These five golfers – four of them Aussies – earned 2024 PGA Tour Champions tour cards at Q school at TPC Scottsdale

12/08/2023 06:00 PM

The PGA Tour Champions had five tour cards for 2024 up for grabs at TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course this week.

The final stage of Q School for the senior circuit provided 78 golfers 72 holes to snag status for next season.

By Friday, 73 of those golfers came up short, including Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz (dead last by eight shots at 22 over), 72-year-old Dick Mast (who shot or beat his age two times this week), Notah Begay, Shaun Micheel, Ted Purdy, Carlos Franco and Bryan Hoops, the lone amateur in the field who missed out on a playoff by a stroke.

All is not lost for those who finished sixth through 30th, as they will be eligible to apply for PGA Tour Champions Associate Membership for 2024, which would then get them into qualifiers.

But for those lucky top five, they are now fully exempt into all open, full-field events for the 2024 season on the PGA Tour Champions.

Here’s a closer look at what turned out to be an Aussie takeover, with Australian golfers earning four of the five cards.