BC's Chris Crisologo Earns Korn Ferry Tour Membership Advancing To Final Stage Of Q-School
Richmond, BC's Chris Crisologo Wears Vancouver Canuck Colours At The Canadian Open In 2019 - Golf Canada Photo/Marcus Oleniuk
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
At the beginning of this year, Chris Crisologo sat down and made a list of things he wanted to accomplish during 2022 in his journey as a young professional golfer.
He just crossed off one very important goal from that list.
By surviving the second stage of the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school last week in Albuquerque, N.M., the Richmond resident has earned himself Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2023.
“One of my goals for the end of this year was to have a Korn Ferry card,” Crisologo said. “Q-school is not like a walk in the park. It is one of the more stressful times any golfer has. My game has felt good the whole year and it’s nice to kind of see it peak at the right time.”
Crisologo tied for 14th at four-under par at his second stage site, where the top 17 and ties advanced to the final stage of Q-school, which goes Nov. 4-7 in Savannah, Ga. He had to endure some stressful moments on the back nine in his final round after he bogeyed the 10th, 11th and 12th holes to fall out of the top 17. But the 26-year-old former Simon Fraser University standout remained calm, knowing he had two par 5s to come.
He birdied both of them, including the 18th hole, to finish at four-under par. “The last little bit was a little stressful at times,” Crisologo said. “But I kind of knew what the number was and if I could get to four-under par it would set me up. I probably hit my best tee shot of the week on 18 and that kind of helped me to make birdie. I think even with a par I would have got in because it was the top 17 and ties. But it was nice to make birdie on the last to make sure you kind of held your own destiny.”
Crisologo knows there’s still work to be done. Getting Korn Ferry Tour membership is one thing. Now he must try and earn starts. The better he plays in Savannah, the more starts he’ll get to begin the year.
At last year’s final stage, the Q-school winner earned full status, nine players earned a guaranteed 12 starts and 39 others were awarded eight starts. Everyone else got conditional status. “Obviously, good play solves everything,” said Crisologo, who is back home for a few days before heading south to prep for the final stage.
He knows very little about the Landings Club in Savannah. Q-school will be held on the Marshwood and Magnolia courses at the Landings. “It’s nice to have two weeks to kind of get everything ready for the two golf courses,” Crisologo said. “I will do a little bit of scouting on-line, using Google Maps and stuff like that. The courses open up on Nov. 1 for us so I will probably head down somewhere in the states before that to get some prep work done.”
Crisologo could have some B.C. company in Savannah. Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald and Ziggy Nathu of Richmond will try to play their way into the final stage this week. Macdonald and Nathu are both playing their second-stage qualifier this week at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, Calif.
Macdonald has also advanced to the second stage of the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) Q-school, which goes Nov. 3-6 in Spain. He’ll likely pass on that opportunity should he advance to the final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-school.