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35 players claim 2023 Asian Tour cards at Q-School

Golf in uae, golf in uae world.

Germany's Dominic Foos who plays out of The Els Club Dubai amongst the lucky few

Australian Jack Thompson graduated with first class honours today at the Asian Tour Qualifying School after winning the Final Stage by two shots from countryman John Lyras and China’s Bai Zhengkai, as he closed out with a five-under-par 66 for a five-round total of 22 under.

Bai returned a 65 while Lyras, who started the day sharing the lead with Thompson, shot a 68 at Lake View Resort and Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand.

American Michael Maguire (65) and Ye Wocheng (69) from China shared fourth, four back from the winner.

A total of 35 players out of 77 starters secured right of passage onto the Asian Tour this year.

Nine players, tied on eight under, competed in a sudden-death play-off for the last two cards which eventually went to Thomas Power Horan from Australia and England’s Ben Jones, after they both birdied the first.

Remarkably, 24-year-old Thompson made it into this week’s event by claiming the final qualifying berth at the First Stage Qualifying Section C tournament at Blue Canyon Country Club in Phuket, Thailand, at the start of the month.

Said Thompson: “This is great, I guess it hasn’t really sunk in yet. It has been a long week, I have been here for a fair few days now, it’s a relief and it’s just nice to win. There is always concern coming into an event if you can do it or not.”

Bai Zhengkai said: “This is great. I played Korn Ferry Tour 2020 to 2021, DP World Tour and Challenge Tour last year, and this year I’ll be trying the Asian Tour.

“Feels nice. I played well the last few days, feeling good and getting more familiar with the course and attacking more pins, and I think I had a pretty good week.”

A special mention to Dominic Foos. The German who bases himself in Dubai and plays out of The Els Club, Dubai had a glittering amateur career. After winning several junior amateur tournaments in Germany and internationally, Foos turned professional in 2014.

Foos played on the Challenge Tour in 2015 and won the Gant Open in August at the age of 17 years, 347 days – making him the youngest winner in Challenge Tour history.

Not long to wait for all the graduates as the first tournament on the 2023 Asian Tour schedule is the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, February 3-6.

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Asian Tour Q-School returns with five first stage events including one in the USA, leading to Final Stage in Hua Hin next January

The Asian Tour Qualifying School will return after a break of nearly two years, giving players from all over the world the opportunity to secure playing privileges for the Asian Tour’s 2023 season.

The Asian Tour has seen a recent resurgence with several new highly lucrative tournaments added to its tournament schedule. However, the playing membership has not seen a reshuffle since the 2020 season with members who secured playing rights that season retaining their status through the end of the 2022 season. The Qualifying School was not staged in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Final Qualifying Stage, which will see the top-35 finishers earn Asian Tour cards, will take place at Lakeview Resort & Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand, from January 18-22; 2023. This will be preceded by five First Stage Qualifying events, including a first in the United States.

The United States stage will take place at Oakcreek Country Club in Arizona on November 15-18, 2022, and will mark the first time the Asian Tour has visited the country.

The four other first stages will all be held in Thailand - at Blue Canyon Country Club’s Canyon Course in Phuket (December 7-10); Blue Canyon’s Lakes Course (January 4-7, 2023); Thana City Country Club in Bangkok (January 11-14, 2023); and Springfield Country Club in Hua Hin (January 11-14).

Entries into the First Qualifying Stage will be on a first come first served basis, with the top-placed finishers progressing to the Final Stage.

The Final Qualifying Stage will be played over five rounds. The top 140 (and ties) after 36 holes will progress to rounds three and four, followed by another cut to the top 70 players (and ties) after 72 holes. The top 35 players after 90 holes will be ranked accordingly for the 2023 season.

“The Asian Tour Qualifying School is the gateway to the Asian Tour and a critical component of our platform," said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO, Asian Tour: 

“The fact that we are able to hold the Qualifying School once again after a lengthy break is a strong indicator that the Asian Tour is fully back on track and well and truly in position to follow through with the most exciting period in our history.  The Asian Tour is committed to providing a multi-tier platform for professional golfers, with the Qualifying School being an integral part of this,” he added.

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Asian Tour Q-School returns including American first stage

The asian tour qualifying school will return after a break of nearly two years, giving players from all over the world the opportunity to secure much sought-after playing privileges for the asian tour’s 2023 season..

The Asian Tour has seen a recent resurgence with several new highly lucrative tournaments added to its tournament schedule. However, the playing membership has not seen a reshuffle since the 2020 season with members who secured playing rights from that season retaining their status through the end of the 2022 season.

The Qualifying School was not staged in 2021 and 2022 because of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last version of the Asian Tour Qualifying School, held in Thailand in 2020, saw Zimbabwean Benjamin Follett-Smith top the class. Korea’s Bio Kim and Taehoon Ok, both winners on Tour this season, as well as South African standout Ian Snyman, also came through the Qualifying School that year.

The Final Qualifying Stage, which will see the top-35 finishers earn their coveted Tour cards, will take place at Lakeview Resort & Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand, from January 18-22; while that will be preceded by five First Stage Qualifying events, including a first in the United States, which will signal the start of Qualifying School.

“The fact that we are able to hold the Qualifying School once again after a lengthy break is a strong indicator that the Asian Tour is fully back on track and well and truly in position to follow through with the most exciting period in our history."  - Cho Minn Thant.

The United States stage will take place at Oakcreek Country Club in Arizona from November 15-18, 2022, and will mark the first time the Asian Tour has visited the country.

The other four First Qualifying stages will be held on Blue Canyon Country Club’s Canyon Course, on Phuket Island, from December 7-10; Blue Canyon’s Lakes Course from January 4-7; Thana City Country Club in Bangkok from January 11-14; and Springfield Country Club in Hua Hin, also from January 11-14.

Players entering the First Qualifying Stage will be on a first come first served basis, with the top-placed finishers progressing to the Final Stage.

The Final Qualifying Stage will be played over five rounds. The top 140 (and ties) after 36 holes will progress to rounds three and four. The top 70 players (and ties) after 72 holes will play in the pivotal final round, which will be held on January 22. At the conclusion of 90 holes, the top-35 will be ranked accordingly for the 2023 season.

Said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO, Asian Tour: “The Asian Tour Qualifying School is the gateway to the Asian Tour and a critical component of our platform.

“The fact that we are able to hold the Qualifying School once again after a lengthy break is a strong indicator that the Asian Tour is fully back on track and well and truly in position to follow through with the most exciting period in our history.

“The Asian Tour is committed to providing a multi-tier platform for professional golfers, with the Qualifying School being an integral part of this.

“So many of our most prominent golfers have been successful at the Qualifying School and have gone on to achieve great things in the game – such as Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (1999) and Kiradech Aphibarnrat (2009), Australian Scott Hend (2007), and American John Catlin (2018). I am sure the next edition of the Qualifying School will see the emergence of more Asian Tour stars of the future.”

