Thornberry off to another fast start in Korn Ferry Q-School Final Stage

   Braden Thornberry was an NCAA champion at Mississippi in 2017 and a member of a powerful United States team that reclaimed the Walker Cup later that same year with a convincing 19-7 victory over Great Britain & Ireland at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course.

   All of which means absolutely nothing when you start trying to make your way to the PGA Tour. It does mean that you have proven you can handle yourself on a big stage and Thornberry certainly has that going for him.

   When the 2017 Walker Cup was still very much up for grabs in the Saturday afternoon singles, Thornberry arrived at the 18^th hole, clinging to a 1-up lead over Harry Ellis, a Florida State standout who had won The Amateur Championship earlier that summer. Thornberry’s approach from 200 yards away to a foot was something of a dagger to GB&I’s hopes, even with another day of play still to come.

   The 22-year-old Thornberry fired a sparkling 7-under-par 65 Thursday at Orange County National’s Crooked Cat Course in Winter Garden, Fla. to grab a share of the lead following the opening round of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School’s Final Stage with a veteran of 206 Korn Ferry career starts, 45-year-old Tag Ridings.

   While some of the game’s haves are battling it out for national pride and bragging rights half a world away in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia, the have-nots and the not-there-yets are playing for their professional lives in the Korn Ferry Q-School’s Final Stage.

   It doesn’t quite have the same level of drama that the old PGA Tour Q-School Final used to have. That occurred in Stage II of the Korn Ferry Q-School in early November. The players who failed to advance to this week’s Final Stage have no status on the Korn Ferry Tour at all in 2020. They are exiled to one of the PGA Tour’s minor-league tours in Canada, Latin America and Asia, to mini-tours and to Monday qualifiers for Korn Ferry and PGA Tour events.

   Only the medalist or medalists will be fully exempt on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. The second through 10^th finishers are exempt for the first 12 events in 2020 and the 11^th through the 40^th finishers are exempt for the first eight events in 2020.

   Everybody at Orange County National this week has some status on the Korn Ferry Tour next year, but if you don’t perform, you can get reshuffled backward, so even a good week this week doesn’t mean a whole lot unless you back it up.

   Thornberry was still an amateur and studying for some of his finals in his last semester at Old Miss when he fired an opening round of 10-under 62 in last year’s Q-School Final Stage. He struggled after that and finished in a tie for 74^th place.

   Thornberry decided to forgo the spring portion of his senior season and turn pro. He made just six cuts in 14 Korn Ferry starts and finished 101^st on the money list.

   Thornberry got off to another strong start in the Q-School Final Stage Thursday. He birdied the first two holes on the par-72 Crooked Cat layout and made the turn at 3-under. He highlighted a 4-under back nine by rolling in a 70-foot bomb for eagle on the par-5 14^th hole.

   “Anyone who says they’re not nervous – it means to much – everyone is going to be nervous,” Thornberry told the PGA Tour website. “Luckily, I’ve been able to get off to good starts at each one which makes it a lot easier when you’re inside that number and you can play the way you’re supposed to instead of having to do anything extra. That’s huge.”

   At twice Thornberry’s age, Ridings fired a 7-under 64 at the par-71 Panther Lakes layout to get a share of the lead with Thornberry. Ridings owns a Korn Ferry win – it was the Buy.com Tour then, several naming sponsors ago – in 2002 in the Permian Basin Open and 26 career top-10 finishes.

Ridings made four birdies and his lone bogey of the day on the back nine at Panther Lakes, the first nine of his round, then went 4-under on the front side to get it to 7-under.

   The six players tied for third at 6-under, three of them 65s at Panther Lakes and three others 66s at Crooked Cat, run the gamut of guys pursuing their dream of playing professional golf.

   Probably the most familiar name is Tommy “Two Gloves” Gaines, the colorful 44-year-old who fired a 66 at Crooked Cat. He wears golf gloves on both hands, even on the putting green. And the guy just keeps plugging away.

   Steve Lewton, who shot 66 at Crooked Cat, is a 36-year-old Englishman who played college golf at North Carolina State and owns a win on the Asian Tour. He was the runnerup to Rory McIlroy in the 2006 European Amateur.

   Alistair Docherty, who posted a 65 at Panther Lakes, is a 25-year-old Canadian who was a college standout at Division II power Chico State. Taylor Dickson, a collegiate standout at Winthorp, also carded a 65 at Panther Lakes.

   Mark Blakefield, who fired the third 65 at Panther Lakes, is a 37-year-old who was a standout at Kentucky.

   Zach Cabra, who rounded out the group tied for third at 6-under with his 66 at Crooked Cat, is a 27-year-old product of Sam Houston State who has been plying his trade on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada.

   There are 10 more players tied for ninth place at 5-under. One of them, Jordan Niebrugge, who carded a 66 at Panther Lakes, is a product of the powerhouse Oklahoma State program.

   Niebrugge represented the United States in the Walker Cup Match in 2013 and 2015. He was the low amateur in The Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews, finishing in a tie for sixth with an 11-under 277, the lowest total ever recorded by an amateur in the venerable history of that tournament.

   Can’t miss, right? It’s been a struggle, but the 26-year-old Niebrugge is still out there battling. And off to a good start in the grinder’s paradise, the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School’s Final Stage.

   I thought maybe I’d come across former Temple standout Brandon Matthews in the Q-School Final Stage field, but I don’t see him there.

   Matthews, the 2010 PIAA champion as a junior at Pittston, finished in a tie for 25^th place in last year’s Q-School Final Stage and was exempt for the first eight events in 2019. After a solid start, Matthews’ game went off the rails as he missed 11 straight cuts.

   He headed back to the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where he had his first professional success, a victory in the 2017 Molino Canuelas in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

   Last month Matthews found his game again and was locked in a playoff with Colombian Ricardo Celia in a playoff in the Open De Argentina. He lost the playoff when he flinched on an eight-foot birdie putt after a fan yelled out from the gallery.

   Matthews was understandably upset. But when he was informed a little later that the fan was a 34-year-old man with Down Syndrome, Matthews asked to be taken to him. He signed a glove for the fan and gave him a hug. The story received national notice, as it should.

   Those of us who had a chance to talk to Matthews when he was winning two Philadelphia Open titles as an amateur were not surprised in the least.

   The good news is that the runnerup finish in the Open de Argentina earned Matthews some status on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica in 2020. It is the road he took to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2018 and 2019. Maybe it will be his path back to the Korn Ferry Tour.