Good Performances at Buick Invitational

Last weekend's Buick Invitational PGA tournament (soon to be renamed the Tiger Woods Invitational) saw a number of qualifiers break through and gather national attention. Unfortunately, none was able to stand up to the Tiger Woods buzzsaw.

Brandt Snedeker led the way with a first round 61, and held the lead through the first three rounds. Snedeker finished 3rd; the best performance so far this year by a qualifier. Fellow qualifier Andrew Buckle also played well, tying Snedeker for the third round lead, before dropping into a tie for 4th place.

Two other qualifiers - Jeff Quinney and Charlie Wi - finished in the top 10, in 7th and 9th place, respectively. Quinney's finish was his second top 10 of the season; Wi made a cut for the first time. Craig Kanada and Stephen Marino finished tied for 20th.

Nationwide Tour qualifiers have jumped off to a big lead this over their Q-School counterparts. They have 7 top 10s and 1 top 3 (versus 1 top 10), and seven Nationwide alums have earned more than the top Q-School alum. But its early yet...

Qunney leads qualifiers at Bob Hope

PGA Tour rookie Jeff Quinney led all men qualifiers in last week's tournament, coming in 4th at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. His performance moved him into the lead among qualifiers in both earnings and points. Others in the top 20 included Cliff Kresge in 6th, Johnson Wagner 13th, and Andrew Buckle 18th. Matt Kuchar started the final round in 6th, but shot a final round 77.

It was predicted at the start of the season that it would be hard for Q-School graduates to earn a lot of starts, and that's proven to be the case. After two full field tournaments, about half the Q-School qualifiers have yet to play.

LaBelle does well at Sony Open

The first full-field tournament of the PGA Tour was held last weekend, with a number of 2007 qualifiers participating. As will likely become common this year, with large numbers of Q-school qualifiers, getting slots in much of the season will be tough. Most of the Nationwide qualifiers played, but only 24 of the 40 Q-School qualifiers did.

Doug LaBelle II had the best showing, coming in tied for 4th place. Craig Kanada tied for 10th, while Jason Dufner and George McNeill finished 13th and Boo Weekley in 20th. (All but McNeill are from the Nationwide tour).

A New Season Begins...

The 2007 pro golf season has started, with the PGA Tour's Mercedes-Benz Championship. But as usual, this tournament is not open to this year's qualifiers. Several of last year's qualifiers are participating, however, with several in pretty good shape halfway through the event - Will MacKenzie, J.B. Holmes, Chris Couch, and Troy Matteson all in the top 10!

Next week will see the first full field PGA Tournament, with the Sony Open in Hawaii. The first full-field LPGA tournament doesn't start for another month, with the SBS Open, also in Hawaii.