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Asian Tour Qualifying School: Day Four

More changes at the top of the leaderboard at the Asian Tour Q School and good news for Englishman Ally Mellor who leads with Colombia's Eduardo Herrera

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More changes at the top of the leaderboard at the Asian Tour Q School and good news for Englishman Ally Mellor .  The man from the Isle of Wight shot a 1 under par 72 to move into joint first place with Eduardo Herrera of Columbia and Daisuke Maruyama of Japan.  They are all 7 under for the tournament.

Meanwhile, John Parry of Harrogate who led after two rounds dropped down to tied 6th and the best move by a Brit came from Andrew Marshall from Sutton-in-Ashfield, a regular on the European Tour until this season, whose 69 shot him up to tied 9th.

Mellor’s progress has been the most impressive out in Thailand. "I was really consistent despite it being a lot windier today. I am quite happy with my performance. I've been here for two weeks since the First Stage. I am trying to play down the pressure and take it a step at a time. I'm still adjusting to the heat but I'm looking forward to tomorrow," said Mellor.

And there lies the problem for Europeans playing regularly in Asia – the temperature and the humidity.  I played two rounds in Singapore in November a couple of years ago and it was unbelievable. There were locals dressed in four layers of linen to keep out the sun and I was barely able to walk 18 holes in the thinnest golf shirt and shorts I could find.

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Ross is a Q-School expert.

The Florida native is currently on a very impressive hot streak

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PGA Tour Q-School: What fans should know about the 72-hole qualifier in Ponte Vedra Beach

When and where is PGA Tour Q-School? 

Thursday through Sunday at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley Course and the Sawgrass Country Club. The field of 168 players will compete in two rounds at each course. There is no cut. 

What's at stake at PGA Tour Q-School? 

For the first time in a decade (when the qualifying tournament was for Korn Ferry Tour status), PGA Tour cards are up for grabs. The top five, plus ties, will earn Tour status for the 2024 season. 

Other rewards: 

• The next 40 finishers, plus ties, are exempt for the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season. 
• The first 25 finishers and ties in this category will be subject to the third reshuffle, assuring them starts in the first 12 events of the 2024 season. 
• Any remaining finishers within the category will be subject to the second reshuffle, assuring them starts in the first eight events of the 2024 season. 
• -The next 20 finishers and ties (following the top 40 finishers and fies) have exempt status for the Latin America Swing of the 2024 PGA Tour Americas season, in addition to conditional Korn Ferry Tour membership for the 2024 season. 
• All remaining finishers outside of the aforementioned categories earn conditional Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas membership for the 2024 season. 
• The winner gets $50,000 from a total purse of $410,000. 

How can I watch PGA Tour Q-School? 

Fans can go in person to the rounds at the Valley Course by purchasing tickets for $5 at pgatourqschool/tickets.com. All proceeds go to charity.

PGA Tour Q-School tee times  

Parking is free at the TPC Sawgrass.

Rounds at the Sawgrass Country Club are closed to the public. 

Golf Channel and Peacock will have tournament coverage on Saturday and Sunday. Coverage begins from 12:30-2:30 p.m. on Saturday on Peacock and Golf Channel Digital, and 2:30-4:30 p.m. on Golf Channel. Sunday coverage begins with Peacock and Golf Channel Digital from 12:30-1:30 p.m and Golf Channel from 1:30-4:30 p.m. 

One player is among the top 100 

Keita Nakajima of Japan, who turned professional in September of 2022 after a successful amateur career, is the only player in the field inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking. Nakajima is 90th on this week's rankings and won the Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit this year to earn an exemption for the final stage of Q-School. He won three times on the Japan Golf Tour in 2023 and previously won the tour’s 2021 Panasonic Open as an amateur. 

Nakajima won the 2018 Australian Amateur, 2018 Asian Games, and 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, in addition to spending a record 87 weeks at No. 1 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking prior to turning professional. 

Order of Merit winners in Ponte Vedra 

Four other Order of Merit winners from international tours are in the field this week: 

• Chandler Blanchet: Totalplay Cup (PGA TOUR Latinoamérica). 
• Jeongwoo Ham: Korean Professional Golfers’ Association. 
• David Micheluzzi: PGA Tour of Australasia. 
• Hayden Springer: Fortinet Cup (PGA TOUR Canada). 
• PGA Tour University graduates are playing 

The top five players on the inaugural PGA Tour University rankings in June earn exemptions to the final stage. No. 1 Ludvig Aberg (winner of the RSM Classic) and No. 3 Andrien Dumant de Chassart top-30, Korn Ferry Tour) earned PGA Tour cards, Playing this week will be No. 2. Fred Biondi of the University of Florida, the 2023 NCAA Championship medalist, No. 4 Ross Steelman of Georgia Tech, the NCAA Championship runner-up and No. 5 Sam Bennett of Texas A&M, the 2022 U.S. Amateur Championship winner. 

Youth is served by South African Aldrich Potgeiter 

The youngest player in the field is Aldrich Potgieter of South Africa, who turned 19 in September and is 3 years, 2 months, and 4 days younger than the next-youngest player in the field, 22-year-old Sudarshan Yellamaraju. The only other players in the field under the age of 23 are Biondi and Korn Ferry Tour winner Ricky Castillo (22), his former UF teammate. 

Potgieter, who was the medalist at a second-stage qualifier at Kinderlou Forest in Valdosta, Ga., won the 2022 Amateur Championship at age 17 (making him the second-youngest winner in the event’s history) and turned professional earlier this year after appearances as an amateur at the 2023 Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, and the Memorial Tournament. He finished tied for sixth at the 2023 South African PGA Championship in September. 

Who traveled the longest road to Ponte Vedra? 

Two players in the final stage field began their journey through PGA Tour Q-School at pre-qualifiers, Caleb Hicks and Wes Homan. 

Hicks tied for ninth at a pre-qualifier at Gunter, Texas, tied for 19th at a first-stage qualifier at Rockwall, Texas, and tied for 11th at a second-stage qualifier in Port St. Lucie. Homan, 39, tied for sixth at a pre-qualifier in Chardon, Ohio, tied for 10th at a first-stage qualifier at ChampionsGate near Orlando and tied for seventh at a second-stage qualifier at Port St. Lucie. 

Past PGA Tour winners in the field 

Four-time winners Sean O’Hair and Scott Piercy; two-time winners Russell Knox of Ponte Vedra Beach, Patton Kizzire of St. Simons Island, Ga., Robert Streb and Fabian Gomez and Charlie Beljan, Wesley Bryan, Kevin Chappell, Austin Cook, Brice Garnett, Cody Gribble, Sung Kang, Satoshi Kodaira, Adam Long, S.Y. Noh, Martin Trainer, Kevin Tway and Richy Werenski. 

Who are the First Coast players in the field? 

