The PGA Tour Q-School Finals begin this week and a foursome of New England professionals representing three states (MA, VT, RI) will be teeing it up in hopes of full PGA Tour status for the 2010 season. The tournament is held this year at the Jack Nicholaus designed Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida and is known in the golfing world as the hardest test in golf. The finals is contested over 108 holes (6 rounds) of high pressure tournament golf . Of the 160 players in the field only 25 plus ties will receive full status on the PGA Tour in 2010, approximately the next 50 receive full Nationwide Tour status and the remainder of the field will have conditional playing priviledges. Bear Lakes Country Club is a 36 hole facility with both courses at a par of 72 reaching over 7,300 yards in length. The greens will be fast, the rough long and the competion will be at full attention with their livelihoods on the line.
Let’s take a look at the four New England native professionals in the field at PGA Tour Q-School Finals:
Trevor Murphy (VT) – Trevor has had his share of success in 2009 most notably making the cut at this years US Open at Bethpage and won the Vermont Open three years ago as an amateur..
Rob Oppenheim (MA) – Rob capped off a great 2009 campaign finishing T13 in second stage on top of his wins in this years Massachusetts and New Hampshire Opens. He grew up playing at Indian Ridge Country Club in Andover, MA and his caddy is Mike Menery, the Head PGA Professional at Indian Ridge.
Justin Peters (MA) – Justin most notably won the first ever Big Break on the Golf Channel. His free ticket to the 2009 PGA Tour Q-School was secured via the Minor League Golf Tours Q-School Challenge and he has 38 professional wins in his career. His instructor is Bill McInerney who is a Massachusetts native and “Top 50 Teacher.”
Patrick Sheehan (RI) – Patrick played very consistently this year on both the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He made 10 of 15 cuts on the PGA Tour with two top 25′s and $283,119 in total earnings. On the Nationwide Tour he made 9 of 13 cuts with a win, two top 10′s and seven top 25′s totaling $158984 in earnings. He was exempt to the finals via his money ranking on the 2009 Nationwide Tour.
On behalf of the entire New England Golf Monthly staff and all native New Englanders good luck. We are all routing for you to be members of Team New England on the Tours.
To follow Team New England at PGA Tour Q-School Finals – click here. The TV Times are listed below:
TV Times: GOLF CHANNEL – all times ET
Sat., Dec. 5 – 1-4 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 6 – 1-4 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 7 – 12:30-4 p.m.
About Greg Sampson
I am the Sales and Marketing Manager for NEGM. I am a member of the International Network of Golf & the Golf Writers Association of America. I specialize in customized all-inclusive programs across a multi-media platform.
