The next phase of the road to Ponte Vedra Beach for PGA Tour Q School, presented by Korn Ferry, begins Oct. 20 with 14 first-stage qualifiers scattered across the country from Florida to California.
Five of the 72-hole qualifiers begin on Oct. 20, including one at the Country Club of Ocala. Four start on Oct. 27 and the remaining five on Nov. 3. There are qualifiers in Florida at the Preserve at Iron Horse in West Palm Beach Oct. 27-30 and Lakewood National in Lakewood Ranch Nov. 3-6.
The competitors will be shooting for one of five second-stage qualifiers Dec. 1-4. The top finishers in those events will advance to the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley and the Sawgrass Country Club Dec. 10-13 for the Q-School finals and the chance to earn one of five PGA
Tour cards for the 2027 season.
There are 36 residents of the First Coast or Georgia's Golden Isles entered in first-stage qualifiers, including past PGA Tour members Vince Covello, Jared Wolfe, Raul Pereda and Sebastian Cappelen. Also entered are five past Florida Times-Union high school players of the year, Taylor Funk, Joshua Lee, Brandon Mancheno, Andrew Riley and Brett Schell.
Which area golfers are in first-stage qualifiers?
Oct. 20-23
At Country Club of Ocala: Tyson Alexander, Moses Compaan, Muzzy Donahue, Taylor Funk, Jeff Klauk, Joshua Lee, Brandon Mancheno, Andrew Morris, Jacob Solomon, Alexandre Vandermoten, Dalton Ward, Carl Yuan.
At Magnolia Grove, Crossings Course, Semmes, Ala.: Ben Cooper, Robbie Higgins, David Langley, Sam Nicholson.
At Champions Pointe Golf Club, Henryville, Ind.: Samuel King.
At Wilderness Ridge, Lincoln, Neb.: Vince Covello.
At University of New Mexico Course, Albuquerque, N.M.: Fred Biondi.
Oct. 27-30
At Preserve at Iron Horse, West Palm Beach: Jackson Chandler, Andrew Riley.
At Abilene (Texas) Country Club: Matthew Doyle.
At Bermuda Run (N.C.) Country Club: Sebastian Cappelen, Nate Jordi, Hughes Threlkeld, Jared Wolfe.
Nov. 3-6
At Lakewood National, Lakewood Ranch: Samuel Anderson, Conner Godsey, Nick Infanti, Andrew McLauchlan, Jimmy Paradise, Raul Pereda, Brett Schell.
At Lake Caroline Golf Club, Meridan, Miss.: Cody Montgomery, Herman Sekne.
At Bayonet Golf Club, Seaside, Calif.: Cody Blick.
PGA Tour off, LPGA begins Asia Swing
The PGA Tour FedEx Cup Fall Series has a week off between the Baycurrent Classic in Japan and the Butterfield Bermuda Classic Oct. 22-25 and the LPGA embarks on its four-week Asia swing, beginning with the Buick LPGA Shanghai Oct. 14-17.
The LPGA will play, in succession, in Korea, Malaysia and Japan before returning for the finish to the 2026 with two events in Florida, The Annika Nov. 12-15 at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, and the CME Group Cup Nov. 19-22 at the Tiburon Golf Course in Naples.
This week's SAS Championship at the Prestonwood Golf Club in Cary, N.C., is the final PGA Tour Champions regular-season event. The top 72 on the money list will advance to the three-event Schwab Cup Playoffs in St. Louis, Little Rock, Ark., and Phoenix.
Harrison Frazar is No. 72 with $208,477 but he is not entered in the tournament. Neither is No. 73 Fred Couples ($201,599), who has only played six events this season.
That leaves No. 71 Heath Slocum ($209,016) as the de facto Bubble Boy. His closest pursuers who are entered in the SAS Championship are No. 74 Tom Pernice Jr., ($200,023) and No. 75 Kirk Triplett ($199,696).
Area players safe to make the playoffs are No. 2 Zach Johnson ($3,314,368), No. 57 Vijay Singh ($324,000) and No. 59 David Duval ($306,792). Last week's winner at the Constellation Furyk & Friends, Vaughn Taylor, jumped from 37th to 21st with his victory.
Ross Steelman's carnival-like background
Ross Steelman, who clinched the Korn Ferry Tour points title with a tie for 12th last week at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, didn't develop his golf game at a country club, learning center or academy.
He was hitting balls to the soundtrack of go-kart motors whining, the ping of aluminum bats meeting baseballs and people cheering when they putted a pink ball into a clown's mouth.
Steelman, a native of Columbia, Mo., learned to play at the Perche Creek Golf Club, hard by I-70 in Columbia. He hit golf balls from bays and off mats, surrounded by an 18-hole par-3 course, a miniature golf course, batting cages, and a go-kart track.
He did well enough. The 25-year-old played at Missouri and then transferred to Wake Forest, earning all-conference honors in both the SEC and ACC. Steelman led Georgia Tech to the 2023 ACC title by earning the winning point in both rounds of match play and finished second to Florida's Fred Biondi in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Steelman earned Korn Ferry Tour status by finishing fourth in the final PGA Tour University Rankings and won twice this season, with four other top-five finishes, earning $803,421.
Steelman not only has his 2027 PGA Tour card in hand, but winning the Korn Ferry points title got him spots in the Players Championship and the U.S. Open.
LPGA
Event: Buick LPGA Shanghai, Oct. 14-17, Sheshan Golf Club, Shanghai, China.
Purse: $3.2 million ($480,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Jeena Thitikul.
TV: Golf Channel (Oct. 14/15-Oct. 17/19, 11 p.m.-4 a.m.).
Area player: Auston Kim.
PGA Tour Champions
Event: SAS Championship, Oct. 16-18, Prestonwood Country Club, Cary, N.C.
Purse: $2.3 million ($345,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Alex Cejka.
TV: Golf Channel (Oct. 16-18, 2-5 p.m.).
Area players: David Duval, Fred Funk, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour hopefuls begin first-stage qualifying at 14 sites nationwide