In addition to Knox, there are Raul Pereda, Dawson Armstrong, Biondi, Blanchet, Cody Blick, Dillon Board, Castillo, Brett Drewitt, Taylor Funk, Tano Goya, Doc Redman, Mathias Schwab, Julian Suri, Danny Walker and Thomas Walsh. 

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All 24 Aussies teeing it up at Asian Tour Q School

Two of this season’s ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament winners are among the 24 Australians teeing it up across two venues of Asian Tour Qualifying School in Thailand starting Wednesday.

Starved of international Q School opportunities amidst the travel restrictions imposed globally the past three years, veterans, rookies and rising amateurs will put their games on the line for the right to play in Final Stage next week and potentially earn a 2023 Asian Tour card.

Led by West Australian Hayden Hopewell, five Aussies advanced to Final Stage last week from Section C and there are seven Aussies and two Kiwis at Section D at Thana City Country Club and there are 17 Aussies and two more New Zealanders competing in Section E at Springfield Royal Country Club.

Among the Aussie contingent are current season champions Tom Power Horan ( pictured, left ) and Aaron Wilkin ( pictured, right ).

Ahead of the resumption of the 2022/2023 season with TPS Victoria from January 26, Power Horan and Wilkin are both seeking to advance their careers on to the international stage.

Power Horan won a second Gippsland Super 6 title prior to the Christmas break while Wilkin’s maiden Tour win came with a playoff triumph at the Queensland PGA Championship at Nudgee.

Riding the confidence of a second Portsea Pro-Am win just last week, Peter Wilson is chasing a return to tournament play in Asia as is fellow Victorian James Marchesani, who had three top-five finishes on the PGA China Tour in 2019.

Other Aussies looking to take the step onto the global stage include John Lyras, Blake Collyer, Brett Rankin, Matias Sanchez, Charlie Dann and Doug Klein while Dylan Perry is hoping to add to the Japan Golf Tour card he regained at Q School in December.

A three-time winner on the PGA China Tour in 2018, Nick Voke leads the Kiwi charge which includes 2022 Australian Amateur runner-up and world No.49 amateur James Hydes.

Round 1 tee times AEDT Asian Tour Qualifying School (Section D) Thana City Country Club, Thailand 11am*  Nick Voke (NZ), Enhua Liu, Hyowon Park 11.10am             Nathan Buzimkic , Jaepil Jung, Pieter Moolma 11.50am             Peter Wilson , MJ Viljoen, Jinhyeong Baek (a) 12pm    Andre Lautee , Daniel Erickson, Juwon Kang 12.30pm*           Aaron Wilkin , Andrea Saracino, Gyumin Lee 3.50pm Bond Chan (a), Uihyeon Jeong, Pisitchai Thippong 3.40pm*             James Marchesani , Gampoong Park (a), Gowoong Choi 4.10pm*             Doeun An , Visarut Paripunna, Jaewon Shin 4.50pm*             Mark Hutson (NZ), Philip Ritchie, Sungjin Noh

Asian Tour Qualifying School (Section E) Springfield Royal Country Club, Thailand 11.10am             Darshan Shivalkar (a), Abs Mawji, Lai Chia-i 11.30am             Lachlan Armour , Jake Vincent, Sangtae Park 11.30am*           Aiden Didone , Drikus Joubert, Jaehun Jeong 11.40am             Jeremy Fuchs , Wynand Dingle, Donghwan Hwang 12pm    Scott Adams (NZ), Andy Choi, Yongyu Kwon 12.20pm             Ed Donoghue , Luca Filippi, Seongyun Jo 12.30pm*           Jeongwoo Ha , Donovan Liddicoat (a), Soobin Lee 12.50pm*           Blake Collyer , Kodai Ichihara, Ben Robinson 1pm*    Ben Eccles , Sungyeol Kwon, Jakkanat Inmee 3.20pm*             Doug Klein , Isaac Lam (a), Dongmin Ro 3.30pm James Hydes (NZ, a), Matthew Kang, Liu Zehao 3.30pm*             Dylan Perry , Rigardt Albertse, Junghwan Lee 4pm      Tom Power Horan , Paul Harris, Rakhyun Cho 4.10pm*             Darcy Brereton , Jaehwan Kim, Zhang Jin 4.30pm John Lyras , Salvador Paya-Vila, Kiwon You 4.30pm*             Charlie Dann , Eugene Wong, Jungho Won 4.40pm Brett Rankin , Papito Gonzalez, Beomsoo Kim 4.40pm*             Matias Sanchez , Hwijun Kim, Hugo Esposito 4.50pm Chris Crabtree , Dechawat Phetprayoon, Jungdo Won

* Starting from 10th tee

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FIRE PIT COLLECTIVE

Why this week’s KFT Q School forced some players into hard choices

Editor's Note: This article first appeared in Fire Pit Collective , a Golf Digest content partner.

Steve Dykes

In a professional golfer’s mind, securing tour status is somewhere between inspiring hopes and unattainable dreams. Q School season is winding down, and talented professional golfers and hopeless dreamers alike have embarked on another qualifying odyssey. The entry fees are steep, the travel costs high, and the competition merciless. To make matters more complicated, the landscape has changed. A massive amount of money has been showered upon the game, and there has never been a better time to be an established and, especially, elite player. But what about everyone else? What does the steep ascent to the top of professional golf look like when you’re at the bottom?

At the end of every season, aspiring professional golfers take inventory of their bankrolls, skills, mettle, family situation and more and make one of the biggest decisions of their careers: which qualifying school to enter. Korn Ferry Tour and DP World Tour Q School are held in the fall. Both have three main stages to navigate, and for KFT newcomers, an additional pre-qualifying stage. As players advance deeper into the stages, the dates of the Q Schools overlap.

Rico Hoey graduated from Southern California in 2017 and won in his first season on PGA Tour Canada. He recorded three top-10 finishes in his first season on the KFT in 2018, narrowly keeping his card. After failing to measure up the past few seasons, he ran the Q School gauntlet this fall.

“No matter what Q School I do, I just want to get on a tour and play there,” Hoey (below) says. “Once the prices came out, it was pretty shocking.” The $6,500 price tag to enter KFT Q School was steep, but he decided it was worth the risk. DPWT Q School had been on a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, but the $2,200 cost didn’t change.

Wesley Hitt

“I decided to try both,” Hoey says. “I always knew if I got to the final stage of both, I’d choose the Korn Ferry Tour. If I didn’t make it through KFT, at least I had the DP World Tour as a backup.” Hoey was unwavering at the first and second stage of KFT Q School, advancing after finishing T-10 and T-6. Between stages, he traveled to Denmark for DPWT Q School, but the rain and cold dampened his momentum, and he failed to advance.

