As Asian Tour Qualifying School 2018 Approaches, We Look At The Stark Reality Of What You Need To Shoot To Get a Tour Card.

Think about this; at the 2017 Asian Qualifying School over 550 players entered, with just 36 getting a card. Thats only 7%!

Almost 400 elite amateur and professional golfers from thirty countries around the globe entered the first stage of Asian Tour School in 2017 to try and earn playing rights for this season. 

Of the nearly 400 entries for first stage, just 85 golfers from 2 qualifying courses in Thailand made it through to the final stage and a chance to play for pay on the Asian Tour.

144 golfers were exempt from the first stage of qualifying and went straight to the final stage where they were joined by the 85 who were good enough to get through the grueling first stage qualification process. Of the 223 players in the field for the final stage just 36 (16%) earned a card and the privilege of playing on the Asian Tour.

Think about this for a moment; nearly 550 golfers went to Asian Tour School in 2017 and just 36 (7%) earned a card. That's the harsh reality of qualifying right there!

So How Good Do You Need To Be To Earn A Card?

Well, let’s begin by discussing the 394 golfers who had to go through first stage this year and let’s look at the minimum playing standard required before you could move on to the final stage.

Golfers were split into four groups over two weeks between two layouts, Windsor Park and Suvarnabhumi Golf Clubs, Bangkok. All stages were played over 4 rounds (72 holes).

Week 1 - Section A Group
56 players competed at Windsor Park, where 12 out of the 56 qualified on a score of -5 or better (283). This meant that you needed to score 70.75 on average at this golf course to move through to the final stage. 101 players competed at Suvarnabhumi, where the leading 22 qualified and moved through to the final stage with a score of -8 or better (280). This meant you needed to score 70 on average to qualify for the final stage.
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Week 2 - Section B Group
116 players competed at Windsor Park, where 25 out of the 116 qualified on a score of -8 or better (280). This meant that you needed to score 70 on average to move through to the final stage. 121 players competed at Suvarnabhumi, where the leading 26 qualified and moved through to the final stage with a score of -13 or better (275). This meant you needed to score 68.75 on average to qualify for the final stage. Thats an average of -3 per round.

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The Final Stage
In the final stage 223 golfers teed it up at Suvarnabhumi Golf Club in Bangkok, Thailand. The cut after two rounds was -3, which quickly sliced the field of 223 golfers back to 121 for the final two rounds. Just 121 golfers left out of over 550.

​Australian professional golfer Richard Green topped the class at Asian Tour School in 2017 with a 72 hole total of -28 (260), after defeating fellow Australian professional Todd Sinnott on the first hole of a sudden death playoff with a birdie.

Green is a very experienced campaigner and has played on a number of professional golf tours over the past twenty years. He has won 3 times on the European Tour and has previously played on the European Tour and the Australasian Tour, and previously was ranked inside the top 30 golfers in the official world rankings.

To secure the last card you needed a four round total of -14 (274), where four golfers had this score and all tied for thirty sixth and last place.

​What You Can Learn from this...
In the final analysis you can see that if you look at the qualifying scores in the final stage, the highest score you could shoot over 72 holes was 3.5 under par on average per round. That means breaking 70 on a consistent basis. 

This is important to consider if you are preparing for any tour school in the future. You can see from our simple analysis that over eight rounds (144 holes) you need, at a minimum, to be capable of scoring under par consistently to have the slightest chance of securing a tour card.

We look at the numbers produced at tour schools around the world every year and one thing is certain; you must be able to produce sub par scores and scores in the sixties over many rounds to have any chance at all of earning income playing professional tournament golf.

Ask yourself honestly how many rounds out of the last 100 were par or better in tournaments (amateur or professional). To qualify for a tour school, make a lot more money than you spend and make a lot more cuts than you miss, you should be at least 25 under par for your last 100 competitive rounds of golf.

If you have not reached this level of scoring capability yet, keep working hard to lower your competitive average in tournaments because it's not nearly enough to just qualify to play on a professional golf tour, in the final analysis it is how much money is left over after expenses at the end of a season.

The entry cost for the 2018 Asian Tour Qualifying School is US$2000. If you can't break 70 on a consistent basis, you will be simply throwing money away, which the tour schools love. 

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Want To Spend Your Money More Wisely?

If You Are In The 95% of Serious Golfers Who Don't Break Par Consistently...Do You Want To Be In The 5% Who Can?

​First Camp For 2018.
Emeralda Golf Club - Jakarta, Indonesia

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Lawrie Montague & David Milne - Pro Tour Golf College