Ask any player who has teed it up at a Qualifying School anywhere in the world and they will tell you the same thing: The pressure is about as much as you’ll ever feel in your life.

The consequences are just so much greater.

Some of the boys who are teeing it up this week at Moonah Links have been working a part-time job in between practising, saving up for their one shot at a spot on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia next season.

Play poorly, and it’s a long wait before you try again.

Play well and, as guys like Kazuma Kobori have shown, you can be playing major championships inside 18 months.

The first time I competed at a Q School was on the Korn Ferry Tour almost 10 years ago.

I got through First Stage quite comfortably and was going OK at Second Stage, when, out of nowhere, I made a triple and then a ‘quad’ on back-to-back holes in Round 3.

You make a mistake and it feels like your world’s ending a little bit.

As tough as that was, one thing that I found really comforting was that a couple of years prior, Jordan Spieth had missed out at Second Stage of Korn Ferry Q School.

Within a year he had won on the PGA TOUR.

A couple of years ago during a press conference at the Masters, Xander Schauffele spoke about how Q School and the Korn Ferry Tour prepared him to win tournaments on the PGA TOUR and, ultimately, majors.

Apart from that first experience in the US, my record at Q Schools has been pretty good.

I got through both stages to get my PGA Tour of Australasia card and went through three stages before getting one of 20 cards at Final Stage for the Japan Golf Tour.

But both times the result could have been very different.

I was 70th going into the final round of Final Stage of Australasian Q School and needed to finish top 30 to get my card.

The weather was horrific that final day – beanie-weather cold, hammering down rain – and I shot 69, which was the low round of the day, to run 20th and get my card.

Every year there are thousands of people who enter Q School in Japan but there are only 20 cards handed out at the end.

I was able to skip First Stage and then I shot 10-under to win Second Stage.

At Third Stage, I knew I was right on the number coming down the stretch.

I was really, really, really nervous. The final hole was a par-5 with a semi-island green so going for it in two was not viable, given the circumstance.

I had about 78 metres to a pin tucked next to the water and finished pin high, eight feet to the left of the flag, and holed that for birdie.

I was the last man get into Final Stage thanks to that birdie.

It’s funny when you look back on things like that because if I had missed that putt, then my past seven years might’ve been totally different.

My coach Ken Berndt always told me that the best way to play Q School is get ahead early… and get further ahead as the week goes on.

It sounds really simple, but that type of thinking has helped me to navigate Q Schools relatively successfully.

As a player, if you can handle the pressure that comes with Q School, imagine how well you can do with an abundance of opportunity.

For me, once I got over that line, I was just so excited at the prospect of having 10 or 12 tournaments to play in.

That overwhelming sense of opportunity felt like a speed ramp into professional golf.

For those at Q School, while it’s one of the most important weeks of your life, you can’t be buying into that narrative.

You have to look at it as one of the hundreds of events that you’re going to play as a pro.

Now, that’ll either turn out to be true or not be true, but your mindset needs to be that this is going to be one of many and I need to go out and compete the best I can.

And follow Ken’s advice: Get ahead early… and get further ahead!

Winner of the 2020 Queensland Open and 2022 Queensland PGA, Anthony Quayle finished fifth on the 2024/2025 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.

First Stage of Qualifying School will be conducted over 54 holes over two sections. Section A will play the Legends Course while Section B will play the Open Course at Moonah Links.

Section A draw

Section B draw