Four players qualified on Monday for the PGA Tour’s Black Desert Championship.
Two of them shouldn’t have been in the field.
Monday Q Info’s Ryan French reported on Monday morning that four players – Chris Korte, John Sand, Riley Lewis and RJ Manke – were able to sign up for the Monday qualifier at Sand Hollow in Hurricane, Utah, because of what the tournament director called a “clerical error.” The players normally would’ve needed to play the pre-qualifier, yet, as French notes, after temporarily being removed from the Monday qualifier, all four guys were allowed back in.
According to the PGA Tour’s open-qualifying guidelines for 2024, the following players are exempt from pre-qualifiers: PGA Tour members, Korn Ferry Tour members, PGA Tour Champions regular members, DP World Tour members from Categories 1-21, players who competed in the preceding week’s PGA Tour event, players who have made at least one PGA Tour in the current season, players ranked in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking and three members of the local PGA section.
None of the four players, who at best have PGA Tour Americas status, meet that criteria.
Exacerbating the controversy, both Korte and Sand got through the qualifier and will tee it up Thursday at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah. Korte and Sand each shot 8-under 64 along with Chandler Blanchet while David Bradshaw, with a 65, was the fourth qualifier.
Lewis was a shot out of qualifying at 6 under, as were Kevin Stadler, Stuart Macdonald and Jim Knous. Manke carded 68.
“Yikes, Knous said while quote-tweeting French’s article. “Shot -6 today, got beat by 2 of these players. And had a flat tire this morning. What a weird day. How about a spot in the field @PGATOUR?!”
One player who finished at 5 under, when contacted by Golf Channel, was completely unaware that the four players were allowed to compete despite not being eligible.
French’s story, which can be read in its entirety here, included official PGA Tour confirmation of the reported details.