It’s been a busy past few months for Fred Biondi.
Having lost his Korn Ferry Tour status last year, Biondi, the former NCAA individual champion at Florida, tried Q-Schools for both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour this year, starting each at first stage. He needed a closing 66 to advance to second stage of PGA Tour Q-School while he only got into final stage of DPWT Q-School as an alternate. He had just touched down back in the U.S. when he received the call that he was in, then had to fly right back to Spain, where he earned his DPWT card on the number.
He missed the cut at last week’s Australian PGA, but with his number likely not getting him into an event again until the Mauritius Open later this month, Biondi will instead focus on second stage in Dothan, Alabama, and then hopefully final stage, which concludes the Sunday before Mauritius.
Biondi is among several notables teeing it up at one of five second-stage sites, which will be contested Tuesday-Friday. The fields include former PGA Tour players, past amateur standouts, journeymen and more.
Final stage will take place Dec. 12-15 at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The top five finishers will received PGA Tour cards.
Here is a snapshot of each site and some of the familiar names competing:
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (Highlands/Meadows), Dothan, Alabama
Notables in field: Fred Biondi, Blades Brown, MJ Daffue, Mickey DeMorat, Christian DiMarco, Jorge Garcia, Johnnie Greco, Ryan Grider, Sung Kang, Spencer Levin, Dylan Meyer, Anthony Paolucci, Chase Sienkiewicz, Jacob Solomon
Starr Pass (Gambler/Pioneer), Tucson, Arizona
Notables in field: Sangmoon Bae, Jonas Baumgartner, Michael Feagles, Caden Fioroni, Ryo Ishikawa, Andrew Landry, K.K. Limbhasut, Sean O’Hair, Ollie Osborne, Corey Pereira, Scott Piercy, Chez Reavie, Cameron Sisk, Kyle Stanley, Shawn Stefani, Preston Summerhays, Martin Trainer, Nick Watney, Norman Xiong
Hammock Beach CC (Conservatory), Palm Coast, Florida
Notables in field: Vince Covello, Tyler Duncan, Mats Ege, Nick Gabrelcik, Luis Gagne, Luke Guthrie, Frank Kennedy, Philip Knowles, David Kocher, Satoshi Kodaira, Andrew Kozan, Adam Long, Maxwell Moldovan, Omar Morales, Patrick Newcomb, Joe Pagdin, Turk Pettit, Tim Widing
The Landings Club (Deer Creek), Savannah, Georgia
Notables in field: Derek Bard, Sam Bennett, Ben Carr, Austin Cook, Roberto Diaz, George Duangmanee, Zack Fischer, Rhein Gibson, Kevin Hall, Jim Herman, Petr Hruby, Matt NeSmith, Seungyul Noh, Kaito Onishi, Jeff Overton, a-Deven Patel, Ted Potter Jr., Spencer Ralston, Kyle Reifers, Brett Stegmaier, Rayhan Thomas, Kieran Vincent, Brandon Wu
Kinderlou Forest GC, Valdosta, Georgia
Notables in field: Anders Albertson, Matt Atkins, Philip Barbaree, Blayne Barber, Jackson Buchanan, Cristobal Del Solar, Harrison Endycott, Drew Goodman, Ryan Hall, Cole Hammer, Justin Hastings, Bo Hoag, Willie Mack III, Sebastian Moss, James Nicholas, Doc Redman, Matthew Riedel, Brett Roberts, Calum Scott, Sandy Scott, Roger Sloan, Robert Streb, Curtis Thompson, Braden Thornberry, Jimmy Walker, Richy Werenski