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Korn Ferry Tour Q-School: Second-stage recaps; Michael Visacki, Albin Choi advance

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School is back in session.

The second stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School will take place at five sites across the country, beginning in Brooksville, Florida on Oct. 12-15 and ending with Oct. 19-22 events in Dothan, Alabama; Murrieta, California; Plantation, Florida; and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The number of players advancing out of each site will vary, but those who qualify for final stage will not only earn at least conditional Korn Ferry Tour status, but they will also have a chance to improve that status on Nov. 4-7 at The Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia.

Here is a recap of each second-stage site as play finishes up:

Plantation, Florida

Oct. 19-22, Plantation Preserve GC, Par 71

Final results (top 20 and ties advanced)

Medalist: Luis Gagne. While his former LSU teammate Sam Burns is already a top-20 player in the world and two-time PGA Tour winner, Gagne has just earned KFT status for the first time after finishing 72 holes at 17 under.

Notables moving on: Albin Choi made headlines last year while caddying for friend Sungjae Im during Im’s win at the Honda Classic. Choi, a former standout at North Carolina State, played five of six years on the KFT before losing his card after the 2019 season. He shared second this week at 16 under. … T.J. Vogel, a former standout at Florida and U.S. Amateur Public Links champ, tied for fourth at 15 under. He was 89th on the KFT points list last season. … Veteran Steve LeBrun (203 KFT starts) and Steve Marino (222 PGA Tour starts) advanced, at 14 under and 9 under, respectively. … Aussie Jason Scrivener, a European Tour member and No. 134-ranked player in the world, opened in 65 and placed eighth at 13 under. Eric Cole, who was No. 100 in KFT points last season and missed the cut at this summer’s U.S. Open, tied for ninth at 12 under. … Former Vanderbilt standout Will Gordon, who finished No. 159 in points as a FedExCup non-member last season, also shared ninth. Michael Visacki, who went viral after his teary phone call to his parents after qualifying for the Valspar Championship last season, earned one of the final spots at 9 under after saving par on the par-5 closing hole following a rinsed second shot. In May, Justin Thomas cut a check to Visacki so that the golfer could continue to chase his dream.

Notables missing out: South Carolina product Jamie Wilson shot 71 on the final day to finish at 8 under, one shot shy of moving on. … Sean Jacklin, nephew of Tony Jacklin, finished at 6 under. … Also finishing at 6 under was Brett Stegmaier, who played three straight seasons on the PGA Tour from 2016-18. He was No. 101 in KFT points last season. …. Kentucky alums Chip McDaniel and Stephen Stallings Jr. shot 4 under and even par, respectively. … Mini-tour legend Sunny Kim’s streak of not advancing to final stage continues, as he shot 3 under. … Former PGA Tour player Nicholas Thompson, older brother of Lexi Thompson, and Rodolfo Cazaubon, a teammate of Carlos Ortiz at North Texas, were each 1 under. … Recent GB&I Walker Cupper Angus Flanagan closed in 68 but still shot 3 over. … Andy Svoboda, a 42-year-old, three-time KFT winner, tied for 64th at 4 over. … Illinois grad Dylan Meyer was 2 under before withdrawing due to COVID-19 concerns prior to the fourth round.


Albuquerque, New Mexico

Oct. 19-22, UNM Championship GC, Par 71

Final results (top 19 and ties advanced)

Medalist: Tom Lovelady. The 28-year-old former Alabama standout, who was on the 2014 NCAA title team, finished five clear of the field at 15 under. Lovelady stepped away from pro golf in early 2020 after losing his PGA Tour card after the 2018-19 season. After working as a junior sales associate for Discovery Land Company, he returned to Monday qualify for two Tour events this past summer, though he missed the cut in both.

Notables moving on: Jonathan Brightwell and Quade Cummins, former All-Americans and members of Oklahoma’s NCAA runner-up lineup last spring, finished T-2 and T-18, respectively, with Brightwell closing in 6-under 65 and Cummins birdieing his penultimate hole to finish at 2 under and advance on the number. ... Another former All-American, Peter Kuest, who opted to turn pro out of BYU during the COVID-19 shutdown, also shared second. ... Sam Triplett, son of eight-time Champions Tour winner Kirk Triplett, tied for fifth at 9 under. ... Kyle Westmoreland, the 30-year-old who served five years in the Air Force and last summer made the U.S. Open cut at Torrey Pines, used a third-round 65 to finish T-7 at 7 under. ... Vincent Norrman, the Swedish former top played in D-II golf who played his final season at Florida State, finished at 6 under. His girlfriend is LPGA player Frida Kinhult. ... Two years ago, Scott Harrington, 40, earned his PGA Tour card for the first time, but he lost it last season after finishing No. 172 with just two top-25s. He closed in 66 Friday to finish at 3 under.

