Second Canadian Q-School Set to Start

CHINO HILLS, Calif. --The Canadian Tour makes its first ever visit to California this week for the second of three Winter Qualifying Schools.

A total of 44 golfers representing five countries’Canada, the U.S., Australia, England and Japan-- will tee it up at the 7270-yard, par-72 Los Serranos CC when the 72-hole qualifier gets underway Tuesday.

The Canadian Tour will award five exempt and a minimum of seven non-exempt cards for the 2004 season once play concludes Friday.

Last week, American Rob Labritz claimed medalist honours as the initial WQS of the season was staged in Florida. The starting field of 51 players at that venue represented Canada, the U.S., Trinidad, England, Mexico, Sweden, Japan, Argentina and Germany.

This week will not be the only time the Tour visits the Golden State in 2004. In April, the Greater Sacramento Open and Central Valley Classic will be held in Rocklin and Stockton, respectively.

Players who have earned cards at Winter Q-School have gone on to enjoy immediate success on the Canadian Tour in recent years. Anders Hultman of Sweden and Americans Erik Compton and Patrick Damron all notched victories a year ago, with Hultmans triumph coming in his first Tour start after a record ten-shot Q-School win in Orlando, FL. In 2002, Hank Kuehne and Jeff Quinney each won twice after earning cards, while Jimmy Walker, Iain Steel and Chris Wisler also managed to take home championship hardware in their rookie campaigns.

Next week, the Canadian Tour moves to Austin, TX for the final WQS before kicking off the 2004 season with a pair of events at Barton Creek Resort.