Activities Sports & Athletics PGA Tour Q-School (Winners, the Format and What Replaced It) Share PINTEREST Email Print Sam Greenwood/Getty Images Sports & Athletics Golf Golf Tournaments Basics History Gear Golf Courses Famous Golfers Baseball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Extreme Sports Football Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Skating Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By Brent Kelley Brent Kelley Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on 05/24/19 The PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament - better known as Q-School - was first played in 1965, and John Schlee was the first winner; and last played in 2012, with Dong-hwan Lee as the winner. In between, the tournament was played annually, with two tournaments (Spring and Fall) played in 1968-69 and 1975-81. Each year, the tournament resulted in a certain number of golfers earning PGA Tour cards - membership in and playing privileges on the tour for the following PGA Tour season. The tournament also awarded, in its final stage, status on the Web.com Tour to participants who failed to earn PGA Tour cards. However, beginning in 2013, "PGA Tour Q-School" ceased to exist as the tour began using an alternate method to award tour cards. A qualifying tournament is still played, but it offers a route only to the Web.com Tour, not the PGA Tour. The new method of earning PGA Tour cards is the Web.com Tour Finals, a series of tournaments at which 50 PGA Tour cards are available. The first Web.com Tour Finals took place in September 2013. See our primer on PGA Tour Qualifying for all the ways golfers can currently attempt to gain tour status. PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament Format The PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament was actually a series of tournaments, beginning with first-stage qualifiers played at numerous locations around the United States. Golfers who made the grade at the first stage advanced to second-stage qualifiers. And golfers advancing out of the second stage moved on to the Final Stage - the six-round grind that is what most people referred to when mentioning "Q-School." Some golfers were able to skip the first stage, and others even the second stage, if they met certain criteria (such as having conditional status on the PGA Tour, or being a past champion). Following six rounds of stroke play at the Final Stage, the highest finishers received fully exempt status on the PGA Tour for the following year. That number was usually around the low 25 or low 30 finishers, plus ties. PGA Tour Q-School Trivia Among Q-School medalists, Ben Crenshaw went on to win the most PGA Tour tournaments (19). Crenshaw and Fuzzy Zoeller have the major majors among Q-School medalists, two each. Robin Freeman is the only golfer to be a Q-School medalist in two different years. The youngest golfer to get through PGA Tour Q-School and earn his card is Si Woo Kim, who was 17 years, 5 months old when he "graduated" from the 2012 final-stage qualifier. PGA Tour Q-School Winners Here is the list of medalists for each PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament played: 2012 - Dong-hwan Lee2011 - Brendon Todd2010 - Billy Mayfair2009 - Troy Merritt2008 - Harrison Frazar2007 - Frank Lickliter II2006 - George McNeil2005 - J.B. Holmes2004 - Brian Davis2003 - Mathias Gronberg2002 - Jeff Brehaut2001 - Pat Perez2000 - Stephan Allan1999 - Blaine McCallister1998 - Mike Weir1997 - Scott Verplank1996 - Allen Doyle, Jimmy Johnston1995 - Carl Paulson1994 - Woody Austin1993 - Ty Armstrong, Dave Stockton Jr., Robin Freeman1992 - Massy Kuramato, Skip Kendall, Brett Ogle, Perry Moss, Neale Smith1991 - Mike Standly1990 - Duffy Waldorf1989 - David Peoples1988 - Robin Freeman1987 - John Huston1986 - Steve Jones1985 - Tm Sieckmann1984 - Paul Azinger1983 - Willie Wood1982 - Donnie Hammond1981 Fall - Robert Thompson, Tim Graham1981 Spring - Billy Glisson1980 Fall - Bruce Douglass1980 Spring - Jack Spradlin1979 Fall - Tom Jones1979 Spring - Terry Mauney1978 Fall - Jim Thorpe, Jon Fought1978 Spring - Wren Lum1977 Fall - Ed Fiori1977 Spring - Phil Hancock1976 Fall - Keith Fergus1976 Spring - Bob Shearer, Woody Blackburn1975 Fall - Jerry Pate1975 Spring - Joey Dills1974 - Fuzzy Zoeller1973 - Ben Crenshaw1972 - Larry Stubblefied, John Adams1971 - Bob Zender1970 - Robert Barbarossa1969 Fall - Doug Olson1969 Spring - Bob Eastwood1968 Fall - Grier Jones1968 Spring - Bob Dickson1967 - Bobby Cole1966 - Harry Toscano1965 - John Schlee See our primer on the Web.com Tour Finals for info on how that qualifying system works.