Steven Fisk could be the answer to a trivia question one day.
Fisk fired a 9-under 63 at Pinnacle Peak Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, to win the last Monday qualifier in WM Phoenix Open history.
Fisk, who earned his PGA Tour card after finishing fourth in Korn Ferry Tour points last year, advanced to this week’s main event at TPC Scottsdale along with fellow PGA Tour members Max McGreevy (second on KFT last year) and Will Chandler (Q-School graduate), each of whom fired 65 to edge a large group at 6 under that included several PGA Tour pros as well, including Harry Higgs, Kevin Chappell, Ricky Castillo and Noah Goodwin.
Why is this the final Monday for the WMPO?
The PGA Tour is curtailing its open qualifiers, staples on tour for over a half-century (and at the Phoenix Open since 1948), beginning next year as it looks to reduce field sizes and ensure more playing opportunities for its members. Full-field tournaments with 144 players will still retain their Monday qualifiers with four spots up for grabs while 132-player tournaments will offer two spots each. But 120-player events like WMPO along with opposite-field tournaments – seven of them total – will see their qualifiers eliminated altogether.
The decision has been unpopular with many PGA Tour players, some of whom cut their teeth in Monday qualifiers early in their careers. Presidents Cup veteran Corey Conners remains the last qualifier to win a PGA Tour event, doing so at the 2019 Valero Texas Open.
“It gnaws at me a little bit,” said Peter Malnati, a player director on the PGA Tour’s policy board, told Golfweek recently. “It’s a cool story when a Monday Q guy gets in the mix. It feels like you lose something from the fabric of the Tour.”
Monday Q Info’s Ryan French, who has covered these events more than anyone in recent years, was on hand in Scottsdale and documented some of the scenes:
Nice galleries and members packing the clubhouse veranda.
A player putting one-handed.
Another rolling putts with a wedge.
Even one player carrying his own staff bag, which didn’t last long, as French lent his services down the stretch.
Only at Mondays, though no longer in the desert.