Notables missing out: While Kuest and Baylor product Ryan Grider advanced, their teammates did not. BYU alum Rhett Rasmussen and Cooper Dossey, an All-American for the Bears, each tied for 29th at even par. Thomas Johnson, a teammate of Brightwell and Cummins at Oklahoma, tied for 54th. ... Jared du Toit, who is most famous for being Jon Rahm’s teammate at Arizona State and for tying for ninth as an amateur at the 2016 RBC Canadian Open, ended up at 4 over, as his wait for a KFT card extends. ... Former long-drive champ Jamie Sadlowski closed in 70 but still finished at 5 over. He still has yet to earn world-ranking points in 44 pro starts. ... Brad Marek, a current PGA professional and former mini-tour player who made the cut at this year’s PGA Championship, closed in 70-70, though he only managed to finish at 6 over. ... Former Aussie prodigy Ryan Ruffels had five top-25s in his first 13 KFT starts last season, including a T-2 at the Pinnacle Bank Championship, but a shoulder injury helped cause him to miss 17 of his final 21 cuts and finish No. 97 in points. Still battling the injury, Ruffels shot 10 over and beat just nine players.


Dothan, Alabama

Oct. 19-22, RTJ Golf Trail (Highlands/Marshwood), Par 72

Final results (top 20 and ties advanced)

Medalist: Chandler Phillips. The former All-American out of Texas A&M had just one top-10 in 15 starts on the KFT last season, but his 17-under total this week secures a card for next season.

Notables moving on: Andy Ogletree, the 2019 U.S. Amateur winner out of Georgia Tech who missed about seven months this year because of hip surgery, was solo second at 16 under. The runner-up to Ogletree at that U.S. Amateur, Vanderbilt product John Augenstein, also advanced at 10 under. … Blayne Barber played the past two seasons on the KFT after four straight on the PGA Tour, and the former Auburn standout is o to final stage after finishing third at 14 under. … Georgia grad Spencer Ralston led after 54 holes before shooting 72 and placing fourth at 13 under. … Steven Fisk closed in 65 to advance at 11 under. The Georgia Southern product and 2019 Walker Cupper was runner-up to Matt Wolff at the 2019 NCAA Championship. … Zack Fischer, who played four seasons on the KFT but none since 2017, rallied with a final-round 64 to climb 37 spots on the leaderboard and finish T-12 at 8 under. … Virginia product Thomas Walsh closed in 75 but held on to earn one of the final spots at 7 under.

Notables missing out: Georgia Tech grad Luke Schniederjans, the younger brother of Ollie, was among those to miss out by a shot at 6 under. … Josh Teater, who owns two runner-up finishes in 216 career PGA Tour starts and lost his card this past season, shot 5 under. … Danny Walker, the final-stage medalist in 2019, finished at 4 under. … Will Holcomb, who just wrapped up his final year at Sam Houston State, led early on Day 1 before not advancing at 3 under. … Teenager Tom McKibbin, the 18-year-old who has been dubbed the next Rory McIlroy, ended up at 3 under. … Former Arkansas teammates Mason Overstreet and Tyson Reeder finished at even par and 2 over, respectively. … North Carolina grad Benjamin Shipp, who has Tourette syndrome, shot 1 over.


Murrieta, California

Oct. 19-22, Bear Creek GC, Par 72

Final results (top 19 and ties advanced)

Medalist: Matt Picanso. The 38-year-old who has made just one career KFT start, shot 17 under to medal by three shots.

Notables moving on: Three years ago, Cody Blick earned his KFT card at final stage after shooting 63 in the final round with borrowed clubs. Blick’s clubs had been stolen the night before. But he only made 10 starts that following season – and six this past season. He shot 14 under this week to finish solo second. … Trevor Simsby, a former Washington standout who turned pro in 2014 and made 13 KFT starts the next year (but just four since), was T-3 at 12 under. … Tain Lee, a former NCAA D-III national individual champion who nearly won the PGA Tour’s event at Congaree as a Monday qualifier last summer, tied for fifth at 11 under. … Recent Illinois grad Michael Feagles finished at 10 under. … Alex Kang, brother of LPGA star Danielle Kang, was 9 under and advanced by a shot.

