Today is the deadline for players signing up to participate in the pre-qualifying portion of PGA Tour Qualifying School, normally a non-story on a crowded golf calendar but significant this year because of the looming overhaul to the circuit’s qualifying process.
According to Tour officials all seven pre-qualifying sites are already full (78 players at each site) with the 5 p.m. ET deadline still hours away. The Tour would expand field sizes at the pre-qualifiers or add a new site depending on how many last-minute entries are received.
Six pre-qualifying sites sold out last year as well, but next year’s move to make the Web.com Tour the primary avenue to PGA Tour membership, relegating the “Fall Classic” to a feeder system for the secondary circuit, seems to have bolstered interest in what will likely be the final Q-School with direct access to the PGA Tour.
The pre-qualifiers are scheduled to begin on Sept. 11 and the deadline for players exempt from pre-qualifying to submit a Q-School application is Sept. 26.