Nationwide Tour members find success at q-school

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Some students like to take it easy for a couple months after graduation before starting a new job. But four of The 25 graduates from the Nationwide Tour this year decided to take on some extra coursework at the Final Stage of q-school instead.

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Jim Herman (No. 19), Joe Affrunti (No. 22), Michael Putnam (No. 24) and Justin Hicks (No. 25) signed up for the final stage of q-school with hopes of improving their position going into the 2011 PGA TOUR season. Putnam, who finished T6, and Hicks (T22) did just that.

"Coming in here we knew there was a lot of room for improvement from finishing inside the top 25 from the Nationwide Tour money list," Hicks said. "We were hoping to get a little further up the list, but we'll take what we can get. We accomplished our goal."

The aforementioned quartet weren't the only Nationwide Tour players to take on q-school. When all was decided, eight of the 29 players who graduated from q-school had made at least 16 starts on the Nationwide Tour in 2010.

Highlighting the group was William McGirt who had four top-10 finishes in 24 starts in his rookie season on Tour. McGirt rattled off five consecutive birdies in Monday's final round to finish in a tie for second.

Other Nationwide Tour players joining McGirt, Putnam and Hicks on the PGA TOUR next year will be Brandt Jobe, Zack Miller, Kyle Stanley, Scott Stallings, Nate Smith.

Gary Woodland, Jarrod Lyle and Kent Jones each played 10 or more events on the Nationwide Tour in 2010, and also finished in the top 29 at q-school.