Notables missing out: Lorens Chan, a UCLA product who made just nine of 22 cuts last season on the KFT, was among the players to finish at 8 under and miss out by a shot. … San Francisco grad Tim Widing closed in 74 to finish at 5 under. … Illinois alum Brian Campbell, who played one season on the PGA Tour before playing the last three on the KFT with nine top-10s in 82 starts, also finished at 5 under after a closing 75. … Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa, 30, is a 17-time winner as a pro, but he could only manage 4 under this week. … Isaiah Salinda, a 2019 Walker Cupper and member of Stanford’s NCAA title team that same year, also shot 4 under. … Bhavik Patel and Brad Fritsch, two past violators of the Tour’s anti-doping policy, shot 5 under and 2 under, respectively. … Nick Cantlay, brother of Patrick Cantlay, finished at even par. … The 2-over group included former Alabama standout Wilson Furr and current San Diego State senior Puwit Anupansuebsai.


Brooksville, Florida

Oct. 12-15, Southern Hills Plantation, Par 72

Final results (top 19 and ties advanced)

Medalist: Alex Weiss. The 25-year-old Marshall product has never teed it up in a Korn Ferry Tour event, yet he shot 20 under over four days to finish three shots clear of the field.

Notables moving on: Three shots behind Weiss was a player who’s made 434 career starts on the PGA Tour, Jonathan Byrd. The five-time Tour winner made 15 starts on Tour last season using his past-champion status, though he fell six spots short on the FedExCup points list of qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He still has some status on Tour for this season, but a KFT card will give the 43-year-old more playing opportunities. … Michael Johnson, the 28-year-old Auburn grad, was solo third at 16 under. Johnson played three seasons on the KFT before losing his card after the 2019 campaign. He made just one KFT start during the most recent super season. … Erik Compton and Brett White were part of a group at T-4, and both have inspiring stories. The 41-year-old Compton, who played five seasons on the PGA Tour and the past four seasons on the KFT, is a two-time heart transplant recipient. He finished No. 140 on the KFT points list last season with just two top-25s in 30 starts. White, 28, has never teed it up on the KFT. He did compete on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica in 2017, but in the summer of that same year he contracted viral encephalitis, spending three weeks in a hospital and needing three months of physical therapy in order to re-learn how to walk and talk, among other basic functions. By March 2018, he was doing full swings with a golf club. (Read this story on White by Golf Digest’s Joel Beall) … White’s closing 65 was matched by Callum McNeill, a 27-year-old from Scotland, who can play the bagpipe and has a brother who is a professional horse jockey. McNeill tied for 11th at 11 under, three shots clear of the cut line. … Luke Guthrie was also 11 under. The 31-year-old Illinois product is a two-time KFT winner and spent three full seasons on the PGA Tour before losing his card following a limited 2015-16 campaign. He had just one top-10 in 38 KFT starts this past season, finishing No. 147 in points. … Brandon Stone, a three-time European Tour winner from South Africa, was among those who advanced on the number at 9 under. The 28-year-old former University of Texas standout is currently ranked No. 136 in the world, but he has yet to earn his PGA Tour card or play a single KFT event. … Speaking of international players, Thomas Rosenmuller was also 9 under. The 24-year-old German won three times last year on the Pro Golf Tour in Europe, though he’s struggled this season on the Challenge Tour. … Belmont grad Ashton Van Horne, 27, sunk a 20-footer for birdie on the ninth hole, his final hole of the day, to shoot 5-under 67 and advance on the number.

Notables missing out: Van Holmgren, who bypassed his extra year at Florida Gulf Coast to turn pro after this summer’s U.S. Amateur, bogeyed his final hole to miss by a shot. … Willie Mack III, fired two 68s, but a second-round 75 hurt as the Michigan native ended up at 7 under. … Former TCU player Hayden Springer opened in 66, but eventually fell back to 7 under. Springer received attention earlier this year after Firepit Collective’s Ryan French, also known as Monday Q Info, told the emotional story of Springer’s 1-year-old daughter, Sage, who was born with a rare genetic disorder called Trisomy 18. (Click here to read more.) … The group at 6 under included Florida college products Alejandro Tosti (Florida) and Jack Maguire (Florida State), as well as Trevor Sluman, the 28-year-old nephew of six-time PGA Tour winner Jeff Sluman. A couple more former Florida collegians, both from UCF, Brad Schnieder and Bobby Bai, finished at 4 under. … Jamie Lovemark, the 33-year-old former NCAA individual champion at USC and two-time KFT winner, hasn’t played a full season on the PGA Tour since 2017-18. He failed to satisfy a major medical extension and played mostly on the KFT last season. He finished No. 86 in points, so despite missing out this week at 4 under, he still has some KFT status. … Another NCAA champ, 2018 individual winner Broc Everett of Augusta, shot even par. … Several Tour veterans shot even par or worse this week – John Merrick, Kevin Stadler and Spencer Levin, who have combined for 829 starts, two wins and 55 top-10s on the PGA Tour. … Smylie Kaufman withdrew after two rounds. He was 9 over at the time.