Recap of 2016-17 PGA TOUR Monday qualifying. pic.twitter.com/IKPIqCWakO — MondayQ (@mondayqualifier) August 22, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js (via Golfworld) Of course, the most eye-popping number is the scoring average of the 95 players that earned spots in a PGA Tour event via Monday qualifiers this season. 65.88?! Are you kidding?!
As you can see, four guys shot 62 to earn spots and only four guys finished in the top 25, with Keith Mitchell's T-11 at the Valspar Championship -- in his PGA Tour debut, no less -- being the best. Props to Y.E. Yang, Ted Purdy and Chase Seiffert for making it through three Monday qualifiers. And those 95 qualifiers made a combined $757,302.69, which sounds like a lot until you do the math and realize they made less than $8,000 on average in those starts.
So what exactly is a Monday qualifier? Here's how "The Undercover Tour Pro" described them in the April 2014 edition of Golf Digest:
"Imagine if there were a pick-up basketball game in the parking lot of the Staples Center to decide who gets the last spot on the Lakers' bench that night. Make 10 three-point shots in a row, and you're on the team. This is essentially what Monday qualifying is." It always amazes me how good professionals are at golf. But this right here is absolutely insane. 95 players shot around 66 to help them qualify for PGA events during the year, with the lowest being a 62. A 62 ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! And yes, I know these guys are professionals and this is their craft, but I'm lucky if I shoot an 82! And then you look at it even closer, and it basically means that these guys qualified and then didn't really do much in tournaments. An average of $8,000 a tournament is absolutely nothing in golf, and that is usually for close to last place (but made the cut). So they absolutely tear up the course on Monday, but then stink in the tournament. It just goes to show you that golf is such a fickle sport its ridiculous.