Nov. 7, 2008

Los Angeles, CA -- The only four-time first-team all-conference selection in LMU men's golf history, Jason D'Amore, has started the long road to becoming a professional golfer and it has begun with the same success his LMU career had. D'Amore finished in a tie for 12th to advance to the second stage of PGA Qualiying.

D'Amore finished the four rounds of First Stage at the Champions Course of East Valley Golf Club in Beaumont, Calif., at three-over par to advance. He finished the four rounds with a 291, hitting three round of two-under par 70s to overcome a second round 81. D'Amore, however, wasn't the only qualifier to struggle in round two as 10 of the 23 players posted rounds of 80 or higher in the round.

Played in three stages at the end of each season, the grueling PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament eventually determines the 25 players (and ties) who receive their TOUR cards for the following year. Anyone else who advances to the final stage receives some kind of status on the Nationwide Tour.

The final stage is no picnic, though. Played over 108 holes, it's a pressure-packed, mind-draining, gut-check of a week that determines your job for the following year.

Some players, depending on their status on the PGA TOUR or other worldwide tours, are automatically exempted into the final stage. Others get a free pass into the second. Some, though, must survive all three stages, and the task is an extremely difficult one. That is the path that D'Amore is traveling.

There are 11 first stage events, held across the country from Oct. 21-Nov. 1, with fields of approximately 78 players. A predetermined number of those based on the -- generally the low 19, 20 or 21 and ties -- advance to the second stage of qualifying, which will be held at six sites from Nov. 12-18. The competition heats up even more in second stage where the first-stage qualifiers are joined by a host of exempt players, which could include, 2008 PGA TOUR members, winners of Nationwide Tour tournaments whose victories are considered official in the current calendar year, and the top 10 available finishers, including ties, to a floor of 25th position from the current year's PGA Professional National Championship.

Like in the first stage, only a segment of those players, based on the number of entrants at that qualifying event, will advance to the all-important finals, which will be held Dec. 3-8 at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif. After the PGA TOUR cards have been decided, the next number of players nearest to 50 will receive fully exempt membership on the Nationwide Tour. The remaining players who have made it to the final stage of q-school will have conditionally exempt status on the Nationwide Tour.