Ryan YipCLEM MURRAY
There will be no new Canadians on the PGA Tour in 2012.
Calgary's Ryan Yip came the closest of the four players who were in contention when the sixth and final day of qualifying school began on Monday, shooting a final round 3-under 69 on the Nicklaus Course at PGA West. That left him just a single stroke shy of what he needed to gain fully exempt status next year.
Because two of the players who finished in the top 25 and ties already had exemptions for next year, the final number of Tour cards handed out ended up being 29 with 8-under par being the cut off.
Brad Fritsch of Ottawa also carded a 69 to finish in a tie for 38th, missing the cut line by two shots.
Stuart Anderson of Sooke, B.C., finished with a 71 and missed the top 25 by four strokes.
"Well that's over with," tweeted Anderson. "Played good but had to many triple and double bogeys! Thanks for all the support and encouragement."
The good news for them is that by finishing in the top 75, they have earned full status on the Nationwide Tour next year through the first 10 events.
Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., carded a final round 73 to finish tied for 100th. He, along with Calgary's James Love (72), Richard Scott (70) of Kingsville, Ont., Vancouver's Richard T. Lee (77) and Mitch Gillis (77) of Williams Lake, B.C., all get conditional status on the Nationwide Tour.
For Hadwin, it's a bittersweet ending to what was a strong 2011 campaign. The 23-year-old made the cut in all five of his PGA Tour starts this year, finishing with a pair of top-10 results and earning almost $450,000. That would have placed him 145th on the money list, which was eventually good enough to get him directly into the final stage of q-school this past week.
"It was a very disappointing week," tweeted Hadwin. "Putting myself at the mercy of my number was not what I had in mind. Take a few days to recover and start looking ahead to 2012."
Brendon Todd, who has missed 27 of his last 37 cuts on the Nationwide Tour, shot a final-round 4-under 68 to take medallist honours by one stroke on Monday. Todd, who earned $50,000 for the win, played on the Tour in 2009 but struggled and lost his exemption.
South Korean golfer Noh Seung-yul finished tied for third. The 20-year-old Noh, who won the Malaysian Open last year and was the 2010 Asian Tour's leading money winner, was the highest-ranked player in the qualifying tournament at 101.
Richard H. Lee was the only player to earn his Tour card while playing the Stadium Course in the final round - all the others finished on the Nicklaus Course. Lee played his final five holes in 5-under par and birdied his final two holes to secure his card for the 2012 season.
Some of the notables who missed out this week included:
- Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA Champion, who finished tied for 120th;
- Shaun Micheel, the 2003 PGA Champion, who finished tied for 93rd;
- Ty Tryon, the youngest player to earn his Tour card at age 17 a decade ago, who finished 159th out of 160 players who completed the six round marathon;
- Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer, who finished tied for 109th;
- Lee Janzen, a two-time U.S. Open winner, who finished tied for 38th - missing his Tour card by three strokes;
- Boo Weekley, who was on the Ryder Cup team three years ago, who finished tied for 54th;
- David Duval, the former world no. 1, 2011 British Open champion and 13-time PGA Tour winner, who missed out on regaining his card for the second straight year after finishing tied for 72nd.
Files from the Associated Press were used in this report