There will soon be another path to Korn Ferry Tour membership that does not involve the slog of Q School.

According to a report from Golf Channel, the PGA Tour policy board approved a new measure that would grant collegiate players Korn Ferry Tour status based on a collegiate ranking system. The top five players in the rankings at the conclusion of the NCAA season will earn Korn Ferry Tour status, which is a direct path to the PGA Tour.

The program, called PGA Tour University, is a fascinating proposition. For so many accomplished amateurs, the only option they have when turning pro is securing sponsor exemptions and trying to play well in limited opportunities. They then either earn enough points to secure a PGA Tour card for the following season, such as Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa, or earn enough points for Korn Ferry Tour Finals berths and try to earn a card there, a path taken by Viktor Hovland and Bryson DeChambeau.

But for those who don’t play well in their opportunities, Q School is one of the last options. No one wants to go to Q School. Have a bad week and suddenly you’re without a place to play your first year as a pro, amateur track record be damned. This is the reality for former Oklahoma standout Brad Dalke after failing to secure Korn Ferry Tour status at Q School in the fall.

PGA Tour University also ensures the Korn Ferry Tour has some star power by virtue of the collegiate standouts who take this path. The PGA Tour has tried to funnel more and more players through its top development tour in the last decade. In 2013, Q School’s structure was altered so that only Korn Ferry Tour status could be earned and not PGA Tour status. PGA Tour University appears to be another step toward making the Korn Ferry Tour the most direct path to the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour did not respond when contacted for comment.

Players ranked outside the top five in the collegiate ranking system will also have the opportunity to earn status on the other development tours under the PGA Tour umbrella, such as the Mackenzie Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamérica and PGA Tour-Series China.

The policy board approved the measure last fall and the program is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2021, according to the report.

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Welcome to our “Where I played…” series, in which a resident GOLF staffer runs through a recent day at a course you might play in your future. Today, we’ve got the Panther Lake Course at Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge in Winter Garden, Fla.

Although Disney World is just eight miles from its gates, Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge might steal the “Most Magical Place on Earth” moniker from Mickey Mouse’s stomping grounds. That is, if you’re a golf fan.

Though Orange County National doesn’t boast the roller coasters, interactive cartoon characters and nightly fireworks shows that its neighbor has, what it does offer is two championship-level courses (Crooked Cat and Panther Lake), another nine-hole short course and the largest driving range in the nation. Even in a state known for its golf pedigree, that kind of facility offering is quite impressive. It’s also been a regular host for PGA Tour and, more recently, Korn Ferry Tour Q school.

Q school is actually the reason I made my trek to the Orlando area and Orange County National. No, not as a competitor, but to cover the event – one of the most high-stress weeks in golf. After traversing the two courses for seven-straight days chasing stories of up-and-coming golfers, I was familiar with the nuances of the two courses. But watching some of the best players in the world dissect the courses and then playing them in tournament conditions the day after competition concluded provided quite the test.

Course: Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge (Panther Lake)

My tee time: 10:21 a.m., Dec. 16, 2019

Course type: Public

Price: The courses offer dynamic pricing that vary based on demand. Florida residents do get a substantially cheaper rate, however.

Difficulty: Disclaimer: We played Panther Lake the day after Q school ended so we were playing in conditions meant to challenge some of the best players on the planet. Flags were tucked, the rough was long and the greens were rolling extremely fast. Though we didn’t play from the 7,350-yard championship tees, Panther Lake, designed by Phil Ritson and David Harman, with help from Isao Aoki, was plenty challenging from the 6,800-yard tees.

The Panther Lake fairways are fairly generous, so as long as you aren’t too wild off the tee, you should be fine. Lots of the approach shots into greens are well-guarded by bunkers, and the contours of the greens can make accessing certain hole locations tricky. For the most part, good shots are rewarded and bad shots are punished, but solid ball-striking with your irons is a must if you want to score well.

