Locals aim for tour
By Derek Highley
Golf Columnist
The Professional Golf Association Tour season is pretty much over. A couple of local pros, however, are on a quest to make the tour by completing three stages of Q-School.
Land O’ Lakes’ Brennan Webb, who heads to Q-School for the sixth time, will draw from last year’s positive experience when he advanced to the final stage to make the Nationwide Tour, the PGA’s feeder system. Brennan is in South Carolina this month to compete in the first stage.
Jake Halligan, an assistant pro at Plantation Palms in Land O Lakes and a Saint Leo graduate, headed to Texas for his first attempt a Q-School.
I have had the pleasure of playing golf with Webb and Halligan, but when it comes to Q-School it is more then just skill-level being tested. The grueling three-stage, 14-round pressure-cooker tests a player’s stamina, nerve and will.
Webb has experience and the knowledge that his game is good enough to play at the highest level. He also has the pressure of playing professionally for a career. It is how he supports his family. Anything less then securing his Nationwide Tour playing privileges again will be a setback.
Halligan, on the other hand, is not as experienced so he can approach the first stage with less pressure. By advancing through pre-qualifying and competing in the first stage he has already achieved success. The experience will help as he continues to build his resume. Anything that happens now is a bonus.
I wish both the best of luck as they head off to their respective stage sites and hope to follow them along all the way to the final stage, set for Dec. 2-7 at Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach.
A third player, Zephyrhills resident Travis Hampshire who golfed at Purdue, also is competing in the first stage. I don’t know Travis personally, but I wish him well.
You can track these players play online at www.pgatour.com/qschool also visit Brennan’s website at www.brennanwebb.com.
Derek Highley is a PGA member and managing partner of Global Golf Marketing. Call him at (813) 310-5122, or e-mail Derek @globalgolfmarketing.com.
