Q-School: Final Stage preview

European Tour Final Qualifying Stage
PGA Calalunya Resort (Girona, Spain)

Beginning tomorrow, the European Tour's Final Stage of Qualifying School will commence.  Spread out over six rounds (72-hole cut), the tournament separates the men from the boys.  Players will leave with either joy or heartbreak.

Here are some quick facts about the makeup of the field of 156 players:

• 27 countries represented (England has the most with 33 players)
• 34 players have made it all the way from the First Stage
• Field comprises 39 European Tour winners (63 wins between these players)
• Seven players with three European Tour wins apiece: Nick Dougherty, Johan Edfors, Kenneth Ferrie, Mathias Grönberg, Peter Hedblom, Pablo Martin Benavides, and Phillip Price 
• Two players with over 500 European Tour appearances: Price (556) and Ignacio Garrido (552)
• Two players with over 400 European Tour appearances: Hedblom (454) and Maarten Lafeber (408)
• Three players with Ryder Cup experience: Garrido (1997), Price (2002), and Oliver Wilson (2008)
• Eight former Seve Trophy players: Markus Brier (2007), Dougherty (2005, 2007, 2009), Bradley Dredge (2005, 2007), Garrido (2003), Grönberg (2002), Lafeber (2005), Price (2000, 2003), and Wilson (2007, 2009)
• Three amateurs: Christopher Dammert (Germany), Dermot McElroy (Northern Ireland), and Callum Shinkwin (England)

The top-25 and ties will gain European Tour cards and will immediately have the opportunity to compete on Tour as the 2014 season begins with the South African Open Championship, less than a week following the conclusion of Qualifying School.

There are players in the field that look almost certain to regain their cards based on their form in the past few months on Tour, such as Fredrik Andersson-Hed, David Higgins, Tjaart van der Walt, and Richard Finch.  So I look for these four players to regain their places on Tour with relative ease.

There are also numerous Challenge Tour players who will be looking to continue their fine play which has been on display recently: Oliver Wilson, Lucas Bjerregaard, Rhys Davies, Niklas Lemke, Duncan Stewart, Wil Besseling, Andrew MacArthur, and Brandon Stone.

Also, there are players who have played in previous stages of Q-School this season that have finished at the high-end of the leaderboard: Liam Bond (T1-First Stage, 3rd-Second Stage), Thomas Pieters (2nd-First Stage, T5-Second Stage), and Zane Scotland (T2-First Stage, T12-Second Stage).  Scotland has also won five out of the seven events he's played this season on the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Tour and leads the Order of Merit on that Tour.    

While I wish every player the best, here's my list of the 25 players I'd like to see get their cards (no particular order):

1. Nick Dougherty
2. Mathias Grönberg
3. Markus Brier
4. Phillip Price
5. Daniel Popovic
6. Peter Hedblom
7. Rikard Karlberg
8. Liam Bond
9. Gareth Wright
10. Scott Drummond
11. Stiggy Hodgson
12. Simon Wakefield
13. Ben Evans
14. Oliver Wilson
15. Phillip Archer
16. Bradley Dredge
17. Richard Finch
18. Michael Jonzon
19. Rhys Davies
20. Andrew Marshall
21. Kenneth Ferrie
22. Pablo Martin Benavides
23. David Higgins
24. Alastair Forsyth
25. Zane Scotland

Bench:

1. Ross McGowan
2. Chris Paisley
3. Oskar Henningsson
4. Thomas Pieters
5. Kevin Phelan
6. Scott Arnold
7. Damian Ulrich
8. Guillaume Cambis
9. Daniel Brooks
10. Neil Fenwick
11. Matthew Zions
12. James Morrison
13. Ondrej Lieser
14. Adam Gee
15. Andrew MacArthur
16. Raymond Russell
17. Michael Lorenzo-Vera
18. Maarten Lafeber
19. Mikko Korhonen
20. Andrew McLardy
21. Jean-François Lucqin
22. Andreas Hartø
23. Martin Wiegele
24. Johan Edfors
25. David Dixon

For those that make the cut at Q-School, but don't gain a card, there's still consolation as they will get a high Challenge Tour category which enables them to play most, if not all, of the events on the developmental circuit next season.

