Who is Jay Williamson and Why is He in the Final Stage of Q-School?

by One-Eyed Golfer Guy on Nov 22, 2009 9:14 AM EST Comment 7 comments

Mrs. Williamson's favorite son, Jay (ranked 579 in the world), is on the front page of PGATOUR.com. It seems he shot a few good scores at Southern Hills Plantation Club in Brooksville, FL and, along with 21 other golfers, will now play in the final stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying School at Bear Lakes starting on December 2nd. He will be accompanied by other big name players like Billy Horschel and renowned tour players like Arjun Atwal (420) and Marco Dawson (637).

Early this year, Alex Rodriguez hurt himself and missed some time. He then went to the baseball minor league system until his game was good enough for the majors. NBA players go to Europe (or the NBDL) if they get cut. But, once you have played on the PGA Tour, the 'Big Show,' suddenly you are too good to play anywhere but the 'Bigs,' so you wait all year for Q-School. Well, that is not all you do. You also pester tournament sponsors for exemptions.

When it suits them, PGA Tour players call the Nationwide Tour the 'second best tour on the planet,' but you can almost also hear the words, "...but, I never want to play there."

This year, the Nationwide Tour brought golf tournaments to thirty different cities, including six outside of the United States. Cities like Boise, Sandy, Utah and Fort Smith, Arkansas enjoyed top level professional golf tournaments this year thanks to this little 'red-headed stepchild'...

I feel the Nationwide Tour should replace the PGA Qualifying School as the main vehicle for getting a PGA Tour card. Any players on tour not in the top 100 that year go back to the Nationwide Tour. That tour fills the remaining spots with its own Q-School. The top fifty on that tour each year get a shot at the 'Big Show.' These guys represent the PGA Tour in all of its glory all year and currently get 25 lousy tour spots and those spots are very, very low on the exemption priority category list.

I have nothing against Williamson, Atwal, Dawson, Wittenberg, Pride, Micheel, Duke, Franco, Riegger, Lancaster, Uresti, Day, Gainey, Stankowski, Knost, Taturangi, Kaye and the dozens of others who have proven they cannot compete on the PGA Tour and yet hang out each year to try Q-School and beg exemptions. The Nationwide Tour could really use some of those bigger names to sell more tickets in the cities they visit.

Marco Dawson

And, the PGA tour could REALLY use from fresh faces...

FanPosts are written by Waggle Room members. Viewpoints expressed do not necessarily reflect those of WaggleRoom.com and its editor, Ryan Ballengee. The Waggle Room member whose byline appears with the FanPost is solely responsible for its content.

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I disagree a bit on this. The PGA Tour has taken strides over the years to make the N’Wide Tour more relevant to determining who gets tour cards. Used to be 5, then 10, now 25. The same number as Q-school. Eventually, the N’Wide Tour will probably get almost all of the cards, but they’re making a lot of progress.

Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 22, 2009 12:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Maybe. But, they

still give preference to Q grads (1-25) over NW performers and 126-150 on PGA money list get priority over some other categories.

Am I nuts thinking a Nationwide Tour with bigger name players would benefit everyone? Why would Tim Finchem insist on presenting his golf fans an inferior product when there is such an easy and logical alternative…??

...from the land of pleasant living, Baltimore. Stop by and visit us anytime at www.oneeedgolfer.blogspot.com

by One-Eyed Golfer Guy on Nov 22, 2009 2:45 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Are you sure you want to ask that question exactly that way ? :-)

The players will play however the system gets set up. If they decided to go with your idea starting next week, the bottom part of the money list would play wherever they had status. There would be some compaining and demands from former “big names” on the Tour, but it would eventually settle in.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Nov 22, 2009 3:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh – the Tour makes sure that Q-school and Nationwide graduates alike get at least 20 starts – most get at least 25. The “preferential treatment” you’re talking about basically lets some guys get starts earlier in the season while other guys have to wait a few weeks to get started. Not the worst thing in the world.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Nov 22, 2009 3:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The guys that graduate from Q-school are in the same category as N’Wide Tour guys. They alternate the order #1 Q-school, # NWide, #2 Q-school, #2 NWide, etc.

Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 22, 2009 8:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

DAVIS LOVE III SUCKS!

by MattSpence on Nov 23, 2009 12:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, Ryan...

I did not know that and the tour exemption category sheet doesn’t clarify it either, but it makes great sense.

I guess my final say on this is, "If you go the ‘bigs’ as soon as you are playing well, you have to go back down to the ‘littles’ when you cannot get in the top 100 for two years in a row. Simple. It is not ‘employment for life’…

...from the land of pleasant living, Baltimore. Stop by and visit us anytime at www.oneeedgolfer.blogspot.com

by One-Eyed Golfer Guy on Nov 25, 2009 4:40 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

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