Jhared Hack is a past champion of the Western Junior and Western Amateur and was a top professional prospect when he left the University of Central Florida in 2009. He has played three seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour since, with a handful of PGA Tour and DPWT starts to his name. In recent years he battled the driver yips, but he slowly worked his way back to the brink of the big time. Last year he spent an entire practice round vibrating on another frequency, shooting a 15-under-par 57 at Las Vegas Golf Club. He posted a final-round 63 to win the Arizona Open. Still, he had minimal financial support this season, so Hack carefully weighed his Q School choices.

“First thing was the monetary value: $2,200 vs $6,500,” he recalls. “I’m gonna get a life experience from one of those. I’d never been to Italy.” Hack focused all of his energy and resources on DPWT Q School, in part because of the ultimate carrot: As part of the strategic alliance between the PGA Tour and the DPWT, the top 10 finishers at the end of the DPWT season will earn PGA Tour cards. Last month Hack traveled to Italy, shot 14 under and advanced to the second stage by four shots. “Beautiful to see,” Hack says in reflecting on the experience. “I stayed for a few extra days and got to see the Swiss Alps, which was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

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Stuart Macdonald is Canadian and a 2016 Purdue graduate. Macdonald fell just shy of gaining his PGA Tour card in 2021, finishing outside the top 25 on the KFT Finals points list, at 33rd. That season he had four top 10s in a stretch of five events. When a middling 2022 season left him without tour status, Macdonald signed up for both Q Schools.

“At the time when I decided to do DP, it was solely on the idea that I wanted status badly somewhere,” Macdonald says. “I wanted to have two chances essentially.” He excelled at first and second stage of KFT Q School and advanced through DPWT first stage. “It’s so important to get status this year because of what the future looks like,” he says.

With billions of dollars fueling the rise of LIV Golf and forcing the PGA Tour’s frantic restructuring, golfers trying to play their way to the top feel a particular urgency. In 2023, the PGA Tour will have 13 elevated events, each with a $20 million purse; the top 70 players are exempt into those. Players outside the top 70 are fighting desperately to move up, but until they do, they will be relegated to lesser tournaments. Jack Nicklaus expressed concern about non-elevated events, specifically the long-running Honda Classic, calling these tournaments “feeders.” Tournament directors from non-elevated events and others around the Tour have expressed similar concerns about an expanding chasm between players and events that were instrumental in building the tour. As for those players trying to move up, they are fighting a stiff headwind.

The Korn Ferry Tour is undergoing its own changes. Purses next season will increase from $750,000 to $1 million per event, a move that was announced well before LIV’s debut. The number of PGA Tour cards awarded at the end of the next KFT season will increase from 25 to 30. The tour has eliminated its three-event postseason, called the KFT Finals, at which 25 additional cards were awarded. The KFT Finals was open to the top 75 players on KFT and players ranked 126 through 200 on the final FedEx Cup standings from the PGA Tour. Players ranked 26 through 30 at the end of the year will undoubtedly be grateful, but the elimination of the Finals could mean a loss of PGA Tour cards, or at least an opportunity, for KFT members. Excelling early in the KFT season is now essential.

“I always felt like I wanted to get my tour card in the regular season because I felt like you earned it a little more,” Macdonald says, adding that the schedule changes will probably make the Korn Ferry Tour more competitive.

Hoey agrees. “It just makes it that much harder,” he says. “You need to win.”

As the KFT season winds down and the order of merit points accumulate, it will become more difficult to make a meaningful move up the points list. The KFT Finals gave hope to players looking for another avenue to secure their PGA Tour cards. In some cases, one hot week did the trick. Previously, some KFT members who had locked up their KFT cards for the following season but weren’t close to winning a PGA Tour card might have taken an event or two off to rest before the Finals. That created more opportunities for players farther down the standings. Without the three-event Finals, the end of a KFT season probably will be must-play. It most certainly will be exhausting and pressure-packed.

“You gotta play better,” Hoey says. “It’s not just about retaining your card now. Playing opportunities are going to get tougher and tougher. You just have to adapt. All I care about right now is to get starts and go play.” While the significant bump in KFT purses is welcomed, it’s long overdue. For players in the highest level of golf’s minor leagues, the pursuit isn’t getting any cheaper.

J.T. Griffin is a former Georgia Tech standout who graduated to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2017. From 2019 to ’21, Griffin accumulated five top-10 finishes on the KFT, but he only maintained conditional status for the 2022 season. He and his fiancee, Mary Kaitlyn, had their first child, Graham, in early 2021. After failing to advance through Q School this season, he is now questioning the feasibility of playing professional golf with a young family.

“I was in the 76-to-85 category this year,” says Griffin, referring to his final KFT ranking. “In April I no longer had health coverage. If you’re under the PGA Tour umbrella, how are you not covered health insurance-wise? I can’t go to the doctor.” The PGA Tour provides a generous health insurance stipend for full members of the Korn Ferry Tour, or those who finish in the top 75, but not for conditional members. Griffin (below) says he spent about $75,000 a year in expenses, and despite maintaining conditional status after the 2020-21 season, when he made 19 cuts in 38 starts, he had little to show for it.

“I need to do something for Graham and my family,” says Griffin. “I was on the Korn Ferry Tour and I couldn’t afford to be on the Korn Ferry Tour. I’ve been talking to some friends who were right at 75. And I was like, ‘Hey, man, what is your end of the year?’ And they’re like, ‘I didn’t make anything.’ You’re a professional athlete on one of the biggest stages in our sport and there’s nothing. And we will continue to come back because the PGA Tour is that cool. You get a taste of it and you’ll chase it until it kills you and everyone around you.”

Some 10,000 miles away, opportunity calls louder than ever. The Asian Tour has suddenly become an attractive option for players from the West. LIV committed $300 million to the Asian Tour over the next 10 years, and purses are expanding. (For the elevated International Series events, purses are expected to be between $2 million and $4 million.) And for the first time ever, an early stage of Asian Tour Q School will be held in the U.S., in Arizona later this month. The implications could be far-reaching.

After graduating from Yale, James Nicholas gained status on the Korn Ferry Tour for the 2020 season. He won the 2020 New York State Open and had three top-20 finishes on KFT in the 2020-21 season. Last month he advanced through the first stage of KFT Q School in Mobile, Ala., then immediately flew across the Atlantic for DWPT Q School, where he failed to qualify. The following week, he was back in Alabama for the second stage of KFT Q School. Understandably fatigued, Nicholas struggled.

So he turned his attention to the Asian Tour. “I want to play on the PGA Tour,” Nicholas says. “But you do need to make a decision when you’re going to Q School and you don’t get through, to find a place to play. To find a place to hone your skills. You have to support yourself financially. I think the strength of field over there (Asian Tour) is going to be way better; that’s why you get more World Ranking points.”

What will probably give some players pause from embarking on an Asian adventure is the lack of a clear pathway leading back home. LIV has said the top player from the Asian Tour International Series will be promoted to its tour. The opportunity to play for one spot, however, is unlikely to drive the long-term decisions of many players. The Asian Tour is more likely to host LIV players in search of World Ranking points than the other way around. Still, millions of dollars in prize money and the chance to travel the world will entice many.

