About Skip Ward Expertise Former PGA PROFESSIONAL: Golf related questions regarding Rules, Etiquette,
PGA TOUR, PGA Players, Game History, Club History, Golf Trivia, and US
Courses to Play/Trip Recommendations. LOVE THE GAME!
Question The Pga Tour's Pre-Qualiying Tournament was recently held at the PGA West course in California where 42 golfers moved on to Stage 1. In this pre-qualifying tournament, a gentleman named Mark Bove of Philadelphia recorded a score of +145 over the 4 rounds (low score being 103).
My question: Aren't there safeguards to prevent ANY hack golfer from entering this qualifier or simply just paying an entry fee will get you a spot?
Answer Dear David, thanks for the question. I saw that...isn't that just terrible. Well, as it were, ANYONE willing to pay the initial $2500 entry fee is eligible to attend the Pre-qualifying. The "safeguard" IS the pre-qualifying tournament itself. Any hacker that happens to have some money will quickly find himself eliminated, and likely embarrassed. In the past, there wasn't a pre-qual tournament, and when a lousy player chose to attend, it could be very disruptive if a strong player (like a former PGA Tour member who lost his card) had to spend the day with this person. So, they created pre-qualifying to help weed out this problem. First time "tryers," if you will, or players who have tried before, but performed badly are required to attend pre-qualifying. Its understandable that this type of player can be just as disruptive at this stage as the later ones, but until they are willing to put a handicap requirement on pre-qual, this is the only solution. Frankly, I don't know why they haven't done that. The USGA requires for all of their events, a handicap of 2 or less, validated and signed by a PGA club professional. In fact, the PGA tour even requires this for any tour event open qualifying as well. I can't imagine why they haven't gone to this system. Until then, players like Mr. Dove can continue to give it a try. I'd hate to think its about the money, and that the thinking is, if a person wants to waste their money, we'll take it...but with sports today the way they are...I wouldn't doubt it. I know that Mr. Dove stands out, but frankly he's only taking the spotlight off many others who don't belong there either. Maybe his score this year will inspire a change. Good luck with everything, thanks again for the question and remember...
