There are two brothers from Arvada, two former CGA Players of the Year, the winners of three recent HealthOne Colorado Opens, and a golfer who once shot 60 in the final round of the CGA Stroke Play Championship.
Such is the local contingent that’s embarking on the ever-important second stage of qualifying for the Web.com Tour. At stake for all the competitors is a spot on a tour that boasts more than $17 million in purses over the course of a season. And with Q-school for the PGA Tour having been eliminated a couple of years ago, the Web.com qualifying process has become the key steppingstone to the big time for many elite-level golfers.
Just ask Denver native Mark Hubbard or Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders, both of whom parlayed strong Web.com Tour performances in 2014 into PGA Tour cards for the 2014-15 wraparound season.
The Web.com qualifying includes four steps — pre-qualifying, and the first, second and third stages — just as the PGA Tour’s Q-school did several years ago. The second and third stages are particularly important as those who advance to the final stage are guaranteed at least conditional status on the Web.com Tour. And the final stage determines who will get to play a full schedule, as opposed to the conditional qualifiers (the finishers after the top 45 and ties) who will be relegated to a far smaller number of events.
With that as a backdrop, 11 players with strong Colorado connections will compete in stage 2 of Web.com qualifying either this week or next. The top finishers at each of six 72-hole tournaments — the exact numbers will be announced after the events start — will advance to the final stage. That’s scheduled for Dec. 11-16 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Among those competing are brothers Zahkai and Zen Brown of Arvada, both former Colorado State University golfers. The two are playing at different sites and on separate dates.
Also among the locals in the stage 2 fields is former University of Colorado golfer 
Derek Tolan (pictured at top) of Highlands Ranch. Tolan, like Zahkai Brown (left), is a Colorado Open champion (in Tolan’s case, twice a champ) and a former CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year.
Another Coloradan in stage 2 is Jim Knous of Basalt, a former Colorado School of Mines golfer who fired a course-record 10-under-par 60 at Boulder Country Club in the final round of the 2010 CGA Stroke Play.
Here are all the local competitors, and the sites and dates in which they’ll compete in stage 2 of Web.com Tour qualifying:
Kingwood, Texas Nov. 11-14 — Nick Hodge of Littleton; former Fort Collins resident Drew Stoltz; Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch.
McKinney, Texas Nov. 11-14 — Zahkai Brown of Arvada; Parker Edens of Greeley; Jim Knous of Basalt.
Panama Beach, Fla. Nov. 18-21 — Former CU golfer Jason Burstyn.
Murrieta, Calif. Nov. 18-21 — Former CU golfer Justin Bardgett; Zen Brown of Arvada; Bryan Kruse of Westminster; Luke Symons of Aurora.