“I was going to sign up for Asian Q School if I didn’t get through Italy,” Hack says. “But all the sites are full. All my friends are wait-listed. Apparently that Arizona site filled up in five minutes.”

“My goal is to play on the PGA Tour, it’s not to play over in Asia for 10 years,” Nicholas says. “My hope is I play one year over there, win a couple times and get my World Ranking points high enough to get a couple of [PGA Tour] invites.”

“It seems like some doors are closing and some doors are opening,” Macdonald says.

The doors quietly closing are on the lowest levels of PGA Tour sanctioned competition. PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada are the entry-level circuits for the PGA Tour. Tour benefits are structured similarly between the two tours, and purses are about $175,000. Events span provinces, countries and in the case of Latinoamerica, continents.

“It’s expensive to travel through Latin America. It’s not easy. Same with Canada,” says Nicholas, who played often in Canada this season. “You can be playing pretty decent golf and lose $20,000 to $30,000 in the span of 10 weeks.”

The value of a strong performance on PGA Tour Latinoamerica has recently been diminished. Consistent with past seasons, the top player will earn full status on the Korn Ferry Tour. Players ranked second through fifth will gain conditional KFT status, but they will have to go to the second stage of Q School to improve their positions. In past seasons, players ranked 2 through 10 received conditional status on KFT through an exemption to the final stage of Q School. Players ranked sixth through 10th won’t receive KFT status. Players ranked 11th through 25th had gained an exemption to the second stage of Q School, but that perk has been eliminated. Although the same changes haven’t been announced for PGA Tour Canada, players anticipate that’s only a matter of time.

The reduction of benefits and stagnated purses on PGA Tour Latinoamerica resulted in fewer signups for three of its four qualifying tournaments. This is a major departure from past seasons and an ominous sign for the tour. Before deciding to play Asian Tour Q School, Nicholas (below) signed up for PGA Tour Latinoamerica.

“I heard a rumor that Latin (Tour) was slashing their spots,” Nicholas says. “I spent $1,750 on Q School not knowing that only one player was going to get guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour, when it was five the year before. The big thing for me was a top 20 used to get exempt to the second stage (of KFT Q School) and now it’s only top 10.” Despite his preference to remain closer to home, Nicholas withdrew from Latinoamerica Q School and looked to Asia.

“I think traveling through Asia would be just as hard as traveling through Latin America,” says Nicholas, who adds that there were few advantages to playing the Latinoamerica circuit. “If you finished 11th on the money list, it meant you probably won a tournament and you had to go back to the first stage of Q School.”

With their small purses and high travel costs, these development circuits relied on the enticement of potential exemptions to the next level. With those drying up, more players may consider spending their resources elsewhere.

Griffin played in nine PGA Tour Canada events in 2022 and had a pair of top-10 finishes, securing PGA Tour Canada status for next year. “You’re kind of in purgatory when you’re on any of the tours that aren’t the PGA Tour,” he says. “How do I have that conversation with Mary Kaitlyn and Graham? Hey, I’m gonna be gone all summer, and if we’re lucky we won’t spend any of our money. We can’t put any money in your college fund, and don’t get sick because we can’t afford to take you to the doctor.”

“Reading about the Latinoamerica Tour, it was kind of shocking because at this point it’s like, what’s the point of having this tour?” Hoey asks. “Do you want those guys to advance at all?”

Hack played multiple seasons on both the Latinoamerica circuit and PGA Tour Canada. He still sees a benefit for aspiring pros to compete on these tours. “The way I look at all these events is I’m just buying experience,” he says. “You’re buying an experience to use for Q School.”

The good news for professional golf hopefuls is that Q School is returning to glory. For the first time since 2012, it will offer a direct pathway to the PGA Tour. The top five and ties at the final stage of 2023 Q School will get to play for the big bucks. Fans who have glanced at golf headlines over the past six months know some PGA Tour events are getting massive purse bumps. “It’s great that [the PGA Tour] magically found a couple hundred million,” Phil Mickelson quipped at a recent LIV press conference. “That’s awesome.” It’s a line repackaged around every level of professional golf. The entry fee for next year’s Q School will be anybody’s guess. What we do know is that the opportunity to win one of those coveted PGA Tour cards is getting more difficult.

“Everyone is just so much better,” Hack says. “Cuts that used to be 1 or 2 under par are 5 or 6 under now. Look at annual sites for Q School like Plantation Preserve (a second-stage site for KFT Q School). I think I’ve gotten through there twice and the cut’s been six under, and it took 13 under this year. Yeah, the weather might have been a little better, but players are just getting better.”

It wasn’t the increased depth of the competition that ended Hack’s Q School run, however. His usually precise iron game and deft touch around the greens abandoned him at second stage of DPWT Q School. He’s now facing another season without a tour to compete on. “I couldn’t scrape it in any way at all,” Hack says. “I’m shocked and frustrated for sure.”

Junior golfers grow up dreaming about a career on the PGA Tour and contending in majors. As juniors become skilled collegians, those dreams become goals and then pursuits. For the top collegiate prospects, taking advantage of sponsor exemptions was a way to earn status on tour. With limits on the number of sponsor exemptions a rising star can accept, however, few turn those opportunities into tangible status. Many are relegated to the first stage of Q School or a developmental tour. Then there’s 22-year-old Eugenio Chacarra, who decided to forgo his senior year at Oklahoma State to sign with LIV. Last month he won the LIV even t in Bangkok, a $4 million payday. Chacarra (below) has been joined on LIV by two other top college players: David Puig from Arizona State and James Piot from Michigan State.

Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf

Does this mean the fuel that ignites ambitious players everywhere is changing? Is it now all about the Benjamins?

Macdonald sees new and uncertain pathways to earn a living as a professional golfer. “Money has become the driver,” he says. “I mean, it always has been, but more so now. I just think for so many players it fogs their vision of what their dreams were of playing professional golf and what that looks like. It’s not as clear anymore.” After a disheartening T-126 finish at the final stage of KFT Q School, where the top 40 finishers earned guaranteed starts for next season, Macdonald faces more uncertainty. “I’m just kind of, like, confused,” he says. “I couldn’t get out of my own way after the first day. It just wasn’t easy. It’s obviously an important week. It was a long week.” His path back to the Korn Ferry Tour next season will run through Monday qualifiers. “Definitely going to get after the Mondays,” Macdonald says. “I’ll be on that grind for a little bit. Hopefully not too long.”

Hoey, who turned 27 in September, is focused on reaching the PGA Tour. “It is cool to see the money is growing,” he says. “That’s the biggest thing. It’s really enticing. I just hope some of that money filters down to the Korn Ferry Tour.” Like Macdonald, Hoey was also in the enviable position of having a tee time at KFT’s final stage. “I’m still pretty young and for me, I just want to give it a shot on the PGA Tour,” he says.

