Q-School storylines: Hayden Springer, Sam Bennett headline final-stage field

The final stage of PGA Tour Q-School begins Thursday at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

The field for the 72-hole qualifying event is 170 players deep, made up of the top 40 entrants from Nos. 126-200 in last season’s FedExCup standings, Nos. 31-60 in Korn Ferry Tour points, second-stage qualifiers and more.

The top five finishers and ties come Sunday evening will earn PGA Tour cards for next season while the rest of the players finishing among the top 40 and ties will earn some guaranteed KFT starts next year. Just by teeing it up this week, players receive conditional KFT status and are exempt through the Latin swing of PGA Tour Americas.

Players who finished Nos. 126-250 in the FedExCup or top 75 in KFT last season have already clinched full KFT status for next season, as have PGA Tour University’s top five players from this past graduating class, while second-stage medalists locked up eight guaranteed KFT starts. So, those players – a group that includes Pierceson Coody, Alejandro Tosti, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Sam Bennett, Doc Redman and Christo Lamprecht – have free rolls at PGA Tour cards this week.

Looking to watch Q-School on TV? Golf Channel will stream and broadcast the third and final rounds (all times ET):

• SATURDAY – 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel digital), 3-5 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• SUNDAY – Noon-2 p.m. (Golf Channel digital), 2-4 p.m. (Golf Channel)

Here are some of the top storylines entering final stage:

Back again

Four of the five players who earned PGA Tour cards at last year’s final stage return this week. Only Harrison Endycott, who finished No. 201 in FedExCup points, is not here; the reigning final-stage medalist hasn’t competed since withdrawing from the ISCO Championship in July with illness. Hayden Springer fell two spots short of keeping full status on the PGA Tour, ending up No. 127, while Trace Crowe (148), Blaine Hale Jr. (202) and Raul Pereda (218) join Springer at final stage again. Hale and Pereda had to go back to second stage last week, and both advanced from their respective qualifiers.

A long road

Eleven players in the final-stage field started their Q-School journeys at pre-qualifying – Drew Doyle, Luke Gifford, Jake Hall, John Houchin, John Houk, Cameron Huss, Dawson Jones, Owen Stamper, Andi Xu, Lance Yates and Runchanapong Youprayong. Jones played at Rhode Island and worked in public accounting for a couple years after graduating in 2019. He turned pro in 2022 and earlier this year joined Gifford in having his Q-School entry fee paid for via his Minor League Golf Tour performance. Hall is a recent grad of Tennessee and will have PGA Tour veteran Scott Stallings on the bag; Stallings also looped for Hall at this year’s U.S. Amateur. Houchin is a former junior-college All-American at Eastern Florida who finished his college career at Stetson and was never ranked better than No. 1,010 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Houchin, though, shot 8-under 64 in the final round of his first-stage site to advance by a shot. At second stage, he had another close call, advancing by one after a 66-76 weekend.

Redemption time

Sam Bennett, the 2022 U.S. Amateur champion and Masters low amateur that next year, entered this year’s KFT Championship at No. 30 in points. However, he closed in 78 at French Lick and was bumped to No. 31, missing out on a PGA Tour card. Two other players at final stage this week, Alistair Docherty and Zach Bauchou, also had close-calls at the KFT’s season finale. Docherty sat in solo second as Doc Redman and Brian Campbell played the final hole. If one of them made par or worse, Docherty would’ve earned his PGA Tour card. Instead, both players birdied to join Docherty in a three-way tie for second, only providing Docherty enough points to climb to No. 32. Bauchou led by four shots entering the weekend at French Lick, but he struggled over the final 36 holes, including carding 76 on Sunday, to end up No. 43 in points. A year ago at final stage, Bauchou withdrew during his first round to return home for the birth of his first child, son James.

Comeback stories

Brett White, a 31-year-old out of Eastern Michigan, earned his KFT card at final stage in 2021, marking an inspiring comeback from viral encephalitis in 2017. The brain infection nearly killed White, who had to re-learn several motor skills and other basic tasks, not to mention playing golf. In his rookie year on the KFT, though, White notched just two top-25s in 20 starts and lost his card. He played this past season on PGA Tour Americas, where he made just five of nine cuts. Shad Tuten was in line to earn his PGA Tour card at last year’s KFT Championship before a two-shot penalty for failing to properly replace his ball in the 15th fairway during his final round. Instead, Tuten ended up No. 32 in points and shortly after announced that he was stepping away from competitive golf because of a heart condition. He returned to action this past May with a T-6 finish on the PGA Tour Americas before rattling off six top-25s in 13 KFT starts. Tuten finished No. 78 in KFT points, though he’ll have some sort of medical extension afforded to him next season.

Betting favorites

Japan’s Takumi Kanaya is the second highest-ranked player in the field at No. 136, behind only No. 114 Kensei Hirata. But Kanaya is the favorite to win, according to BetMGM, at +1400 odds. He is followed by PGA Tour Americas points winner Johnny Keefer and PGA Tour veteran Joseph Bramlett at +2000. Keefer posted a win and four other runner-up finishes this summer after turning pro out of Baylor. He also was T-13 in his PGA Tour debut this fall at the Procore Championship. Bramlett made a run at keeping his card at the RSM Classic, but he faded on Sunday and finished No. 146 in the FedExCup.

Bombs away

There are a few players in this week’s field who absolutely destroy the golf ball off the tee. Charlie Reiter, a San Diego product who qualified for this year’s U.S. Open, and Arizona alum Chase Sienkiewicz are arguably the two fastest guys in the field, while Kevin Dougherty and Alejandro Tosti finished in the top 10 on the PGA Tour in driving distance this past season. Kyle Westmoreland and Matthew Riedel were top 10 on the KFT’s driving-distance leaderboard.