How to get there: Orange County National is only 35 minutes from Orlando International Airport, though heavy traffic from nearby Disney World can mean some fluctuation on that estimate. After driving through a seemingly endless expanse of suburbs, strip malls and chain restaurants, you’ll turn off Highway 429 and drive down Phil Ritson Way into Orange County National’s enormous circle driveway.

Fast facts: As mentioned above, Orange County National has long played host to PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour Q school. This is a fact they are proud to display, with plaques in the clubhouse and banners flying around the property proclaiming the honor. Another fun note: Crooked Cat and Panther Lake were prominently featured in John Feinstein’s book “Tales from Q School: Inside Golf’s Fifth Major,” which is one of my favorite books of all time. The round would’ve been fun either way, but getting to jump into the setting of one of my favorite books only added to my enjoyment.

Notable/favorite holes: No. 7 is a classic risk-reward par-5 that can swing any match. The tee shot is over water and into a narrow landing area. If you place your tee shot well enough, you can choose to take on the 200-yard carry over swampland into a shallow green. For the more conservative player, you can lay up to the right and get the correct angle into the green, giving you a short wedge in your hand. The hole allows for a variety of ways to play it and still come away with birdie, the hallmark of a good hole.

The 9th hole might be the toughest tee shot on Panther Lake, with water running along the right side and a fairway that slopes left to right. If you lay back on the tee shot, the landing area is more generous, but the shot into the green becomes much more difficult. Trying to bomb a driver comes with its own risks as water down the right and trees down the left come more into play.

The par-5 18th is another hole that gives players options off the tee. A long and narrow bunker runs up the center of the fairway, forcing players to choose the thinner landing area on the right side or the more forgiving left side. Laying back on the left takes going for the green in two out of play and makes for a trickier layup, while the tee shot on the right side brings the bunker and rough more into play. The green is one of the more heavily contoured on Panther Lake, with a back shelf that played host to the Sunday hole location for Q school.

I loved: I loved the options Panther Lake provided. It seemingly didn’t favor any one type of player. I could play my normal short-hitting and methodical game while my playing partners could play more bomb and gouge and we had similar opportunities to score. The course was in excellent condition and the pace of play was great as well. If I lived in the Orlando area, it would definitely be in my regular rota.

I didn’t love: The course lacks some cohesion from hole to hole. It boasts being the “world’s only course designed to feature 18 signature holes,” but I think that hurts it more than anything. Some holes meander through the pines while others have a more traditional Florida wetlands feel. The variety is nice, but I would’ve liked for it to have had a more distinct identity.

Overall Orange County National provides plenty of value and variety, plus a great test for your game. If you’re in the Orlando area, consider bypassing Disney World to take a day or two to play Panther Lake and Crooked Cat, enjoy the laid-back short course or just beat some balls on one of the biggest driving ranges you’ll ever see.

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Technically, every player who’d made it to Q-School Finals had already earned Korn Ferry Tour status for 2020. But anybody who’s ever boarded an airplane knows that there’s status and there’s status; each of the 154 players in the field was looking for the latter. The medalist earned fully exempt status for the entire season, while the top 10 (and ties) earned 12 guaranteed starts and the rest of the top 40 (and ties) earned eight guaranteed starts.

After four rounds at Orange County National in Winter Park, Fla. we know who cracked that top 40 — and the list includes some familiar figures. To get you through that post-Presidents Cup hangover (and to get you excited for golf in the new year) here are five names from the list that you might not have seen coming.

1. Curtis Thompson

Whenever they cut to a shot of Sam Saunders on a broadcast, TV commentators always bring up that he’s Arnold Palmer’s grandson — them’s the rules. The Curtis Thompson equivalent is the mandatory mention that he’s Lexi Thompson’s older brother (his older brother Nicholas was at Finals, too, but finished T53). He’s a successful caddie, too: just after Lexi split with caddie Kevin McAlpine, Curtis picked up the bag in late 2018 and Lexi won for the first time in more than a year.

But Thompson re-proved this week that he has a complete game himself, too. The 27-year-old shot 21-under for the four rounds to share medalist honors and will be fully exempt through this year’s Korn Ferry Tour schedule. Thompson previously played the KFT from 2015-18 and became known for his prodigious length off the tee (leading the tour in driving distance three consecutive years), but after struggling with results wasn’t sure if he would continue playing. Looks like it was a good call to do so.

