Korn Ferry Tour: Strategies to Qualify and Challenges to Expect

One way to get to the Korn Ferry Tour is through the PGA Tour Q-School. That means paying some serious money and going through several rounds – depending on what status, if any, you already hold – of qualifying tournaments across the country.

Q-School consists of four stages of good ole’ fashioned survive-and-advance stroke play. If you play well enough, you advance.

For the first time in a decade, PGA Tour cards are once again available through Q-School as of 2023. The top five finishers, plus ties, from Final Stage go directly to the PGA Tour, with no stop on the Korn Ferry Tour required.

If you’re one of the top-25 finishers (plus ties) who didn’t earn a PGA Tour card, you’re exempt on the Korn Ferry Tour through three periodic reorders. 

The next 15 finishers, plus ties, are exempt through two periodic reorders the following season, and everyone else is subject to the first periodic reorder. 

In essence, the fewer reorders you’re exempt through, the quicker you need to perform well on the Korn Ferry Tour to maintain your status. Since players get priority access to Korn Ferry Tour events based on their Final Stage finish, if you don’t play well in Final Stage, although you may technically have access to Korn Ferry Tour events, there’s no guarantee there will be a spot for you in the Korn Ferry Tour event’s your eligible for.

While you earn Korn Ferry Tour status by reaching Final Stage of Q-School, it takes a lot of work just to get there. Here’s how Pre-Qualifying, First Stage, and Second Stage work.

Players who advance through the Pre-Qualifying stage will join players already exempt from Pre-Qualifying at the First Stage.

Pre-Qualifying tournaments are contested during final three weeks of September. 

Players who survive First Stage advance to the Second Stage where they compete against players who were already exempt into Second Stage.

First Stage of Q-School is contested during the final three weeks of October. 

Players who advance through Second Stage head to Final Stage to compete for one of five PGA Tour cards or priority ranking on the next season's Korn Ferry Tour. Second Stage is contested in mid to late November.

Final Stage is contested in mid-December.

The other way to play on the Korn Ferry Tour is through Monday qualifying for individual tournaments. On the Monday before each tournament there are a few, usually between 4-8, tournament spots up for grabs. A hundred-plus hopefuls show up each week to battle for those few precious spots in that week's tournament.

Of course, if you make it through the Monday Qualifier you have the opportunity to earn Korn Ferry Tour points and solidify future status.

In order to participate in any of the qualifying events, players have to fill out the appropriate qualifying tournament application .

The official development tour for the LPGA is the Symetra Tour. To join that tour is much the same as the Korn Ferry Tour.

Players are responsible for a large portion, if not all, of their expenses while going through qualifying. This includes travel, hotels, and entry fees. Players lucky enough to have endorsement contracts from companies can offset some of that cost. The upside? It was announced in 2021 that Korn Ferry Tour purses for each event will go up in 2022, and starting in 2023 all events offer at least a $1 million purse.