Q-school final stage: Final-round notes from the course

Laberge/Getty Images

Leif Olson was one of only eight players to advance all the way from the first stage of qualifying.

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Harrison Frazar (67/Nicklaus) blew the field away with an eight-stroke victory at the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, shooting 32-under 400 to tie Steve Allan's record-low total at the 2000 event. It would have been a bigger margin if it wasn't for a blocked tee-shot into the water hazard on the final hole, leading to a double bogey. Frazar has played 300 tournaments on the PGA TOUR without a victory.

"It means I have a place to go play golf next year. It means I have a place to go try to earn a living," said Frazar. "I came into this week having fallen so far back that I had pretty much lost all my status. I had to play. This week means a lot.

"I think it is always good to get a win," he added. "I think I learned a lot about myself and about golf in the past month ... having to play second-stage and then having to come and play here."

"Second stage was awful, just awful. People talk about this being the toughest stage, but second stage is the hardest tournament in the world," he explained. "If you don't make it through there, you are out. And you know that. I just tried to push all those thoughts aside and go out and play." ...

A score of 19 under was needed to earn a PGA TOUR card. Eleven under was the score required to earn fully exempt status on the Nationwide Tour. Seventeen under was the previous lowest score needed to earn a card (2001), while 10 under (2001) was the previous lowest to earn full exempt status on the Nationwide Tour. ...

The following players made it through all three stages: Matt Borchert, Troy Kelly, Tyler Aldridge, Gary Woodland, Brian Vranesh, Aaron Watkins, Leif Olson and Wil C. Collins. ...

Huston

Of the 28 players successfully earning PGA TOUR cards, all but seven feature in the Nationwide Tour All-Time Roster. John Huston, Matt Borchert, Troy Kelly, Gary Woodland, and Wil Collins have played a limited number of events on the Nationwide Tour, but not enough to be included on the roster. Derek Fathauer and Y.E. Yang have never played a Nationwide Tour event. ...

Twelve of the 28 players to earn PGA TOUR cards will be rookies on the PGA TOUR in 2009. ...

Matt Borchert (65/Nicklaus), from Windermere, Fla., and Brian Vranesh (65/Nicklaus), from Scottsdale, Ariz., are both age 31 and will be rookies on the PGA TOUR in 2009.

Borchert bogeyed his first hole in the final round before reeling of four consecutive birdies on holes 4-7 to turn in 33 (-3). He then had a torrid stretch from the 10th hole, posting birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, par, birdie. Two bogeys to finish dropped him to 20 under and tied for 11th. Vranesh posted a less stressful bogey-free final round with seven birdies and 11 pars. ...

Leif Olson (67/Nicklaus) played college golf at Duke University with Kevin Streelman, who finished No. 78 on the PGA TOUR money list. Olson quit the game for a while and came back to it just a couple of years ago.

"It's been exciting. I can't even describe it," Olson said. "Kevin didn't tell me anything specific. He just hoped I did well. It's a little surreal right now. I wasn't ready for this. It's been a crazy ride." ...

Aldridge

Tyler Aldridge (70/Nicklaus) will be a rookie on the 2009 PGA TOUR after finishing in a tie for 11th and winning $25,000. Aldridge's career earnings before this week were $12,143 from this year's Nationwide Tour campaign. ...

Chris Riley (69/Nicklaus) celebrated his 35th birthday by earning his way back to the PGA TOUR, where he is a past winner at the 2002 Reno-Tahoe Open. Riley was the only former Ryder Cup player in the field. ...

Jimmy Walker (69/Nicklaus) was the only player in the field to score all six rounds in the 60s.

"I was not really nervous today. I played well all week and I'm happy to be done," he said. "I honestly thought 20 under would easily get my card, but it just got it done." ...

Here's how the first-round co-leaders finished: Major Manning (68/Nicklaus) tied for 70th, Craig Kanada (69/Nicklaus) tied for 62nd and Joey Lamielle (73/Nicklaus) tied for 97th. ...

The winning score was 32-under 400 while the highest score was 26-over 458. That's a 58-shot difference, or a little more than nine strokes per round. ...

The scoring average for round six on the Nicklaus Tournament Course was 69.383 and for the PGA West Stadium Course was 71.550. The averages for the week were 69.363 on the Nicklaus and 71.359 on the Stadium. There were 50 scores of 65 or better, including the 59 shot by Harrison Frazar in round four, from a total of 973 rounds played this week. ...

Begay

Of the 49 players at 12 under or better through round five, only five played the PGA West TPC Stadium Course on Monday while the other 44 played the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course. The five who played the Stadium Course were Notah Begay III (67), Wil Collins (67), Rich Barcelo (72), Hunter Haas (71) and Tag Ridings (76). Only Begay (tied 11th) and Collins (tied 18th) earned cards for the PGA TOUR next year, although Ridings, who finished 147th on the TOUR money list will have conditional status. ...

Richard Johnson withdrew prior to the start of the fourth round and will thus be given last-place status. Paul Gow withdrew before the start of the fifth round and will receive status immediately above Johnson. ...

Six players made it through pre-qualifying, first stage and second stage to reach the finals. They are Scott Fawcett (68/Stadium), Brad Golden (72/Stadium), Patton Kizzire (72/Stadium), Martin Piller (68/Nicklaus), Joseph Sykora (66/Stadium) and Steven Taylor (72/Stadium). Piller finished best of the six at tied for 40th and Sykora was tied for 70th, earning both players fully exempt status on the 2009 Nationwide Tour.