2. Braden Thornberry

In golf, the only problem with being a can’t-miss prospect is that there’s actually no such thing. Braden Thornberry knew that forgoing his senior season at Ole Miss to turn pro a year ago meant taking a risk, and when he made just six cuts in 14 starts he had to head back to Q-School anyways. Now, after making seven birdies on the front nine Sunday, he’ll have the ability to set his own schedule going forward. Thornberry is the former No. 1 amateur in the world and the 2017 NCAA Champ; the smart money is on his having a strong 2020.

3. Tag Ridings

Few people in golf can lay claim to a better name than Taggert “Tag” Twain Ridings, an Oklahoma native who has bounced around the PGA Tour and lower developmental tours for two decades. At 45 years of age, Ridings was the second-oldest player in the field but finished T21 to earn a solid slate of starts in the new year. Ridings played in his first major championship in 2000, and we’re sure you remember his win at the 2002 Buy.com Permian Basin Open. He made seven of 16 cuts on last year’s Korn Ferry Tour and will look to improve on that effort in 2020. His best PGA Tour finish in recent years came from a T3 at the 2017 Barbasol Championship.

4. Ryan Ruffels

Remember that thing I wrote earlier about golf not providing any guarantees? Still true two paragraphs later. Australian prodigy Ryan Ruffels turned pro at age 17 and made his full slate of starts thanks to sponsors exemptions, but that was as close as he got to the big Tour. Ruffels became particularly well-known for the gambling story he told about winning $5,000 off of Phil Mickelson, which earned him a stern rebuke from Lefty.

“You don’t discuss specifics of what you play for,” he said, “and you certainly don’t embellish and create a false amount for your own benefit. So those things right there are — that’s high school stuff, and he’s going to have to stop doing that now that he’s out on the PGA Tour,” Mickelson said afterwards. After stints on PGA Tour Latinoamerica the last two years, Ruffels is inching his way back towards the big Tour.

5. Vince India

Among golf’s most heartbreaking moments came at the final hole of the Korn Ferry Tour’s season finale, the WinCo Foods Portland Open at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon. Vince India was playing in the second-to-last group and sitting T2 when he arrived at the par-5 18th hole. A par would guarantee him a promotion to Korn Ferry Finals, where he’d have a good chance of graduating to the PGA Tour. Instead, a wayward bunker shot and three chips later, India had lost his card altogether with a double-bogey 7. “I just did my best,” he said in this heartbreaking interview.

As classy as it gets. 👌

After making double bogey on the 72nd hole @PortlandOpen to fall short of his first #KornFerryTour Finals berth, Vince India (@VIndia36) met with the media to explain what went wrong.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/eyVSqDxUj5

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) August 13, 2019

Now India, 30, has earned that card back after piecing together a 12-under week at Orange County to earn guaranteed starts by just a single shot — a taste of redemption for the Chicago resident. Here’s hoping this season ends differently.

You can see complete results here.

If you don’t like Brandel Chamblee, you’re going to love this. The Golf Channel TV man and former PGA Tour pro laced up his spikes yesterday for the final stage of PGA Tour Champions Q-School. But on Tuesday Chamblee was robbed blind during the first round, though he wasn’t liberated of any cash, just a memorable hole-in-one.

This year’s Q-School is taking place at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona, home of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and Chamblee played admirably on the opening day, but it could have been so much sweeter.

At the par-3 6th, the former Tour winner had 187 yards to the hole. His tee shot wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty much as close to perfect as humanly possible. As Chamblee wrote in a Twitter post after the round, he flew his ball “186 [yards] and 10 inches” on the 6th, almost directly into the cup. But somehow his ball moved no farther and embedded itself right on the edge of the cup, so much so that it pushed turf into the hole.

Fortunately, Chamblee shared a photo of the frustrating outcome on Twitter, asking the same question everyone who sees the picture will ask: “How did that not go in?!??”