For those that miss the 72-hole cut, they will gain a Challenge Tour category that will enable them to play some tournaments on the second-tier Tour next season (if they had lesser status last season).

Good luck to the 156 players and let's see what highlights and stories this year's Final Stage of Q-School produces!

Dual members need to show more loyalty to "home" Tour

It's been awhile since I last posted, but I certainly have been watching and following the European Tour as diligently as ever.  However, I will be posting today for different reasons.  The Tour's new Final Series is made up of four world-class events, over $30 million in prize money, loads of world ranking and Ryder Cup points, and should be supported by every Tour member.  Sadly, this is not the case.  I will admit that the structure of the Final Series needs some adjusting but, as with any new conception, that is to be expected.  The guidelines state that members wishing to play in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai (open to the top-60 on the Race to Dubai following this week's Turkish Airlines Open) next week must play two of the three events (BMW Masters, WGC-HSBC Champions, and the Turkish Airlines Open) in order to be eligible for next week's event.  While I disagree with this rule, I find it extremely hard to grasp that players would pass up the opportunity to play in these world-class events.

The players whose comments have attracted attention are Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, Charl Schwartzel, and Ian Poulter (all dual members with the PGA Tour).  PGA Tour members must play 15 events to retain membership (13 events for European Tour membership), but the season in the States ended in early September.  Poulter is the only mentioned player who is going to play all four Final Series events.  Els, Garcia, and Schwartzel only played one event and are, therefore, not eligible for the Tour Championship, even though all are in the top-25 on the Race to Dubai and have met the 13-tournament minimum.  Donald, who played the first two events, is taking a big risk by sitting out this week.  He's 55th on the Race to Dubai and he's only played 12 events.  There is a good possibility that the Englishman might sneak into next week, but I don't know why he would even risk it.  If he were to miss Dubai, he'd have to reapply for membership with the European Tour.  He's not had a good season on either side of the pond and the only reason for not playing must have been the fear of burnout or wanting to see his family.  Essentially, Donald had close to two months off following the PGA Tour season.  There is absolutely no excuse for him not to be playing this week when he's in such a precarious position.  For any player to skip the Tour Championship on a Tour that they are a member of is appalling.

All these players mentioned above have one thing in common: they're PGA Tour players also.  Dual members need to show more loyalty to their "home" Tour.  The majority will play in the Middle East at the start of the year, go back to the US, play the Tour's flagship event (the BMW PGA Championship), go back to the US, play one or two of the national opens in Europe prior to the Open Championship, go back to the US, and then play the Final Series.  It's too easy for players to meet their 13-tournament requirement.  Four majors, four WGCs, and either President's or Ryder Cup or Seve Trophy already knocks off nine events.  That only leaves players to play four "regular" events to meet their minimum.  Throw in three Final Series events and another event and players will have met their minimum.  Too easy if you ask me.

With so many of Europe's top players being dual members, it would be so satisfying for me to see a full-time European Tour player win the Race to Dubai by playing 20-25 events.   Too often dual members don't put enough emphasis on the Race to Dubai until after their PGA Tour seasons are over.  I would love to see the European Tour increase the minimum to 14 or 15 events, but I'm certain some dual members would relinquish their membership if that occurred.  I absolutely love the rule the Tour has instituted for next season which states that members must play at least one event in their home country or, if they don't, have their minimum increased to 15 tournaments for membership that season.  The Nordea Masters (Sweden) should see the strength of its field improve dramatically.  In fact, current Race to Dubai leader and world number three, Henrik Stenson has already committed to the event.  It's a fantastic rule.

So as the complaints of the Final Series continue to make headlines, let's not forget about the golf being played in Turkey and next week in Dubai.  There is so much to play for.  And someone will be able to have the prestigious distinction of being named European #1.