Todd tops at PGA Tour Q-school

Brendon Todd on Monday shot a final-round 4-under 68 at La Quinta to win the US PGA Tour’s final qualifier by a stroke

Brendon Todd on Monday shot a final-round 4-under 68 on the Jack Nicklaus Stadium Course at La Quinta to win the US PGA Tour’s final qualifier by a stroke.

Todd, who played on the PGA Tour in 2009 but lost his exemption and then missed the cut in 27 of his last 37 tournaments on the Nationwide Tour, posted a six-day, 17-under 415 total to beat Stephen Gangluff into second place, pick up $50,000 in prize money and earn his a return to the PGA Tour in 2012.

Gangluff, another Nationwide Tour player in 2011, shot a 70 as he too claimed his Tour card and went away with $40,000 in prize money.

“I think I just really stuck to my game plan,” said Todd, a former Georgia college star. “I was hitting it well coming into the week.”

Todd broke par every round and believes the two windy days of the event which saw gusts of more than 30 mph lashing the PGA West’s Stadium and Nicklaus Tournament courses at La Quinta, helped him because he is a good wind player.

Todd and Gangluff headed a group of 29 players who earned PGA Tour cards for next year.

Of the players handed PGA Tour cards on Monday, 12 will be making their PGA Tour debuts next year, one of these being South Korea’s Seung-yul Noh, a 20-year old from Seoul who we are likely to hear more about.

He was named the Asian Tour’s 2008 Rookie of the Year and has won once on the Asian Tour in 2008 and again in 2010 at the Maybank Malaysian Open, a co-sponsored event with the European Tour. Noh played in six PGA Tour events in 2011

In addition to the 29 who made the PGA Tour, another 52 players earned full status for the 2012 Nationwide tour, but not everyone was celebrating after Monday’s 6th round at Q-school.

Among those high profile golfers who didn’t make it back onto the PGA Tour next year were former major winners David Duval, Lee Janzen, Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel.

And missing out on both tours were Sam Saunders, grandson of Arnold Palmer, and Travis Wadkins, son of Lanny Wadkins.

The Top 29 Q-school finishers:

415 Brendon Todd 71 68 69 71 68 68
416 Stephen Gangluff 72 72 64 71 67 70
417 Bobby Gates 67 70 68 73 73 66, Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 69 72 64 72 73 67,
418 Tommy Biershenk 70 70 68 73 69 68, Vaughn Taylor 65 72 69 73 70 69, Jarrod Lyle 68 72 68 73 68 69
419 Bob Estes 67 73 69 74 69 67, Brian Harman 69 71 67 74 68 70, Marco Dawson 73 68 67 67 68 76
420 Sang-Moon Bae 65 76 69 75 69 66. Kevin Kisner 67 71 71 75 69 67
421 Roberto Castro 71 71 68 72 70 69, William McGirt 65 73 70 73 71 69, Jeff Maggert 66 72 72 75 66 70, Charlie Beljan 70 73 66 73 68 71, Harris English 68 67 72 70 70 4
422 Patrick Sheehan 73 75 70 71 66 67, Scott Dunlap 70 72 71 70 71 68, Greg Owen 70 73 73 69 70 67, Daniel Summerhays 64 73 72 74 68 71, Will Claxton 64 70 69 70 76 73, Edward Loar 67 73 73 70 67 72
423 Mark Anderson 66 72 74 72 70 69, Alexandre Rocha 67 70 75 70 69 72, Richard H. Lee 72 74 66 78 65 68
424 John Huh 72 76 65 74 69 68, Nathan Green 74 74 67 70 73 66, Colt Knost 69 72 71 72 68 72

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