PGA Tour Q-School is one of the most grueling events in sports. No, it isn't running an Ironman or competing in a nasty game in Lambeau in December, but it is six days of golf where you're not only going up against tons of other dream-hungry players, but you're also going up against your mind. Here are the 29 fellas that will be full-time PGA Tour members next season.
1.) Brendon Todd -- (Age: 26) -- He's the only guy that in red figures in all six rounds, a pretty incredible accomplishment for one of the Georgia boys that struggled mightily on the Nationwide Tour this past year.
2.) Stephen Gangluff -- (36) -- One of the surprise finishers at Q-School, Gangluff was one of the few to take full advantage of a calm third round, firing a 64 that helped him get full status.
3.) Bobby Gates -- (25) -- Probably my story of the year at Q-School, Gates three-putted his final hole at Disney earlier this season to finish 126 on the money list, one spot out of a renewal on the PGA Tour for 2012. No worries, he played some great golf, and earned his way back with the big boys the hard way.
4.) Seung-yul Noh -- (20) -- The youngest of all the newbies on tour, Noh finished bogey-quadruple bogey in his fifth round, but gave himself enough cushion the first four days to where it didn't matter.
5.) Tommy Biershenk -- (38) -- One of the rookies in the class of graduates, Biershenk showed some nerves on Monday with double-bogeys on both closing holes of his inward and outward nine holes, but there was neve any doubt he'd get his card with his play over the first five days.
6.) Vaughn Taylor -- (35) -- If the name looks familiar, it should, because Taylor has two career PGA Tour wins and needed Q-School to bounce back from a crummy year where he made just 10 of 27 cuts.
7.) Jarrod Lyle -- (30) -- You might remember him
from this a season ago?
8.) Bob Estes -- (45) -- A nice closing stretch for the four-time Tour winner, who shot 69-67 to jump from outside the group to in it.
9.) Brian Harman -- (24) -- Probably the rookie I'm most excited to see on the PGA Tour, Harman, a fellow southpaw, has always been a hyped young man that just needs more control of his emotions to really break out and be as good as some expect.
10.) Marco Dawson -- (48) -- Nobody wants to be an expect in Q-School, but if there was someone you'd want to listen to about the trials and tribulations of this nasty tournament, it's Dawson. The guy has played final stage eleven damn times. Yikes.
11.) Sang Moon-Bae -- (25) -- I'm a fan of anyone with "Moon" in their name. "Sang" also helps.
12.) Kevin Kisner -- (27) -- He look, another Georgia boy! Kisner imitated the final two rounds of Estes to get his card after a struggle on the PGA Tour in 2011.
13.) Roberto Castro -- (26) -- He improved his status. Also, I wouldn't screw with this guy.
14.) William McGirt -- (32) -- A struggle at the end of his season had McGirt finish 141 on the PGA Tour money list, but he will be back after great play at PGA West.
15.) Jeff Maggert -- (47) -- One of three Aggies to get through Q-School. I'm just hoping nobody fires their swing coach after all this.
16.) Charlie Beljan -- (27) -- Gateway Tour shoutout! Beljan was basically the Yani Tseng of my old tour the last two years, and just seemed destined to be on the PGA Tour.
17.) Harris English -- (22) -- The qualifier most critics are raving over, English is a true fresh face, with no PGA Tour starts ever, but he can bomb the ball and makes everything, and already has a Nationwide Tour win under his belt as an amateur.
18.) Patrick Sheehan -- (42) -- When you close 66-67, you probably deserve a spot with the big boys.
19.) Scott Dunlap -- (48) -- In his PGA Tour career, Dunlap has made 96 of 184 starts. That's the only exciting thing I could find about Scott Dunlap.
20.) Greg Owen -- (39) -- You know how everyone thinks England is overtaking the golf world? Ha! Owen was the only Englishman to make it through Q-School. Take that, Queen!
21.) Daniel Summerhays -- (28) -- Jhonny Vegas bumped him last year as "most times I will misspell a name," but Summerhays is back for more.
22.) Will Claxton -- (30) -- I liked
his profile picture for the week the most of anyone. Photog -- "Okay Will, that last one was great, but can you give me just a hair more serial rapist? Okay, great!"
23.) Edward Loar -- (37) -- Rookie alert, rookie alert! Loar was initially going to get invited to the PGA Tour, but was snuffed out by two SEC players. (Oklahoma State joke!)
24.) Mark Anderson -- (25) -- Another one of those "improving your status" guys.
25.) Alexandre Rocha -- (34) -- It must be really strange to be from Brazil, where every woman in the world is amazing and the place is great, and decide to play college golf, only to find yourself landing in Starkville, Mississippi. But, hey, they do call Starkville the Sao Paulo of Northeast Mississippi.
26.) Richard H. Lee -- (24) -- Dude went Tiger at Chevron on Monday, making birdies on his final two holes to secure his card.
27.) John Huh -- (21) -- Huh was 9-under heading into the final hole, but his approach shot came up short in the drink and he made a bogey. His expression looked like he'd miss it by a shot, but the scores came back to him, and the second youngest of the qualifiers got in.
28.) Nathan Green -- (36) -- He has a PGA Tour win. He's also from Australia.
29.) Colt Knost -- (26) -- Talk about hanging on by your teeth. Knost came into his final hole at 10-under and well within the top-25, but his tee shot found the water, his third shot well left of the green, and his bogey putt came up a dimple short of dropping. The double-bogey looked like he might be a shot out, but lucky for Knost it wasn't, and he will be a full-time member in 2012.
