SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The only constant is change, as the saying goes. But that doesn’t mean everyone has to like it.
Staged every year since 1948, the Monday qualifier for the 2025 WM Phoenix Open was held at Pinnacle Peak Country Club, about six miles north of TPC Scottsdale. This year, however, is the final year of the Monday qualifier. New PGA Tour rules go into affect in 2026 regarding field size and the Phoenix Open, which for years had 132 golfers, will go to 120. Tournaments with field sizes of 120 can no longer have open qualifiers, say these new rules, so this closes the book on 77 years of tradition.
In 1980, Jeff Mitchell was a Monday qualifier and then won the Phoenix Open, held that year at Phoenix Country Club. Only four qualifiers have won since, the most recent in 2019.
But that’s not really the point. Making a PGA Tour field as a Monday qualifier is a victory in and of itself for many.
Take Jimmy Knous. In 2024, Jimmy Hard K as he’s known, Monday Q’d into Phoenix, then had himself a week. During the second round, he holed out a bunker shot for birdie at 18. The crowd went wild, and Knous would go on to make the cut. Now working full-time at Ping, Knous knows the loss of the Mondays means the loss of great stories for fans and TV networks and fellow pros alike.
“You wouldn’t have seen my story from last year, you know, top 30 and got the fans going,” he said after shooting a 4-under 68 and knowing it wouldn’t be enough to nab one of the three spots to advance. “Makes me sad, to be honest. A few things the Tour is doing I don’t love, in the past few years, but I know people were excited to have this qualifier here and it going away is a big bummer for the Southwest Section. I wish they’d still kept it open, the Phoenix Open, you know, for the people, it’s too bad.”
Gary McCord, who lives along the 18th hole at Pinnacle Peak Country Club and was out following Kevin Tway, himself once had to navigate Mondays.
“You’re asking me how I like them? I was right in the middle of them, it was impossible,” he said, noting that a few he played in had just one person advance.
Source: Golfweek
