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.
 

This is turning into quite a week for Sam Saunders, both on and off the course.

The Fort Collins resident — and grandson of Arnold Palmer — regained full status on the Web.com Tour by finishing 11th Tuesday in the 108-hole final stage of qualifying in La Quinta, Calif.

If that weren’t enough to celebrate, Saunders’ wife, Kelly, has a due date of Wednesday (Dec. 18) for the couple’s baby son.

As Saunders told PGA Tour.com on Monday as he looked forward to what awaited him, “It sure would be nice if everything went as planned and I take care of business (Tuesday) and she can hold off having that baby for just one more day.”

Saunders (pictured above) and Kelly got married just over a year ago and he moved to Colorado. On Tuesday, Saunders made nine birdies, shot a 7-under-par 65 at the PGA West Jack Nicklaus Course and posted a 19-under 413 total. If he had been one stroke better, a top-10 showing would have given him even better status for next year.

Also easily finishing among the top 45 and ties — and thereby earning preferred status on the 2014 Web.com Tour — was former Denver resident Mark Hubbard. The 2007 CGA Junior Stroke Play and Junior Match Play champion placed 15th in La Quinta as he went bogey-free the final two days (68-66) en route to a 17-under 415 total. Hubbard closed with a 6-under 30 back nine on Tuesday.

Zack Fischer overtook Scott Pinckney and won the six-day event — and $25,000 — with a 401 total.

Hubbard, 24 (pictured at left), already had landed a spot on the Web.com Tour by virtue of placing in the top five on the 2013 PGA Tour Canada money list, but he was competing in the final stage of Q-school to improve his status.

The former San Jose State golfer has had quite a memorable run over the last five months. During that time, he’s:

— Finished eighth in the HealthOne Colorado Open in late July.

— Played in his first PGA Tour event, the Reno-Tahoe Open, where he missed the cut on Aug. 1.

— Won a tournament, the Wildfire Invitational, on PGA Tour Canada in early September.

— Earned his Web.com Tour card by finishing third on the PGA Tour Canada money list in mid-September.

— Made his first cut ever on the PGA Tour by placing 69th in the Frys.com Open in October.

— Capped the year with his top-15 performance in the final stage of Web.com qualifying, which was worth $10,000 — the same total Saunders received.

As Hubbard noted in September, “You just try to play well and whatever happens happens. (In August), I was just worrying about keeping my (PGA Tour Canada) card, and then I got that win. Anything from here on out is just icing on the cake.”

Saunders, 26, is no stranger to big-time tour golf, having competed in 21 events on the PGA Tour and 53 on the Web.com circuit. He finished as high as second in a Web.com Tour tournament last year, but a back injury and poor putting led to major struggles in 2013. He posted just one top-30 finish in Web.com events and ended up 150th on the money list, which is why he was left going through two stages of Q-school to regain his status.

“It was frustrating, but I think it was really good for me,” Saunders told PGA Tour.com. “It made me work on some things I needed to work on and made me appreciate how nice it is to have a job. I’m putting well now, which is the biggest difference.”

Meanwhile, Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch had to settle for conditional status on the Web.com Tour after finishing 105th Tuesday in La Quinta. The two-time HealthOne Colorado Open champion closed with a 3-under-par 69 at the PGA West Stadium Course to post a 3-under 429 total.

Tolan will have Web.com Tour status for the first time in his career, but will likely receive less starts in 2014 than Saunders and Hubbard.

Here are the scores for all the players with strong Colorado ties who competed in the final stage:

La Quinta, Calif. (top 45 and ties receive preferential Web.com Tour status; others receive conditional status) — 11. Sam Saunders of Fort Collins 68-75-70-64-71-65–413; 15. former Denver resident Mark Hubbard 73-70-70-68-68-66–415; 105. Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch 73-74-68-74-71-69–429.
 

When the Denver native, a two-time winner of the HealthOne Colorado Open, was in the process of moving out of his house last month, he made a discovery that may change his career.

The day before leaving for the second stage of Web.com Tour qualifying, Tolan found a C-Groove putter that he had used during his senior season at the University of Colorado and in his first year as a playing professional.

Talk about opportune timing.

“I hadn’t been happy with my putting,” Tolan recounted in a phone interview last week. “I never felt great going into a round.”

That being the case, Tolan took his newfound putter with him to Kingwood, Texas, and wasted no time placing it into competition.

The discovery and decision paid immediate dividends. Even though Tolan didn’t hit the ball very well in the second stage of Q-school, his putting carried him as he earned a spot in the final qualifying stage for the first time in five tries. The result is that the Highlands Ranch resident will have a Web.com card in 2014 for the first time in his career.

“That feels good, but it’s not the end goal,” the 28-year-old noted, leaving unsaid that he’s eyeing the PGA Tour. “It’s nice to control my own destiny, though.”

Tolan will be one of 152 golfers competing in the final stage of Q-school at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., Thursday through next Tuesday (Dec. 12-17). Also in the field are Mark Hubbard, who grew up in Denver, and Sam Saunders of Fort Collins, Arnold Palmer’s grandson. Hubbard earned a Web.com Tour card thanks to finishing in the top five on the PGA Tour Canada 2013 money list, but he’s hoping to improve his status by playing in the final stage of Q-school.

