGA Tour are trying to get rid of are the two that produce some of the best stories for better or for worse.
The battle to make the cut and the plucky unknown underdog making an unlikely run towards the top after coming through a Monday Qualifier.
The Waste Management Phoenix Open, sandwiched between two limited player field, no cut “Signature Events” had the last of their Monday Qualifiers as the PGA Tour moves to eliminate Monday Qualifiers from certain events.
Last week was a fitting send-off for Monday Qs. The Phoenix Open qualifier has been held every year since 1948. Next year, with changes coming to field sizes on the PGA Tour, including the Phoenix Open field shrinking, no Monday Q will be held.
When you realise what happened over the weekend, it was a two-fingered gesture to the PGA Tour.
Player power has gone too far.
27-year-old Will Chandler was one of three players that earned his spot in the field at TPC Scottsdale in last week’s Monday qualifier.
He made his first cut and finished 6th, earning a career record $310,500, reaching a career high 296th in the Official World Golf Ranking AND he played with world number one Scottie Scheffler in the final round, beating him by six shots on the day and on the leaderboard.
Not bad for just your third Official PGA Tour start.
The third season of Netflix’s ‘Full Swing’ returns to our screens from February 25th and as per, it will dedicate episodes to behind the scenes access to what to goes on in the lives of golf’s biggest stars from Rory McIlroy to Brooks Koepka.
But what happened at the WM Phoenix Open shows that the producers might have missed a trick in not dedicating an episode to a Monday Qualifier or even US amateur Luke Clanton who was battling to make the one cut he needed to earn a full PGA Tour card, but came up one shot shy on the 36th hole.
A fly on the wall to be in the position of Clanton and/or Chandler would make for compelling viewing and certainly something a lot more relatable to the mega millions that are currently separating the top players from the rest.
Friday golf viewing can be pretty mundane as the leading players jockey for position heading into the weekend. There’s no real need for risk taking at this stage, it’s all about giving yourself a platform to charge at the weekend.
But Friday at the WM Phoenix Open was enthralling viewing.
Clanton, an amateur with two runner-up finishes, a top-5 and a top-10 on the PGA Tour already and a world ranking of 97, needed to make the cut to secure the final point he needed to claim a PGA Tour card via the PGA Tour-University rankings.
Here was a guy not playing for money, but playing for his future, playing for himself and although he came up agonisingly short, it was the story of the second round. So close to his dream but just not quite doing enough.
By having more no cut events, reducing field sizes, trimming down the available PGA Tour cards from 125 to 100 and eliminating Monday Qualifiers, it is just further diluting the product.
Three-time major champion and somebody who should be sitting on every golf board possible, Pádraig Harrington, recently hit out at the move to remove Monday Qualfiers, describing it as one of the ‘strangest decisions’ the PGA has ever made.
“If it was up to me I’d be focusing more on Monday qualifiers,” he posted on X.
“There’s a movie script story nearly every week. I’d give the leading qualifier a TV draw and get a TV crew to follow him for the week.
“I would do this even more so in the signature events. We could have a ‘Tin Cup’ story any given week.
“Could you imagine a struggling pro finishing in the top-10 and winning half a million? Nobody would begrudge that payout.”
Monday Qualifiers give struggling professional golfers an opportunity to earn a once in a lifetime payday. Only five players have won on the PGA Tour after Monday qualifying for an event but one of those players was Corey Conners at the Valero Texas Open in 2019.
They can be the making of a career and Ireland’s own David Carey has benefited from the Monday Q, making it into two PGA Tour events in Texas and Canada.
In a sport where the squeeze has become almost suffocating on those trying to work their way from the bottom up, a further reduction of the PGA Tour’s meritocracy and this jobs for the boys mantra is giving up and comers absolutely no chance.
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