Q-school final stage: Round 2 notebook

A total of 1,389 players sent in applications to participate in the 2010 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. Six pre-qualifiers, along with 13 first- and six second-stage regionals were held to reduce the field. A total of 166 players advanced to the final qualifying stage, which consists of six rounds with no cut.

FINAL STAGE

Round 2 scores
Full Field
Baryla charges ahead
Course overviews
Q-School 101

The top 25 players and ties will receive PGA TOUR cards for 2011. The next nearest-number-to-50 will earn fully exempt Nationwide Tour cards for 2011, and the remainder of the field will receive conditional Nationwide Tour status.

Nine players qualified by making it through all three stages -- Todd Bailey, Jimmy Brandt, Dustin Garza, Seath Lauer, Richard Lee, David Lingmerth, Eric Onesi, Blake Parks and Brett Waldman.

A total of 496 players teed off in the six pre-qualifiers and competed for 248 spots (and ties).

A total of 927 players teed off in the 13 first-stage qualifiers and competed for 277 spots (and ties).

A total of 448 players teed off in the six second-stage qualifiers and competed for 116 spots (and ties).

A total of 45 players were exempt into the final stage of the tournament.

PURSE BREAKDOWN:
1st place $50,000
2nd $40,000
3rd $35,000
4th $30,000
5th $27,500
6-25th $25,000 each
Next nearest-number-to-50 all receive $5,000 each

SECOND ROUND NOTES:

Weather: Highs in the low 60s with winds out of the NW at 10-15 mph.

• Chris Baryla moved to the top of the standings Thursday afternoon with an 11-under par 61, finishing at 10-under 133 for the first two rounds. Baryla graduated from the Nationwide Tour in 2009 and was a member of the PGA TOUR in 2010 but made only seven starts (two cuts) before having surgery on his left hip following the Shell Houston Open in early April. He did not pick up a club for nearly five months and returned to the Nationwide Tour to make a pair of starts late in the year as part of his rehab process. He will play on TOUR in 2011 with a Major Medical Extension but says he's here this week under "greedy status" as he hopes to improve his eligibility standing.

• Baryla's 11-under 61 today is a course record at Crooked Cat, bettering the pair of 62s that Frank Lickliter posted in the first and second rounds of this event in 2007. It's also his career-best, topping his low on the PGA TOUR (66/twice/2009 RBC Canadian Open/final round) and his low on the Nationwide Tour (63/8-under/3rd round/2009 The Rex Hospital Open).

• Ben Martin, runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Amateur, shot a 4-under 68 at Crooked Cat and is in second place at 9-under par, one back of leader Chris Baryla. Martin completed his degree at Clemson in December of 2009 but did post-graduate work in order to compete for the Tigers last spring. He is a three-time Atlantic Coast Conference selection.

• First-round leader Kyle Stanley shot a 1-under 70 at the Panther Lake (PL) course and is at 8-under after the first two days and currently T3 with Sunghoon Kang. Stanley reached 10-under par with three birdies on his first five holes before suffering a double-bogey on his sixth hole of the day. He added two more birdies before making bogey on two of his final three holes.

• Martin and Stanley are former teammates at Clemson. In fact there are six former Tigers in this week's field -- Martin, Stanley, Tommy Biershenk, Brent Delahoussaye, Eliot Gealy and Charles Warren.

• Scott Verplank (1997), Frank Lickliter (2007) and Troy Merritt (2009) are the only players since 1992 to hold/share the lead after each round of the tournament. Verplank is the only player to hold the lead outright for all six rounds.

• Briny Baird had a 13-stroke turnaround from Wednesday's opener, which saw him post a 79 at Crooked Cat. Baird shot a 5-under 66 today at Panther Lake and moved up to T75.

Bogey-free rounds today:
61 -- Chris Baryla (CC)
68 -- Jarrod Lyle (PL), Richard Lee (PL)
72 -- Gavin Coles (CC/18 pars)

• Leaders at Previous Q-Schools Held at Orange County National:

• Scores needed to secure PGA TOUR status at Orange County National in previous years:

• Scoring Averages for the courses thus far:

• Players withdrawing prior to the start of play on Wednesday: Keegan Bradley, David Hearn, Alistair Presnell, Peter Tomasulo. Bradley (No. 14), Hearn (No. 21) and Tomasulo (No. 23) all earned 2011 PGA TOUR cards by finishing in the top-25 on the 2010 Nationwide Tour money list. Presnell ended the year No. 37 on the Nationwide Tour money list and is playing in this week's Australian Open tournament in Sydney.