After struggling to an opening-round 73, Hoey battled back with rounds of 70, 67 and 68, finishing T-17 to regain a coveted Korn Ferry Tour card. He left Georgia elated and relieved—and knowing he’ll have eight guaranteed starts to begin the 2023 season. “I’m just glad it’s over,” he says. “I can’t even describe it. I feel like I’m getting better. I’m one step closer to the PGA Tour. There’s no other feeling like it. It’s just awesome.”

Andrew Wevers

Professional golf has long prided itself on being a true meritocracy: shoot low scores and you will move up the ranks. There is optimism among professional golf hopefuls that when they do arrive at the top, the reward will be greater than ever. There is also growing concern that top players have more protection than ever. Rather than the considerable money at the top trickling down, it’s getting gobbled up. In a professional golfer’s mind, tour status is somewhere between inspiring hopes and unattainable dreams. Achieving that will take more grit—and more money—than ever.

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Strong Taiwan Quake Kills 9, Injures Hundreds

The earthquake was the most powerful to hit the island in 25 years. Dozens of people remained trapped, and many buildings were damaged, with the worst centered in the city of Hualien.

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• Hualien, Taiwan A landslide after the quake. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times
• New Taipei City, Taiwan Books flew off shelves as a home shook. @Abalamindo via Storyful
• Taipei, Taiwan Passengers waiting at a train station as some services were suspended. Chiang Ying-Ying/Associated Press
• Hualien, Taiwan People are rescued from a building that had partially collapsed. TVBS via Associated Press
• Hualien, Taiwan Firefighters rescuing trapped residents from a building. CTI News via Reuters
• Taipei, Taiwan Students evacuated to a school courtyard after the earthquake. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times
• Guishan Island, Taiwan Rocks tumbling down one side of an island popular for hiking. Lavine Lin via Reuters
• Hualien, Taiwan A building leaned to one side after the quake. Randy Yang via Associated Press
• Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan Watching news on a rooftop of a hotel after a tsunami warning. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
• Hualien, Taiwan Motorbikes damaged in the quake. TVBS via Associated Press
• New Taipei City, Taiwan Damage in an apartment Fabian Hamacher/Reuters
• New Taipei City, Taiwan Water cascading down a building during the quake. Wang via Reuters

Meaghan Tobin and Victoria Kim

Here’s what you need to know about the earthquake.

Taiwan was rocked Wednesday morning by the island’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century, a magnitude 7.4 tremor that killed at least nine people, injured more than 800 others and trapped dozens of people.

The heaviest damage was in Hualien County on the island’s east coast, a sleepy, scenic area prone to earthquakes. Footage from the aftermath showed a 10-story building there partially collapsed and leaning heavily to one side, from which residents emerged through windows and climbed down ladders, assisted by rescuers. Three hikers were killed after being hit by falling rocks on a hiking trail in Taroko National Park, according to the county government.

By late afternoon, officials said rescue efforts were underway to try to rescue 127 people who were trapped, many of them on hiking trails in Hualien.

One building in Changhua County, on the island’s west coast, collapsed entirely. The quake was felt throughout Taiwan and set off at least nine landslides, sending rocks tumbling onto Suhua Highway in Hualien, according to local media reports. Rail services were halted at one point across the island.

The earthquake, with an epicenter off Taiwan’s east coast, struck during the morning commute, shortly before 8 a.m. Taiwanese authorities said by 3 p.m., more than 100 aftershocks, many of them stronger than magnitude 5, had rumbled through the area.

In the capital, Taipei, buildings shook for over a minute from the initial quake. Taiwan is at the intersection of the Philippine Sea tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate, making it vulnerable to seismic activity. Hualien sits on multiple active faults, and 17 people died in a quake there in 2018.

Here is the latest:

The earthquake hit Taiwan as many people there were preparing to travel for Tomb Sweeping Day, a holiday across the Chinese-speaking world when people mourn the dead and make offerings at their graves. Officials warned the public to stay away from visiting tombs in mountain areas as a precaution, especially because rain was forecast in the coming days.

TSMC, the world’s biggest maker of advanced semiconductors, briefly evacuated workers from its factories but said a few hours later that they were returning to work. Chip production is highly precise, and even short shutdowns can cost millions of dollars.

Christopher Buckley

Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s vice president, who is also its president-elect, visited the city of Hualien this afternoon to assess the destruction and the rescue efforts, a government announcement said. Mr. Lai, who will become president in May, said the most urgent tasks were rescuing trapped residents and providing medical care. Next, Mr. Lai said, public services must be restored, including transportation, water and power. He said Taiwan Railway’s eastern line could be reopened by Thursday night.

Meaghan Tobin

Taiwan’s fire department has updated its figures, reporting that nine people have died and 934 others have been injured in the quake. Fifty-six people in Hualien County remain trapped.

Shake intensity

Taiwan’s fire department reports that nine people have died and 882 others have been injured in Taiwan. In Hualien County, 131 people remain trapped.

Agnes Chang

Footage shows rocks tumbling down one side of Guishan Island, a popular spot for hiking known as Turtle Island, off the northeast coast of Taiwan. Officials said no fishermen or tourists were injured after the landslide.

The death toll has risen to nine, according to Taiwan government statistics.

Meaghan Tobin, Siyi Zhao

Officials in Taiwan warned residents to not visit their relatives' tombs, especially in the mountains, this weekend during the holiday, known as Ching Ming, meant to honor them. There had already been 100 aftershocks and the forecast called for rain, which could make travel conditions on damaged roads more treacherous.

Crews are working to reach people trapped on blocked roads. As of 1 p.m. local time, roads were impassable due to damage and fallen rock in 19 places, according to the Ministry of Transportation. At least 77 people remain trapped. A bridge before Daqingshui Tunnel appeared to have completely collapsed.

Taiwan’s worst rail disaster in decades — a train derailment in 2021 that killed 49 people — took place on the first day of the Tomb Sweeping holiday period that year, in the same region as the earthquake.

The earthquake hit Taiwan as many people here were preparing to travel for Tomb Sweeping Day, or Ching Ming, a day across the Chinese-speaking world when people mourn their dead, especially by making offerings at their graves. Now those plans will be disrupted for many Taiwanese.

The holiday weekend would typically see a spike in travel as people visit family across Taiwan. Currently, both rail transport and highways are blocked in parts of Hualien, said Transport Minister Wang Guo-cai. Work is underway to restore rail transportation in Hualien, and two-way traffic is expected to be restored at noon on Thursday, he said.

Taiwan’s preparedness has evolved in response to past quakes.

Taiwan’s earthquake preparedness has evolved over the past few decades in response to some of the island’s largest and most destructive quakes .