In case you were wondering, Chamblee’s shot definitely doesn’t count as a hole-in-one. According to the Definitions section of the Rules of Golf, when a ball is embedded in the side of the hole, and all of the ball is not below the surface of the putting green, the ball is not holed. That cruel turn of events added a shot to Chamblee’s scorecard and prevented him from collecting what reportedly would have been his 6th hole-in-one.

Despite the turn of bad luck, the 57-year-old commentator was still able to put together a solid round of two-under 69. That leaves him T17, four off the lead. The top five finishers at this week’s final stage will earn PGA Tour Champions cards for next season, so he’s still very much in the mix.

At the very least, Chamblee has set himself up for the best Senior tour finish of his career. In five tournaments in 2019, his top result was a T46 at the Ally Challenge in September.

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It’s Monday, and Mondays are Ryan French’s busiest day of the week. On this particular one, French sits in the clubhouse at the Orchards Golf Club in Washington, Mich., three days before the first round of the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic. He has just finished caddying for Ben Albin, who hit 17 greens and shot 70 but finished four strokes out of a playoff in this week’s PGA Tour Monday qualifier.

An hour from now French will broadcast the 5-for-2 playoff on Periscope. The winners will earn coveted spots in the Rocket Mortgage at Detroit Golf Club, which is 30 miles south, but, in figurative terms for most of these guys, so much further. After the playoff, French interviews Wes Homan, a 35-year-old with three kids under 3 who plays just twice a week yet still managed to shoot 66 and emerge from the pack to grab one of the two spots. Homan will make his 10th career PGA Tour start at 1:55 Thursday afternoon, after battling the putting yips in 2017.

All of this is reported by French via Twitter. It was only 14 months ago he activated the account — Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) — but he’s already acquired more than 18,000 followers. That number keeps growing as French reveals the triumphs and tragedies of these weekly rituals. For French, Monday is moving day.

“It’s insane,” French says. “I say it all the time and I just repeat myself, but I thought if I got 500 followers, I thought that would be crazy. Like today in the Monday qualifier, everybody knows who I am. It’s just weird. And the account, I never thought it would get anywhere close to this, ever. I think it’s just an under-reported side of golf.”

And there’s an audience for it.

* * * * *

Every Tour event has a pre-qualifier of roughly 150 players a few days before the Monday qualifier for those who don’t have the required Korn Ferry or PGA Tour status. Those who advance to Monday meet other starving pros in fields of roughly 50 to 125, depending on the location, where there are usually four spots up for grabs. But, as French notes, even those who advance to the main event still face long odds. They already wasted a potential practice day at the course due to qualifying, and now they have to find a hotel, extend car rentals and handle other logistics. That leaves Tuesday as the only day to see the course because Wednesdays are often shut down for pro-ams.

Want to be a pro golfer? Korn Ferry Mon Q edition

There is a way that if you went to all 37 different KFT Mon Q sites and shot a total of 200 under par….that you didn't get into a single event.

Here is my end of the year KFT Stats pic.twitter.com/8lzbld0Vh3

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) August 6, 2019

“I think golf is thought of as so elitist, epically pro golf — private jets and big money and handing out gloves — so I don’t think people knew this side of it existed,” French says. “They know minor-league baseball because everyone’s been to a minor-league baseball game. It’s organized. Monday qualifying is just so fractured. I don’t think people knew it existed, at least your casual golf fan didn’t. They didn’t realize there were people grinding out there sleeping in cars, and I think that’s the human interest of it.”

French’s fascination with the lower-rung tours started after he graduated from Michigan State. While his friends hit swanky resorts or bucket-list gems, French and his father found their calling as mini-tour vagabonds. Twice a year for about a half-dozen years they’d hit the road and caddie on a developmental tour. French got to know many of the players and later caddied for some when opportunities arose at Q-School or on the Korn Ferry Tour. He swiped a caddie bib from every stop he made. His closet now houses a collection of memories from defunct and active circuits — the Hooters Tour, the Hopkins Tour, the Dakotas Tour, the eGolf Tour, the Symetra Tour and so on.

