Former Jacksonville University player Alexandre Vandermoten and Fleming Island High graduate Joshua Lee stayed on the road to PGA Tour Q-School Dec. 12-15.
Vandermoten tied for ninth and Lee, who played college golf at Florida State, tied for 14th in the final first-stage qualifier at the Country Club of Ocala last week to qualify for second-stage qualifying that starts later this month. The tournament was delayed several weeks because of Hurricane Milton.
Lee, the Times-Union’s First Coast high school player of the year in 2012, opened with a 67 and shot 8-under 280. Vandermoten shot 71 or better each day and finished 7-under, one shot clear of the cut line to advance.
The first of five second-stage qualifiers will be Nov. 19-22 at The Landings Deer Creek Course in Savannah. The other four will be Dec. 3-6.
The next stop will be PGA Tour Q School at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley and the Sawgrass Country Club.
Who’s playing in the second-stage qualifiers?
The Landings: Area residents, Derek Bard, Rick Lamb, Josh Lee, Steve Wheatcroft; past PGA Tour players, Morgan Hoffmann, Ollie Schneiderjans.
RTJ Golf Trail, Marshwood, Highlands, Dothan, AL: Area residents, A.J. Crouch, Ryan McCormick; past PGA Tour players, Sean O’Hair, D.J. Trahan.
Valencia (CA) Country Club: Area residents, none; past PGA Tour players, Sangmoon Bae, Robert Garrigus, Ryo Ishkikawa, Scott Piercy, Kevin Stadley, Nick Watney.
Hammock Beach Conservatory, Palm Coast: Area residents, Chris Baker, Chandler Blanchet, Cody Blick, Luke Guthrie, Hank Lebioda, Ivan Camilo Ramirez, Jacob Solomons, Julian Suri; past PGA Tour players, Jeff Overton, Callum Tarran.
Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, Valdosta, GA: Area residents, Sam Anderson, Dawson Armstrong, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Taylor Funk, Conner Godsey, Travis Trace, Alexandre Vandermoten; past PGA Tour players, Sung Kang, Josh Teater.
Who can win the Schwab Cup championship?
The PGA Tour Champions closes the 2024 season at the Phoenix Country Club with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
More players can win the overall points race than in the recent past. Ten of the 35 players in the field can win it and the top six — Ernie Els, defending champion Steven Alker, Stephen Ames, Padraig Harrington, Y.E. Yang and Richard Green — will win the season title by winning at Phoenix.
![Ernie Els practices putting outside the clubhouse during the second round of the Constellation Furyk & Friends PGA Tour Champions golf tournament Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/cdR3e4RBq416MTn4wBL03w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-florida-times-union/7bda81815ec803ebcd7e4c04651a94a3)
Four other players can win the points race with a victory, and some help in pushing members of the top six down the leaderboard: K.J. Choi, Ricardo Gonzalez, Paul Broadhurst and Jerry Kelly.
In addition to the $528,000 first-place check for winning the tournament, the Schwab Cup season winner will earn a $1 million annuity.
PGA Tour: Down Mexico Way
Event: World Wide Technologies Championship, Thursday-Sunday, El Cardonal at Diamante, Los Cabos, Mexico.
What’s the purse? $7.2 million ($1,296,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner).
Who won last year? Erik van Rooyen won his first Tour title with a closing 63, beating Camilo Villegas and Matt Kuchar by two shots.
How to watch on TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Sunday, 2-5 p.m.).
Area players entered: Tyson Alexander, Bud Cauley Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Nico Echavarria, Harris English, Ben Griffin, Lanto Griffin, Patton Kizzire, Keith Mitchell, Raul Pereda, Sam Ryder, Tim Wilkinson, Carl Yuan.
Notable: The Tour remains on its Fall international swing. It will play next week in Bermuda and then cap FedEx Cup Fall with the RSM Classic Nov. 21-24 at the Sea Island Club.
PGA Tour Champions: Season ends in Phoenix
Event: Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Phoenix Country Club.
What’s the purse? $3 million ($528,000 to the winner).
Who won last year? Steve Alker shot 67-64 in the first two rounds and went on to beat Ernie Els and Stephen Ames by one shot.
How to watch on TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Sunday, 5-7 p.m.).
Area players entered: Vijay Singh.
Notable: Singh, who tied for fourth last year, enters the week in 30th place on the points list and can’t win the overall Schwab Cup title. … Also playing in addition to the players in contention to win the Schwab Cup are Furyk & Friends winner Rocco Mediate, Stewart Cink, Retief Goosen and Bernhard Langer.
LPGA Tour: Late-season Aloha
Event: LOTTE Championship, Wednesday-Sunday, Hoakalei Country Club, Oahu, Hawaii.
What’s the purse? $3 million ($540,000 to the winner).
Who won last year? Grace Kim birdied the first playoff hole on a 5-foot putt to beat Yu Jin Sung and Yu Liu.
How to watch on TV: Golf Channel (Wednesday-Sunday, 7-10 p.m.).
Area players entered: Amelia Lewis.
Notable: The Tour will finish the 2024 schedule in Florida with events in The Annika in Belleair next week and the CME Group Championship in Naples Nov. 22-24.
What are the (golf) odds?
World Wide Technologies: Hard Rock bet lists Max Greyserman as the favorite at +1500, followed by Doug Ghim and Cameron Young (+2000).
Schwab Cup: Harrington is the favorite at +375, followed by Cink (+550), Alker (+650) and Els (+1200).
LOTTE Championship: Ayaka Furue is Hard Rock Bet’s favorite at +700.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Joshua Lee, Alexandre Vandermoten move on in final first-stage qualifier