Likewise competing in La Quinta are Steven Fox, who won the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club, and Scott Pinckney, who claimed the 2010 Trans-Mississippi Championship at Denver Country Club.

Much depends on how players perform at the Q-school finals. The top 45 finishers and ties after 108 holes will have much better status — and thus more tournament starts — than the rest of the field, which will receive conditional Web.com Tour status in 2014.

But in many respects, the biggest hurdle has already been overcome. Had Tolan not gotten through second stage — as was the case in 2011 (by one shot) and 2012 — he would have been without status on any of the major U.S.-based tours.

That’s why Tolan’s putting performance last month in Texas was so crucial. He finished the 72-hole event with 18 birdies, leading to an eighth-place finish in the 79-man field.

“I hung in there real well,” he said. “I did it while missing almost every fairway. I was kind of lucky, but I took advantage of (good putting).

“It’s not only my opinion but (those of) other guys I’ve talked to: The second stage is the toughest pressure you’ll ever have to face. There’s limitless benefit if you play well, but if you don’t play well, you get nothing. Nothing versus limitless. Getting your foot in the door is huge. I gained monumental confidence there.”

Up this this point — 4 1/2 years into his professional career — Tolan has competed in three PGA Tour events and six Web.com tournaments. The most notable of the bunch was the 2002 U.S. Open, when he was 16 years old. His best showings are 32nd on the PGA Tour (2012 Puerto Rico Open) and 15th on the Web.com Tour (2011 Stadion Classic at UGA).

“It’s so crucial to play well (in La Quinta),” he said. “If you do, you can set your schedule (for 2014). Just because you’ve gotten to finals, you can’t hang your hat on that. You’ve got to continue to play well.”

The one disappointing aspect of Tolan’s performance at Q-school is that it came in the first year in which there are no longer PGA Tour spots available through the process. Now the ultimate prize that can be reached through Q-school is full status on the Web.com Tour.

“That’s one of those deals where it could be frustrating, but I did have four (previous) years to get that done (earn PGA Tour status through Q-school),” Tolan said. “The only person to blame is myself. The new system caters to the more consistent golfer, so while in the short term it may not be as good (for me), in the longer term it’s best.”

Whatever the case, Tolan feels he’s much more prepared to compete on the Web.com — or PGA — Tour than he was very early in his professional career.

“I definitely do,” said the winner of the 2009 and 2012 Colorado Opens. “I keep getting better and better.

“I expect to do well (in La Quinta). My game feels good and I feel comfortable. I enjoy playing on bigger stages, so I’m excited for it.”
 

Q-school, that is.

After a few weeks off since the initial stages of qualifying for the 2014 LPGA Tour and Web.com Tour, things heat up again starting Tuesday.

The LPGA Tour is at stage II of the three-stage qualifying process, with a single tournament set for this week — Tuesday through Friday — in Venice, Fla.

The Web.com Tour, now the top U.S.-based men’s tour that still features a Q-school, completed pre-qualifying tournaments late in the summer and now is ready for the “first stage” of the three remaining.

In both cases, numerous golfers who made a name for themselves in Colorado are pursuing their dreams of reaching some of the top levels of competitive golf.

Here is what’s upcoming this week, with the local players in the field:

LPGA Stage II Oct. 8-11 in Venice, Fla. — A total of 195 players will take part in this 72-hole, no-cut event. After four rounds, the top 80 finishers and ties will advance to the final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying, set for Dec. 4-8 in Daytona, Beach, Fla.

Players with significant Colorado ties in the field are Ashley Tait of Littleton (pictured above), Dawn Shockley of Estes Park, and former University of Colorado golfers Jessica Wallace, Alex Stewart and Emily Childs. Childs and Stewart, who each played just one season at CU, competed in the stage I qualifying tournament to earn a berth in this week’s event.

As for the first stage of Web.com Tour Q-school, it’s being contested at a dozen sites over the next three weeks. The fields for later in the month haven’t yet be announced, but this week’s are finalized. Likewise to be determined is the exact number of players from each site that will advance to stage 2, but a total more than 20 is expected.

The second stage of Web.com Tour Q-school will be held at six sites in mid-November, while the final stage is Dec. 12-17 in La Quinta, Calif. The top 45 finishers and ties in La Quinta will receive priority status on the 2014 Web.com Tour, with the other finalists being conditionally exempt.

Here are the players with strong Colorado ties scheduled to compete in 72-hole first-stage tournaments this week, Tuesday through Friday:

Maricopa, Ariz. Oct. 8-11 — Tom Glissmeyer of Colorado Springs, Jim Knous of Basalt, former Colorado Springs resident Justin Spray, former CSU golfer Kirby Pettitt, former Castle Rock resident Jamie Marshall.

Lantana, Texas Oct. 8-11 — Riley Arp of Fort Collins, James Love of Denver, former CSU golfer Dustin Morris, former Fort Collins resident Drew Stoltz.

Vero Beach, Fla. Oct. 8-11 — Former CU golfer Kevin Kring.

Lakeland, Fla. Oct. 8-11 — Former CU golfer Jason Burstyn.