HOLLISTER
Some 84 individuals, all with the same lofty goal, took to the San Juan Oaks Golf Course in Hollister today for the first stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as Q-School.
Considered one of the most grueling events in all of sports, Q-School is a three-stage event that whittles a field of 965 golfers from across the country down to an elite 35 who will earn their Tour card and become eligible to enter PGA Tour events in 2008.
San Juan Oaks Golf Course, now in its 13th year, has served as a PGA Tour Stage One qualifying site since 2001, and is one of 12 golf courses from across the country this year to act as a stage-one site.
Golfers from the Central Coast that will compete next week include Michael Wilson of Pacific Grove and Isaac Weintraub of Santa Cruz. The remaining 82 competitors herald from California, Washington, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, Vermont, Oregon and Colorado, among other states.
Four players are coming from international locales, including a pair of golfers from Austrailia.
Current PGA Tour players who have qualified at previous Q-School events held at San Juan Oaks include John Mallinger, Aaron Oberholser and Kevin Na.
John Ellis, who graduated from Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, competed in Stage One at San Juan Oaks last year, but was exempt this year after he won the Order of Merit on the Canadian Tour Championship in September.
It is unclear as to where Ellis will compete during Stage Two, which begins Nov. 12, although he’ll have his choice among the Southern Hills Plantation Club (Brooksville, Fla.), the Deerwood Golf Club (Kingwood, Texas), Hombre Golf Club (Panama Beach, Fla.) Callaway Gardens-Mountain View Golf Course (Pine Mountain, Ga.), Oak Valley Golf Club (Beaumont, Calif.), or the Lantana Golf Club (Lantana, Texas).
The third and final stage of Q-School will be held Dec. 3-8 at the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course and the TPC Stadium Course in La Quinta, Calif.
San Juan Oaks will hold two practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday for golfers, with the first competitive round beginning Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. Guests are welcome to watch the event.
