My Look Back at 2024

Happy New Year! Here are my favorite stories from the past year in golf.

2024 Monday Qualifier of the Year: 

There is really only one answer here: Will Chandler. Eight months ago, the 27-year-old had never played a single Korn Ferry Tour event in his nearly three-year pro career. In late April, the left-handed Chandler won a five-for-two playoff for the final spot in the Veritex KFT event. A made cut and T42nd finish was solid, and it was just the beginning. In early June, he shot a 63 and was medalist at the KFT Monday Q in North Carolina. That week resulted in another made cut and a T48. 

In July, Chandler went to Colorado and Monday qualified for the third time, this time with a 64. That week, he shot a 15-under total and earned his first top-10. That finish got him into the following week's event, where he finished T40. 

It was another successful Monday Q at the Pinnacle Bank Championship, where Chandler shot a 65 and survived a three-for-one playoff. That week, he made another cut, and the former Georgia Bulldog earned enough points to nab a spot in the following week's KFT event in New Jersey. There he finished T2, and solidified his conditional card for the 2025 season. He wasn't done.

At the final stage of PGA Tour Q-school, Chandler drained a 50-foot putt on the 16th hole in the final round, propelling him to a top-five finish and a PGA Tour card.

It all started with a single Monday Q.

The Best Monday Q story: 

Nick Bienz captured the golf world's attention for a few days after pounding a few beers at the Rocket Mortgage Monday Qualifier. Bienz had never played a PGA Tour-sanctioned event and yet, found himself in a great position to advance after firing a 65. As scores came in, the Indiana native and Golf Galaxy employee downed three beers to calm his nerves. It looked like he would skate into the Rocket, but Mondays Q's are unpredictable, and four more 65s came in from the last three groups. It would mean a five-for-four spot playoff, and Bienz would do it with a decent buzz. 

I thought Bienz would falter early given his inexperience. I could not have been more wrong. Instead, Bienz played flawless golf, making seven pars and a birdie on the eighth to finally earn his spot in the Rocket field. 

As I captured the content, I knew it was a great story, but I had no idea the viral sensation Bienz would become. Bienz ended up on almost every major TV station, including ESPN, and appeared on the Pat McAfee show. 

It was everything that makes Monday Q's great. We caught up with Bienz this week for an update on his career, the interview is part of the year-end pod that is linked at the bottom of this article.

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/dear-nick-have-a-week

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The end of Mondays

2026 will bring significant changes to the PGA Tour with just 100 exempt cards, smaller fields, and…the elimination of many Monday qualifiers. Events such as the Sony Open, Farmers, Waste Management, and Cognizant (Honda) will no longer have qualifiers. A large portion of the other PGA Tour events will still have qualifiers but with just two spots instead of the standard four.

Monday qualifiers began on the PGA Tour in the 1960s, when a large portion of each week's field was made up from that week's Monday. In 1983, the Tour went to 125 exempt cards, and the Monday qualifiers had only four spots available. The "four-spotters," as they have been called for decades, have been a part of the PGA Tour for 41 years now but they will end in 2026. 

I wrote an open letter about the changes to Corey Conners, Sahith Theegala, and Max Homa, all of whom earned their exempt card through a path that is now gone. 

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/dear-max-corey-and-sahith

Monday Q 2024 stats

Prior to the Fall events, we took a complete look at both the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Monday Qs. We examined the medalist average score, the last spot average, cuts made, money earned, and much, much more! 

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/monday-q-year-in-review

Double DQ on Epson

There is much debate on Twitter about signing scorecards, and an incident early on in the Epson Tour season brought that debate to the forefront. Jessica Porvasnik and Soo Bin Joo played together in the final round of the Arizona Open in May. 

The pair both kept score correctly for their playing partner. The hole-by-hole scores and totals were correct (although the totals don't matter when signing a card). However, the pair had kept the scores on the wrong cards. Jessica had written Soo Bin's scores on the card with her own name on it, and Soo Bin had kept Jessica's scores on the card with Soo Bin's name. 

After much discussion, the rules officials DQ'd the pair for signing an incorrect scorecard. However, the Epson Tour reversed the decision the next day and reinstated the players into their finishing position. 

Porvasnik would go on to finish fourth in the season-long points race and earn her LPGA Tour card for 2025. Porvasnik is also part of our year end podcast at the bottom of the page.

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/double-dq

Monday Q goes International

For the first time, I made the trip to DP World Tour Q-school in Spain. It was amazing to be on site for the longest week in golf: six rounds, two courses, and 25 cards. In a year when professional golf seemed to be in constant turmoil, I wrote about how wonderfully simple Q-school is. 

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/beautifully-simple

Feel Good Stories 

Mark Baldwin wrote about a High School coach who had never played golf before she was asked to coach and now has won five consecutive Kansas State titles.

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/the-coach-t-way

 Bom Jung's pro career was dying after he lost his primary sponsor. He refused to give up on his dream and, on a whim, bought a ticket to the United States. Jung didn't have a plan outside of talking his way to practice privileges at Southern Hills. When he was kicked out, he called an old friend he hadn't spoken to in years. 

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/a-happy-place

There are no events as wild as the Papua New Guinea Open: caddie cages, host housing in a field of pigs, theft, and the Prime Minister getting an exemption—this is my story on the places pros go to keep their dream alive. 

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/a-game-of-risk-and-reward

Mark wrote about Davis Bryant in the middle of the best mini-tour runs in a long time. Bryant would go on later in the year to earn his DP World Tour card. 

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/the-hottest-summer

Additional Year-End Content

Mark Baldwin reflected on his five favorite stories from 2024. Link

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/my-top-five-favorite-golf-stories-of-2024

Part one of our year-end podcast includes updates from Nick Bienz, Jessica Porvasnik and one of the best stories from Q-school, Jin Chung

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