Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz is among the 78 golfers who earned a spot in the final stage of qualifying for the PGA Tour Champions.
Smoltz, 55, will be vying for one of five cards that will be handed out at the end of the week at TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course.
Smoltz won 213 games over a 21-year career as a pitcher. In three previous attempts at Q school, he hasn’t finished better than tied for 54th in the first stage.
Smoltz won a World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 1995. He won the National League Cy Young award in 1996. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.
He hasn’t competed on PGA Tour Champions since 2021, but he has played in nine events overall, including the 2018 U.S. Senior Open.
Other notables/hopefuls at TPC Scottsdale this week include:
- NBC/Golf Channel reporter Notah Begay III, back at qualifying for a second year in a row
- Former Arizona State golfer Todd Demsey, who likes to use persimmon clubs
- Shaun Micheel, whose lone PGA Tour win was the 2003 PGA Championship
- Ted Purdy, who grew up down the I-10 in Tucson and went to the University of Arizona
- 54-year-old amateur Bryan Hoops of Scottsdale, who claims 19 holes-in-one, with 15 of them coming in tournaments
- Jonathan Kaye, who won two PGA Tour events, including the 2004 FBR Open (now the WM Phoenix Open) at the TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course
- 72-year-old Dick Mast, who’s played in 360 PGA Tour events and another 191 Champions events without a win. He does have four victories on the Korn Ferry Tour, the most recent in 1999. He got in the field at the last minute after Andrew Marshall withdrew
The first tee times are Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. local (10:30 a.m. ET). Smoltz is playing alongside Daniel Chopra and Jason Bohn at 8:52 a.m. local time off the first tee. The event concludes on Friday. Admission is free for anyone interested in attending.