In the years after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in central Taiwan killed nearly 2,500 people in 1999, the authorities established an urban search-and-rescue team and opened several emergency medical operation centers, among other measures .

And in 2018, after a quake in the eastern coastal city of Hualien killed 17 people and caused several buildings to partially collapse, the government ordered a wave of building inspections .

Taiwan has also been improving its early warning system for earthquakes since the 1980s. And two years ago, it rolled out new building codes that, among other things, require owners of vulnerable buildings to install ad-hoc structural reinforcements.

So how well prepared was Taiwan when a 7.4 magnitude quake struck near Hualien on Wednesday morning, killing at least seven people and injuring hundreds more?

Across the island, one building collapsed entirely, 15 others were in a state of partial collapse and another 67 were damaged, the island’s fire department said on Wednesday afternoon . Structural engineers could not immediately be reached for comment to assess that damage, or the extent to which building codes and other regulations might have either contributed to it or prevented worse destruction.

As for search-and-rescue preparedness, Taiwan is generally in very good shape, said Steve Glassey, an expert in disaster response who lives in New Zealand.

“ The skill sets, the capabilities, the equipment, the training is second to none,” said Dr. Glassey, who worked with Taipei’s urban search-and-rescue team during the response to a devastating 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. “They’re a very sharp operation.”

But even the best urban search-and-rescue team will be stretched thin if an earthquake causes multiple buildings to collapse, Dr. Glassey said.

Taiwan has options for requesting international help with search-and-rescue efforts. It could directly ask another country, or countries, to send personnel. And if multiple teams were to get involved, it could ask the United Nations to help coordinate them, as it did after the 1999 earthquake.

Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the United Nations, said on Wednesday afternoon that no such request had yet been made as a result of the latest earthquake.

Meaghan Tobin contributed reporting.

At least seven people have died and 736 have been injured as a result of the earthquake, according to Taiwan’s fire department. Another 77 people remained trapped in Hualien County, many of them on hiking trails. Search and rescue operations are underway, said the fire department.

Aftershocks of magnitudes between 6.5 and 7 were likely to occur over the next three or four days, said Wu Chien-fu, director of the Taiwanese Central Weather Administration’s Seismology Center, at a news conference.

As of 2 p.m., 711 people had been injured across Taiwan, the fire department said, and 77 people in Hualien County remained trapped. The four who were known to have died were in Hualien.

Victoria Kim

Hualien County is a quiet and scenic tourist destination.

Hualien County on Taiwan’s east coast is a scenic, sleepy tourist area tucked away from the island’s urban centers, with a famous gorge and aquamarine waters. It also happens to sit on several active faults , making it prone to earthquakes.

The county has a population of about 300,000, according to the 2020 census, about a third of whom live in the coastal city of Hualien, the county seat. It is one of the most sparsely populated parts of Taiwan. About three hours by train from the capital, Taipei, the city describes itself as the first place on the island that’s touched by the sun.

Hualien County is home to Taroko National Park, one of Taiwan’s most popular scenic areas. Visitors come to explore the Taroko Gorge, a striated marble canyon carved by the Liwu River, which cuts through mountains that rise steeply from the coast. The city of Hualien is a popular destination as a gateway to the national park.

According to the state-owned Central News Agency, three hikers were trapped on a trail near the entrance to the gorge on Wednesday, after the quake sent rocks falling. Two of them were found dead, the news agency said. Administrators said many roads within the park had been cut off by the earthquake, potentially trapping hikers, according to the report.

Earthquakes have rattled Hualien with some regularity. In 2018, 17 people were killed and hundreds of others injured when a magnitude 6.5 quake struck just before midnight, its epicenter a short distance northeast of the city of Hualien.

Many of the victims in that quake were in a 12-story building that was severely tilted, the first four floors of which were largely crushed, according to news reports from the time. The next year, the area was shaken by a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that injured 17 people.

The area has some of the highest concentrations of Taiwan’s aboriginal population, with several of the island’s Indigenous tribes calling the county home .

The county government in Hualien released a list of people that had been hospitalized with injuries, which stood at 118 people as of midday Wednesday.

Across Taiwan, one building fell down entirely, in Changhua County on the west coast, and 15 buildings partially collapsed, Taiwan’s fire department said. Another 67 buildings were damaged. One of the partially collapsed structures was a warehouse in New Taipei City where four people were rescued, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. Another 12 were rescued at a separate New Taipei City building where the foundation sank into the ground.

Peggy Jiang, who manages The Good Kid, a children’s bookstore down the street from the partially collapsed Uranus Building in Hualien, said it was a good thing they had yet to open when the quake struck. The area is now blocked off by police and rescue vehicles. “Most people in Hualien are used to earthquakes,” she said. “But this one was particularly scary, many people ran in the street immediately afterward.”

Lin Jung, 36, who manages a shop selling sneakers in Hualien, said he had been at home getting ready to take his 16-month-old baby to a medical appointment when the earthquake struck. He said it felt at first like a series of small shocks, then “suddenly it turned to an intense earthquake shaking up and down.” The glass cover of a ceiling lamp fell and shattered. “All I could do was protect my baby.”

Chris Buckley ,  Paul Mozur ,  Meaghan Tobin and John Yoon

The earthquake damaged buildings and a highway in Hualien.

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday damaged many buildings and a major highway in Hualien, a city on the eastern coast, and it knocked out power as it rocked the island.

Across Taiwan, the quake and its aftershocks caused one building to completely collapse and 15 others to partially collapse, according to Taiwan’s fire department. Sixty-seven other buildings sustained damage.

Two tall buildings in Hualien that sustained particularly extensive damage were at the center of the rescue efforts there. Most damage across the city was not life-threatening, said Huang Hsuan-wan, a reporter for a local news site.

Where buildings were reported damaged in Hualien City

“A lot of roads were blocked off. There are a lot of walls toppled over onto cars,” Derik du Plessis, 44, a South African resident of Hualien, said shortly after the earthquake. He described people rushing around the city to check on their houses and pick up their children. One of his friends lost her house, he said.

One of the damaged buildings in Hualien, a 10-story structure called the Uranus Building that housed a mix of homes and shops, was tilted over and appeared to be on the verge of collapse. Many of its residents managed to flee, but some were missing, said Sunny Wang, a journalist based in the city. Rescuers were trying to reach the basement, concerned that people might be trapped there.

Photographs of the initial damage in Hualien showed another building, a five-story structure, leaning to one side, with crushed motorcycles visible at the ground-floor level. Bricks had fallen off another high-rise, leaving cracks and holes in the walls.

The quake also set off at least nine landslides on Suhua Highway in Hualien, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, which said part of the road had collapsed.

Taiwan’s fire department said four people had been killed in the earthquake.

Across Taiwan, 40 flights have been canceled or delayed because of the earthquake, according to Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center.

President Tsai Ing-wen visited Taiwan’s national emergency response center this morning, where she was briefed about the response efforts underway by members of the ministries of defense, transportation, economic affairs and agriculture, as well as the fire department.

