SAVANNAH, Ga. – Bo Hoag chuckled when told he’d forever be the answer to a trivia question.
Who was the last medalist in Korn Ferry Tour Q-School history?
“I didn’t even think about that,” said Hoag, the 34-year-old former PGA Tour player who medaled by a shot Monday at final stage to earn fully exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour next year. “That’s kind of cool.”
Hoag spent three seasons on Tour before losing his card a couple of months back, yet he relished his upcoming opportunity to “reestablish” his game and learn how to contend again in professional golf’s version of Triple A.
In 13 months, however, any player in Hoag’s position will bypass the KFT and instead receive the call-up straight to the big leagues as PGA Tour Q-School is set to return for the first time in over a decade.
The Tour announced last June that, beginning in 2023, the top five players and ties at final stage would garner PGA Tour cards, marking the first time that will happen since 2012, when 26 players, including Patrick Reed, Billy Horschel and Chez Reavie, graduated to the PGA Tour. The latest rendition sees a decrease from 2012 in terms of the number of PGA Tour cards up for grabs, but the change coincides with the KFT nixing its Finals format and moving toward 30 PGA Tour cards handed out at the culmination of its 26-event calendar.
Full field scores from the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament
“I think it’s pretty awesome,” said Vince India, who tied for 24th Monday to earn guaranteed starts for fifth time in eight career trips to final stage of KFT Q-School. “I was never an enormous fan of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals system. … Yeah, it’s great some guys can get hot for a few weeks, but I don’t think it brings the best to the top. I think a 26-event regular season for 30 spots is a better examination of who’s playing the best golf at that time, and then everyone will have their two months or so to get ready for final stage.
“I always thought final stage was a nice get together for a PGA Tour card. Next year will be really cool. Hopefully, it’ll be on TV.”
Remember the dramatic moments of PGA Tour Q-School pasts?
Mac O’Grady finally passing his Q-School test on his 17th try in 1982.
Cliff Kresge falling into a lake while reading a putt during the final round in 2000 before shaking it off and rallying to earn his card.
Joe Daley missing by a shot in 2004 after his ball hit the bottom of a crooked metal cup and bounced back out on the last hole.
Harrison Frazer shooting 59 en route to winning by eight shots in 2008.
It’s not that KFT Q-School didn’t produce excitement or emotion. Scottie Scheffler needed an up-and-down on his final hole to earn guaranteed starts. Last season’s KFT No. 1, Justin Suh, did the same, only his final-hole heroics came in the form of a difficult two-putt par. Xander Schauffele got through in 2015, but just barely at T-45.
Even this year there were examples of both. Tim Widing threaded a 5-iron through the trees to set up a 12-foot birdie that helped him finish two shots inside the top 40 and ties, and he then phoned his fiancée, both in tears. Willie Mack III, with many family members in attendance (including his father, who foreclosed on his home twice while helping fund his son’s golf dreams), fired a closing 66 to secure guaranteed starts.
“It’s been a long road,” Mack said. “But I never lost faith and never gave up.”
Both heartfelt moments. But when PGA Tour cards were taken out of the equation in 2013, it’s hard to argue that some air wasn’t let out of the balloon. As Spencer Levin admitted of Q-School these past 10 years, “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t [lose some of its luster].”
“Just because of the glamor of the Tour,” explained Levin, who earned a PGA Tour card at Q-School in 2009. “It’s a big deal to get your PGA Tour card. … And now you add 500 grand on top of that, that’s going to be even more pressure.”
Levin is talking about the Tour’s new earnings assurance program that, starting this season, implements a $500,000 league minimum up front against players’ season earnings. The new initiative is part of sweeping changes across the Tour’s competitive landscape, including at the top – elevated events, elimination of the wraparound season and only the top 70 in FedExCup points keeping fully exempt status for the following year, to name a few.
Still left, though, are answers to what next year’s Q-School will fully look like.
We know there will be PGA Tour cards available, and the dates for final stage will move from November to December to accommodate the KFT season finishing in October and the completion of the Tour’s newlook fall, which has its fair share of details outstanding as well. But that’s it.
The Landings Club, which has hosted the past two final stages, won’t be back for 2023, and a new venue has yet to be determined.
And when it comes to field size and who all will fill that field, discussions remain in the works.
“I’ve heard word that not everyone from the top 75 on Korn Ferry Tour is going to be able to go,” India said.
As the unwrapping continues, a bow has been tied on KFT Q-School – or should we say “Bo.”
“I talked to my family after and I said, ‘Hey, I won Q-School.’ That sticks with people if they won Q-School,” Hoag said. “I don’t know how many people, thousands maybe sign up for Q-School, and to be the last guy standing is definitely a real gratifying moment.”
He also received a trivia question.
The next guy will get a PGA Tour card.