There was a time not too long ago when practically every week we encountered extraordinary little stories in the PGA Tour tournaments that intertwined with the battles of the giants. They were the Cinderellas. The true forgers of the American dream. Those golfers who sneaked up the emergency stairs of the American circuit and ended up sitting at the officials’ table.
Will Chandler starred last week in one of those beautiful tales on the brink of extinction. Let’s get to it. He is a 27-year-old player born in Atlanta who earned PGA Tour rights in 2025 through the Qualifying School. There are only five spots, and Chandler secured one thanks to a sensational sequence of 31 strokes in the last nine holes of the tournament. He made it into the top 5 by one. He had never played a PGA TOUR tournament and had only nine tournaments in the PGA TOUR Canada in 2023 and ten in the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024 to his name, which he accessed largely thanks to Monday qualifiers.
Despite earning the PGA TOUR card through the School, Chandler‘s tournament entry category is very weak. He had only been able to play the American Express and the Farmers this year, and on both occasions, he missed the cut. He wasn’t in the Phoenix Open, but he decided to sign up for the Monday qualifier to try his luck. After all, he was known last year as the king of Mondays on the Korn Ferry Tour. He had to give it a shot.
Things, of course, went very well for him. It was played at the Pinnacle Peak Country Club, and he signed a card of seven under. He secured one of the three spots up for grabs and entered one of the most popular PGA Tour tournaments, one of those everyone wants to play for the magnificent atmosphere it has. “Already on Tuesday during the practice round, I told my caddie: what the heck is this! It was Tuesday, and I had never played in my life in front of so much public,” he confessed on Sunday after finishing the tournament.
Chandler signed two rounds of 68 and 67 strokes and made the cut. First test passed. He had removed the thorn of the first two tournaments of the year and, above all, had proven to himself that this could be his stage. On Saturday, he didn’t let up, delivered another card of 68 strokes, and positioned himself in the top 10. Not bad at all, although the best was yet to come.
Minutes after finishing the third round, the Sunday tee times were released. It turns out that fate had paired him with Cameron Young and, attention, with Scottie Scheffler. World Number One. Yes, Will Chandler, a player who started 2024 without Korn Ferry Tour status, was playing on a Sunday with Scheffler with even a chance to win. The true American dream. But there’s more…
Far from feeling small or intimidated by the presence of the best player in the world and the tournament atmosphere, Chandler brought out the best of his golf. He shot 66 strokes, the second-best round of the day after Thomas Detry, the champion, and Justin Thomas. He beat Scheffler by six strokes and finished in a tied sixth position. With this result, he secures his presence in the Mexico Open next week, as his top 10 doesn’t qualify him for the designated and reduced Genesis Championship starting Thursday. His presence in Mexico wasn’t guaranteed due to his category.
However, the most important thing is that he has accumulated a good number of points that provisionally places him in the 72nd position of the FedEX Cup and opens up a good future for him to save the card in 2025. This year, a total of 100 players retain it. He still has a way to go, but at least it has been a magnificent starting gun.
The Monday qualifier for the Phoenix Open was the last in history. After almost 80 years of celebration, there won’t be one next year due to the reduction of PGA Tour tournaments (in Phoenix, there will only be 120 players) to favour the pace of play and “for the good of the show,” the marketing gentlemen assure. If there hadn’t been a Monday qualifier this year, Chandler would have been playing on Sunday, if he made the cut, in Bogotá in a Korn Ferry Tour tournament. Instead, he had a blast at TPC Scottsdale and proved to himself that he can be in the elite by giving a beating to the World Number One. Will he be the last Cinderella in PGA Tour history? We don’t know. What is beyond doubt is that it would be a shame.