A look at Taiwan’s strongest earthquakes.

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake that hit Taiwan on Wednesday morning was the strongest in 25 years, the island’s Central Weather Administration said.

At least four people died after the quake struck off Taiwan’s east coast, officials said.

Here’s a look back at some of the major earthquakes in modern Taiwanese history:

Taichung, 1935

Taiwan’s deadliest quake registered a magnitude of 7.1 and struck near the island’s west coast in April 1935, killing more than 3,200 people, according to the Central Weather Administration. More than 12,000 others were injured and more than 50,000 homes were destroyed or damaged.

Tainan, 1941

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake in December 1941, which struck southwestern Taiwan, caused several hundred deaths, the United States Geological Survey said.

Chi-Chi, 1999

A 7.6 magnitude earthquake in central Taiwan killed nearly 2,500 people in September 1999. The quake, which struck about 90 miles south-southwest of Taipei, was the second-deadliest in the island’s history, according to the U.S.G.S. and the Central Weather Administration. More than 10,000 people were injured and more than 100,000 homes were destroyed or damaged.

Yujing, 2016

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake in February 2016 caused a 17-story apartment complex in southwestern Taiwan to collapse, killing at least 114 people . The U.S.G.S. later said that 90 earthquakes of that scale or greater had occurred within 250 kilometers, or 155 miles, of that quake’s location over the previous 100 years.

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Description

Moscow metro private tours.

• 2-hour tour $87:  10 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with hotel pick-up and drop-off
• 3-hour tour $137:  20 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with Russian lunch in beautifully-decorated Metro Diner + hotel pick-up and drop off. 
• Metro pass is included in the price of both tours.

Highlight of Metro Tour

• Visit 10 must-see stations of Moscow metro on 2-hr tour and 20 Metro stations on 3-hr tour, including grand Komsomolskaya station with its distinctive Baroque décor, aristocratic Mayakovskaya station with Soviet mosaics, legendary Revolution Square station with 72 bronze sculptures and more!
• Explore Museum of Moscow Metro and learn a ton of technical and historical facts;
• Listen to the secrets about the Metro-2, a secret line supposedly used by the government and KGB;
• Experience a selection of most striking features of Moscow Metro hidden from most tourists and even locals;
• Discover the underground treasure of Russian Soviet past – from mosaics to bronzes, paintings, marble arches, stained glass and even paleontological elements;
• Learn fun stories and myths about Coffee Ring, Zodiac signs of Moscow Metro and more;
• Admire Soviet-era architecture of pre- and post- World War II perious;
• Enjoy panoramic views of Sparrow Hills from Luzhniki Metro Bridge – MetroMost, the only station of Moscow Metro located over water and the highest station above ground level;
• If lucky, catch a unique «Aquarelle Train» – a wheeled picture gallery, brightly painted with images of peony, chrysanthemums, daisies, sunflowers and each car unit is unique;
• Become an expert at navigating the legendary Moscow Metro system;
• Have fun time with a very friendly local;
• + Atmospheric Metro lunch in Moscow’s the only Metro Diner (included in a 3-hr tour)

Hotel Pick-up

Metro stations:.

Komsomolskaya

Novoslobodskaya

Prospekt Mira

Belorusskaya

Mayakovskaya

Novokuznetskaya

Revolution Square

Sparrow Hills

+ for 3-hour tour

Victory Park

Slavic Boulevard

Vystavochnaya

Dostoevskaya

Elektrozavodskaya

Partizanskaya

Museum of Moscow Metro

• Drop-off  at your hotel, Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills or any place you wish
• + Russian lunch  in Metro Diner with artistic metro-style interior for 3-hour tour

Fun facts from our Moscow Metro Tours:

From the very first days of its existence, the Moscow Metro was the object of civil defense, used as a bomb shelter, and designed as a defense for a possible attack on the Soviet Union.

At a depth of 50 to 120 meters lies the second, the coded system of Metro-2 of Moscow subway, which is equipped with everything you need, from food storage to the nuclear button.

According to some sources, the total length of Metro-2 reaches over 150 kilometers.

The Museum was opened on Sportivnaya metro station on November 6, 1967. It features the most interesting models of trains and stations.

Coffee Ring

The first scheme of Moscow Metro looked like a bunch of separate lines. Listen to a myth about Joseph Stalin and the main brown line of Moscow Metro.

Zodiac Metro

According to some astrologers, each of the 12 stops of the Moscow Ring Line corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac and divides the city into astrological sector.

Astrologers believe that being in a particular zadiac sector of Moscow for a long time, you attract certain energy and events into your life.

Paleontological finds 

Red marble walls of some of the Metro stations hide in themselves petrified inhabitants of ancient seas. Try and find some!

• Every day each car in  Moscow metro passes  more than 600 km, which is the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
• Moscow subway system is the  5th in the intensity  of use (after the subways of Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai).
• The interval in the movement of trains in rush hour is  90 seconds .

What you get:

• + A friend in Moscow.
• + Private & customized Moscow tour.
• + An exciting pastime, not just boring history lessons.
• + An authentic experience of local life.
• + Flexibility during the walking tour: changes can be made at any time to suit individual preferences.
• + Amazing deals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the very best cafes & restaurants. Discounts on weekdays (Mon-Fri).
• + A photo session amongst spectacular Moscow scenery that can be treasured for a lifetime.
• + Good value for souvenirs, taxis, and hotels.
• + Expert advice on what to do, where to go, and how to make the most of your time in Moscow.

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• Preplanned tours
• Daytrips out of Moscow
• Themed tours
• Customized tours
• St. Petersburg

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro Tour is included in most guided tours’ itineraries. Opened in 1935, under Stalin’s regime, the metro was not only meant to solve transport problems, but also was hailed as “a people’s palace”. Every station you will see during your Moscow metro tour looks like a palace room. There are bright paintings, mosaics, stained glass, bronze statues… Our Moscow metro tour includes the most impressive stations best architects and designers worked at - Ploshchad Revolutsii, Mayakovskaya, Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, Novoslobodskaya and some others.

What is the kremlin in russia?

The guide will not only help you navigate the metro, but will also provide you with fascinating background tales for the images you see and a history of each station.

And there some stories to be told during the Moscow metro tour! The deepest station - Park Pobedy - is 84 metres under the ground with the world longest escalator of 140 meters. Parts of the so-called Metro-2, a secret strategic system of underground tunnels, was used for its construction.

During the Second World War the metro itself became a strategic asset: it was turned into the city's biggest bomb-shelter and one of the stations even became a library. 217 children were born here in 1941-1942! The metro is the most effective means of transport in the capital.

There are almost 200 stations 196 at the moment and trains run every 90 seconds! The guide of your Moscow metro tour can explain to you how to buy tickets and find your way if you plan to get around by yourself.