Champions Tour Q-School Final Is a Familiar Story -- Esposito Wins by 4

November 21, 2014 | 7 min.

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. -- It was a great week for Frank Esposito, and for club pros generally, as they took two of the top four spots in the Final Stage of Champions Tour Q-School.

Esposito, a 51-year-old former All-American at Rutgers who has been a club pro in New Jerrsey for 29 years, shot a final-round 71 on Sunday at the Senior PGA Professional National Championship in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and won by four strokes. On Friday, he closed with another 71 (1 under) at Panther Lake Golf Course and claimed Q-School medalist honors, once again by four strokes.  

He finished with a 72-hole aggregate of 277, and earned $30,000 for the victory. The victory in Port St. Lucie five days earlier was worth $20,000.

"I've just caught fire for two weeks," Esposito said afterward. "I hit the ball very, very well all week and controlled my distances with the irons."

His putter was a little shaky on Friday, but after establishing a three-stroke lead during the first three rounds, all he really needed to do was hit lots fo greens in regulation, two putt for pars and throw in an occasional birdie, which was essentially what he did. 

Grant Waite, who won on the PGA Tour (1993 Kemper Open) but is probably better known for having lost to Tiger Woods in the 2000 Canadian Open -- as a result of Woods' spectacular 220-yard 6-iron over the water and onto the green from a fairway bunker on the 72nd hole -- bolted up the leaderboard on the final day with a 66 and finished second at 281.

Friday was the best day of the week for scoring, with temperatures 25 degrees higher -- and winds much lower -- than they were the first two days, and Waite took advantage of the conditions. He birdied seven of the first 15 holes and drew to within a single stroke of Esposito, who was playing a couple of holes behind him. But Waite bogeyed the 18th, and Esposito birdied the 14th and 18th to seal his victory. 

Jeff Coston, another club pro and a former winner of the Senior PGA National title, also shot 66 and tied for third at 282, along with Jerry Smith. Smith, who was fully exempt on the PGA Tour for five years and was a regular for another couple of years on the web.com Tour (when it was called the Nationwide), posted a 71 on Friday. 

The last of the five full exemptions for the 2015 Champions Tour that were available at Panther Lake went to Rod Spittle, who closed with a 70 to get in at 283. Spittle won the AT&T Championship in 2010, at age 55, and has been a regular on the Senior Tour since then. He was at Q-School because he dropped to No. 53 on the money list this year, after finishing in the top 50 in each of the previous four years. Those who end the year in the top 30 on the money list are fully exempt the following year. Those from No. 31 to 50 are partially exempt but can still expect to get into at least 20 tournaments.

Jim Rutledge had a rather remarkable streak snapped this year when he finished sixth with a 284 (he defeated John Riegger with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff to break a tie between them). In each of the preivous three years, Rutledge finished in the top 5 at the Champions Q-School. 

As the No. 6 finisher this time, he will have conditional status next year. There were an additional six conditional exemptions available at Panther Lake this week, for players finishing No. 7 (Riegger) through No. 12. Coston got one of those last year, when he tied for ninth at the Champions Q-School finale. It didn't do all that much for him, however, because the 59-year-old teaching pro from Blaine, Wash., played in only six events in 2014, and one of those was the U.S. Senior Open, which he got into through a separate (U.S.Golf Association) qualifier.

Those who finished 13th through 30th can try Monday-qualifying for events next year. (There is a pre-qualifying the week before Champions Tour events, and most players have to go through that just to get into the Monday qualifier. 
          
Don Berry, who has been the Minnesota PGA Player of the Year 15 times in the 20 years since he became eligible to win the award, gave Champions Q-School a try this year, in large part because he didn't have to go through regional qualifying. He was exempt into the Final Stage for having finished second in the 2013 Senior PGA Professional National Championship (which would more accurately be called the Senior National Club Pro Championship). In that tournament, he finished just ahead of Jeff Coston, who was third, and three places ahead of Esposito, who was fifth. 

The longtime Edinburgh USA head pro played well the first day in frigid, windy  conditions (the wind chill was in the 30's) and might have broken par if he hadn't left two birdie putts hanging on the front lip. He ended up with a 73, which was more than respectable, given the weather and the difficulty of the 7,157-yard course. But a 78 on Day 2 pretty much derailed Berry's chances of making the top 5. He concluded the week with a 75, which put him in a tie for 53rd at 300.

It is generally agreed that the Champions is the toughest of the major tours to get onto (with only five spots at Q-School) and the toughest to stay on (with only the top 30 on the money list being fully exempt the following year). There were lots of examples of that among the casualties in the Final Stage results. 

Steve Jones, who edged Tom Lehman to win the 1996 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills, tied for 21st with a 289. That means he can try to do the Monday-qualifying, but that's no bargain (you can shoot 68 every week and never get into a single tournament). Gary Hallberg, a winner on the web.com, PGA and Champions tours, tied for 38th at 294. Willie Wood, a former PGA Tour winner who won twice on the Champions Tour in 2012, tied for 43rd with a 296. (A victory on the PGA Tour gives a player a two-year exemption; a victory on the Champions Tour is good for only one year.) Joe Daley, who won a major in 2012 -- the Senior PGA -- tied for 45th at 297. And Jim McGovern, a winner on both the PGA and web.com who played in more than 600 events on those two tours, tied for 57th with a 301.        

Champions Tour Q-School 

Final Stage

At Panther Lake Golf Course

Par 72, 7,147 yards

Winter Garden, Fla. 


Final results

The top 5 finishers will be fully exempt in 2015; the next seven will be conditionally exempt  

1. Frank Esposito                        71-68-67-71--277

2. Grant Waite                             74-72-69-66--281

T3. Jeff Coston                           69-74-73-66--282

T3. Jerry Smith                           74-69-68-71--282

5. Rod Spittle                              69-73-71-70--283

6. Jim Rutledge                           70-75-71-68--284 (won playoff over Riegger for No. 6 spot with birdie on first extra hole)

7. John Riegger                           76-67-71-70--284

8. Joel Edwards                          71-73-69-72--285 (won playoff with Jeff Freeman for No. 8 spot with birdie on first extra hole)

9. Jeff Freeman                          76-66-71-72--285

10. Rick Gibson                          72-74-72-68--286 (won playoff with Cesar Monasterio for No. 10 spot with par on first extra hole)

11. Cesar Monasterio                  71-66-72-77--286

12. Doug Rohrbaugh                    69-74-74-70--287 (won playoff with Craig Thomas for No. 12 spot with par on first extra hole)

13. Craig Thomas                        71-74-68-74--287

T14. Geoffrey Sisk                      74-73-74-67--288

T14. Neal Lancaster                    77-69-71-71--288

T53. Don Berry                          73-78-74-74--300

 

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