“It’s a really cool way to see awesome golf,” he says. “Or anytime there was an event close and I could get time off work, I’d go do it.”

A 42-year-old married father of two (Annette, 6, and Jackson, 4), the Michigan native now lives in the Chicago suburbs and is a stay-at-home dad. He used to run a group of restaurants, but that changed when Jackson ran into health issues. Jackson vomited every day since birth until he was 2 1/2, even though he wasn’t sick. For a while Ryan and his wife, Stephanie, thought Jackson’s troubles stemmed from over-feeding or lactose intolerance. Then they saw an allergist and a gastroenterologist. Jackson was eventually diagnosed with Syringomyelia, the same spinal-cord disease that afflicted golf legend Bobby Jones. (The Frenches are heavily involved in the Bobby Jones Society, which raises funds for the Chiari & Syringomyelia Foundation.)

In June 2017, at 2 1/2, Jackson had brain surgery. He’s doing much better now. As Ryan says, “It’s life altering, not life threatening.” The Frenches lost their long-term nanny around the time of the surgery, so Ryan left his job to stay home with Jackson. That’s when he decided to create his Twitter account.

He came to know so many of the players and storylines over the years while on the road, and he was constantly checking in on his buddies anyway. Why not tweet about it?

“It was really just something to do to not watch cartoons all day,” he says.

His audience slowly grew with every tweet, interview, tournament and story. His following includes pros, caddies, reporters, analysts, coaches, teachers, agents and more. Some of his tweets have appeared on Golf Channel. Brendan Steele and Zac Blair are just a couple of the pros with whom he trades DMs. Harold Varner III was one of the first big-name players to follow French on Twitter, and he still remembers when the PGA Tour’s official account followed him in April, when he had about 10,000 followers. French called that moment “surreal,” another sign that he was onto something.

“The cool part about [the account] is you get a little bit of that back story and start to understand what goes into all of these qualifying events,” Steele says. “It’s not just about the top players in the world. You think it’s so easy for everyone watching Tiger and Jordan and Rickie, and you don’t realize how hard it is for guys searching and clawing to get just one Korn Ferry start.”

The grind:

Mon- Paul Apyan drove 4.5 hours TN to KY for Pre-Q
Tues- Shoots 68 to get thru- drives 4.5 hrs home
Thurs- Drives 3.5 hours to SwingThought event,
Shoots 66-66 wins
Today- drives 3.5 hours home
Tomorrow- 3.75 hrs to Mon Q

In a '07 Accord with 263k miles on it

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) July 13, 2019

Steele says he enjoys the information French provides and likes to keep tabs on some friends who compete at qualifiers. He still fondly remembers the only Monday qualifier he ever advanced through, back in 2008 when he had conditional status as a rookie on the Korn Ferry, then the Nationwide Tour. The event spilled into the next morning and he made two birdies to get in to the Chitimacha Louisiana Open. Overjoyed, he immediately called his dad. Now a 36-year-old with three career PGA Tour wins and more than $14 million in career earnings, Steele still calls that day he got through the qualifier the greatest feeling of his golf career. It’s that difficult to do.

* * * * *

French runs the account on his own but a friend helps connect him with players. He works out of his house but will either attend or caddie a handful of tournaments a year, as was the case during Rocket Mortgage week in Michigan, where he crashed with his brother who lives nearby. For events he can’t see in person, French taps club members and PGA Section workers to track playoffs and assist with updates. But as his following has grown, it’s been easier to get information.

While the account was originally dedicated to Monday qualifying results and factoids, it’s morphed into much more. French frequently dabbles in the intricacies of the sport’s smaller circuits and mostly unheard-of mini-tour stops, where a check means a mortgage payment and not necessarily a second Lexus. He’ll also post player interviews via easily digestible screenshots of direct messages on Twitter, which is beautifully simplistic and symbolic of the Monday-qualifier life French covers — no frills.

