Once again, there's a Q-School with PGA Tour cards on the line. In 2023, the PGA Tour announced that the Q-School, which had been for a decade exclusively about starts on the Korn Ferry Tour, would again offer some PGA Tour cards for the participants.
The 2024 PGA Tour Q-School Finals format is a 72-hole tournament with a 171-player field that are battling it out for PGA Tour cards, guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour and status on PGA Tour Americas (which is the new name for the combined PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica).
For every player in the field, though, the biggest prize is the PGA Tour cards and the opportunity to compete for big titles, big prize pools and the FedEx Cup and its rewards.
In 2024, the PGA Tour has made five PGA Tour cards available through Q-School. More specifically, the top five players and ties at the end of the 72-hole tournament will earn a PGA Tour card. Hypothetically, that could mean substantially more than five players get PGA Tour status, and that tie for fifth isn't limited in any way. However, the reality is that a tie of more than four or five players is unlikely.
For players who earn PGA Tour cards through Q-School, their first chance to access the PGA Tour will be at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January. That's the first full-field event of the year, and it's often oversubscribed by players with better status than those who graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour, Q-School or the DP World Tour, as well as those who missed out on the top 125 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings.
However, the next opportunity would be at The American Express, which is the first event of the year on the mainland United States.
For players in this cluster of status, early performance is crucial, not only to think about getting into Signature events but also to improve or maintain status through the PGA Tour reshuffle. The reshuffle happens several times throughout the season and re-orders the entry order for players in this category based on their status in the FedEx Cup and points earned on the season.
While graduating from PGA Tour Q-School is a great accomplishment, it is the beginning of a longer, difficult journey to maintaining or even improving PGA Tour status for the next season.
