NW professionals have mixed results at PGA qualifying schools

Several professionals from the Pacific Northwest had a chance to move on in qualifying schools for the PGA Tour and Champions Tour but most came up short.

At the second stage of the PGA Tour qualifying school just Jason Allred of Ashland, who currently lives in Arizona, was the last Northwest pro to make it through to the final stage, which will be held this month in Palm Springs.

Northwest professionals who missed out on the final stage of qualifying included Andres Gonzales of Olympia, Craig Kanada of Portland, Corey Prugh of Spokane, Alex Prugh of Spokane, Derek Berg of Seattle, Jeff Quinney of Eugene and Chris Killmer of Bellingham.

At the Champions Tour qualifying school, Jeff Coston of Semiahmoo, finished tied for 48th. He needed to finish in the top five to earn exempt status for next year.

However, the Pacific Northwest will be well represented on every tour in 2012.

On the PGA Tour four players finished well within the top 125 to earn their playing cards for next year, including Ben Crane of Portland, Robert Garrigus of Gresham, Ryan Moore of Puyallup and Kyle Stanley of Gig Harbor. But look for other familiar names like Fred Couples of Seattle, Kirk Triplett of Pullman to compete.

And don’t forget about Bremerton native Troy Kelly who earned his 2012 PGA Tour card by finishing 11th on the Nationwide Tour in 2011. The top 25 advanced to the big show.

On the Nationwide Tour, players like Andres Gonzales of Olympia, Richard Lee of Bellevue, and Jeff Gove of Seattle should be among the contenders.

The Champions Tour has three solid players from the Northwest in Couples, Bob Gilder from Corvallis and Peter Jacobsen from Portland.

On the LPGA Tour, three players with Northwest connections guaranteed themselves spots at virtually every tournament next year by finishing in the top 90 on the 2011 money list.

Jimin Kang, who attended King’s High School in Seattle along with Wendy Ward who lives in Edwall, near Spokane, and Paige Mackenzie from Yakima all finished in the top 50 and will play on the LPGA Tour next year. Allison Hanna of Portland will also play.

Molly Arronsson, who graduated form the University of Washington in 2010, has made it to the final stage of LPGA Qualifying this month.