His prep for Mondays begins on Sunday nights, sometimes earlier. French sidles up to his desk and searches for scoring links to notable qualifiers before he evaluates the field. He’ll note any big names and Google players he’s not familiar with. That background information is crucial, as it helps him get to know the competitors. “Most of these guys chase Monday after Monday after Monday, so their stories are bound to come up,” he says.

French loves to trumpet the players’ talents and the sacrifices they make to achieve their dreams. There’s the construction worker and the landscaper, the struggling pro and the college dropout, the man who lost everything and more.

“There are so many good golfers,” he says. “But for 90 percent of pro golfers, life is not as glamorous as people think.”

* * * * *

“Today, it’s windy in Michigan,” French says, still in the clubhouse outside of Detroit. “Two people who shot 66 are not getting in.”

Doc Redman was among those who avoided the 5-for-2 playoff that day. The 2017 U.S. Am champ turned pro in 2018 but hadn’t had his breakthrough, not until now. He shot 62 to sail into the Rocket Mortgage, where he parlayed that spot into a runner-up finish and $788,400 — aka life-changing money — plus special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. Redman also earned an Open Championship invite, where he tied for 20th and cashed another $91,350.

“No, no, it hasn’t sunk in,” Redman said after his finish in Detroit. “I knew what was at stake, but I was trying not to think about it.”

“I have been to a lot of Monday qualifiers,” French says, “and now looking back after he finished second and made over $700,000, it’s sort of anti-climactic the moment someone posts a score at a Monday qualifier.” French was in the clubhouse before Redman finished and saw him come in. Redman handed in his card, his 62 was posted and then it was crickets — not because everyone was in shock, but because no one was really there. About 10 people were present to shake Redman’s hand. “It turned into a career-changing week [for him], but there’s no real excitement at a Monday qualifier. He just went to his car.”

The Rocket Mortgage Classic was a banner week for the Monday-qualifier crowd. Redman was the runner-up, but the winner, Nate Lashley, failed to Monday qualify. He got in as an alternate and became the first alternate to win on Tour since 2016.

Tour weeks like that are extremely rare, two Monday warriors (one of whom who had to wait even longer) finishing that high, not to mention 1-2. A 64 might win your club championship by five, but at 18-hole Monday shootouts — where players are firing at virtually every stick and trying to drain every putt — 64 is often not good enough. The best golfers in the world advance and the best golfers in the world go home. Until next week.

* * * * *

It’s Monday, and Mondays are also Jackson French’s busiest day of the week, although not for the same reasons as his dad. On Mondays, Anthony swings by. He is the French’s garbage collector. Jackson loves garbage trucks, and every morning he’ll wake up and ask if it’s garbage day. When the hallowed day finally arrives — they have a countdown sheet in his room — Jackson and his dad rise at 5:30 and greet Anthony at their door. They have hot coffee and a fresh donut ready for him. Anthony often brings gifts for Jackson. Toys, a Waste Management bib, coloring books, and treats made by his daughter, who is a baker.

Jackson’s health is improving. He still battles migraines and suffers from sudden falls. He has therapy four days a week and needs a brain MRI every six months, but many of his symptoms are better or gone. There’s still some fluid in his spine that can’t drain properly due to the pressure, and his condition is something they’ll have to monitor for the rest of his life.

The medical bills are piling up. Stephanie, a nurse, has had Type 1 diabetes since she was 5, and her insulin pump is another costly expense. Soon French says he’ll need to re-enter the workforce, unless he can start making money with his fast-growing hobby. Either way, he’s loving his new venture.

“I’m having a lot of fun right now,” he says. “I’m a golf nerd. The fact that I text with pro golfers is pretty surreal to me. I love the insight to it. The fact that I was a district manager for some restaurants to this — it’s kind of crazy.”

On this particular morning, the Frenches say goodbye to Anthony and then go back to their routine. Ryan mixes a Crystal Light Energy (he’s not a coffee drinker) and makes breakfast for Jackson and Annette. After Stephanie heads to work, Ryan and the kids usually go for a quick bike ride before returning home, where the kids play in the yard. Ryan goes outside with them and fires up his laptop from the patio. Monday has arrived.

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