Thompson's struggles affect other players at Q-School

• By Rex Hoggard
• Dec 3, 2012 8:38 PM ET

LA QUINTA, Calif. – As players crowded around the leaderboard to track their fortunes on Monday at Q-School the math was interrupted by a curious scenario.

The top 25 and ties earn Tour cards and that number hovered on 17 under for most of the final round. But because there were seven players, including Brad Frisch and Nicholas Thompson, who had already secured a card via their finish on the Web.com Tour money list this year and were playing Q-School in an attempt to improve their 2013 status there was a chance the number could slide to 16 under.

Neither Frisch nor Thompson would have counted against the “number” had they finished inside the top 25 which means if they did, status would be extended to the top 26 or 27.

Frisch closed with 68 and finished safely inside the number at 22 under. Thompson, however, was just outside the top 25 for most of the day and closed with 74 to tie for 32^nd.

Twenty-six players finished inside the top 25 at 17 under, compared to 31 who could have earned Tour status had Thompson, who began the day tied for 15^th, not struggled on Monday.