December 9, 2009
By Jon Levy - Staff Writer
Known as the most grueling, intense and emotional week of competitive golf to pester professional golfers every fall, PGA TOUR Qualifying -- a.k.a. Q-School -- came to a close Monday at Bear Lakes C.C. in West Palm Beach, Fla. And, similar to years past, another impressively large class of current and former Gateway Tour players survived the six-round, career-shaping marathon to earn their way on to the PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour.
Of the 25 total players who earned 2010 PGA TOUR cards at Bear Lakes, the following
10 are Alumni of The Gateway Tour, including medalist Troy Merritt!
1st - Troy Merritt
3rd - Matt Jones
4th - Martin Flores
8th - Graham Delaet
8th - David Lutterus
12th - Kris Blanks
12th - Chris Wilson
19th - Michael Connell
23rd - Brent Delahoussaye
23rd - Spencer Levin
The following
27 current and former Gateway Tour players also earned full status on the Nationwide Tour:
26th - Gary Christian
26th - Ken Duke
26th - Bronson La'Cassie
26th - Julien Trudeau
34th - Mark Anderson
34th - Andrew Buckle
34th - James Hahn
40th - Josh Broadaway
40th - Adam Meyer
42nd - Ted Brown
42nd - Robert Gates
42nd - Luke List
42nd - Rick Price
48th - Dan Buchner
48th - Jess Daley
48th - Brendan Steele
48th - Andrew Svoboda
48th - Matt Weibring
48th - Steve Wheatcroft
64th - Tommy Gainey
64th - Ty Harris
64th - Barrett Jarosch
64th - Rob Oppenheim
72nd - Matthew Borchert
72nd - Bobby MacWhinnie
72nd - Dave Schultz
Finally, the following
38 Gateway Tour players garnered conditional status on the Nationwide Tour:
78th - John Douma
78th - Brice Garnett
78th - Trevor Murphy
78th - Jin Park
87th - Brady Schnell
90th - William McGirt
90th - Zack Miller
98th - Chris Kamin
98th - Alan Morin
98th - Martin Piller
104th - Won Joon Lee
104th - Ted Potter,
108th - Ray Beaufils
108th - Hugo Leon
108th - Tyrone van Aswegan
108th - Dustin White
116th - Bradley Iles
116th - Troy Kelly
116th - Nick Malinowski
116th - Chris Sessler
116th - Mark Walker
125th - Keoke Cotner
125th - Bret Guetz
125th - Justin Peters
130th - Brian Duncan
133rd - Chris Rogers
135th - Steve Holmes
138th - Robert Gwin
139th - Nathan Tyler
140th - David Robinson
140th - Paul Stankowski
140th - Aaron Watkins
143rd - Chris Mundorf
146th - Matt Davidson
147th - Kevin Fortin-Simard
149th - Scott Gordon
151st - Sunny Kim
152nd - Daniel Barbetti
Impressed? So are we. But, along with the pride we hold for these talented players who’ve spent time between our proverbial ropes and who’ve now graduated to play between the PGA & Nationwide Tours’, we’re excited to see a total of
55 former Gateway Tour players compete on the PGA TOUR in 2010!
Add the fact that The Gateway Tour has paid our over $40 million in purses in eight seasons while serving over 3200 players through 369 events, and we feel pretty good about beginning to carry out our mission of
providing an environment where players can build the skills necessary to compete on the PGA TOUR.
That said, these latest 75 current and former Gateway Tour players to make their way through PGA TOUR Qualifying Finals isn’t just an encouraging way to finish 2009 on a positive note for The Gateway Tour, but rather an encouraging way to gear up for a successful 2010 season with a new batch of potential “Alumni” to serve with the most viable and effective avenue in developmental professional golf.
Congratulations, guys, and best of luck next year on the PGA & Nationwide Tours!
Click
here for full field results of 2009 PGA TOUR Qualifying Finals, from pgatour.com…