The last three sections for the second stage of PGA Tour Q-School finished play on Saturday. The field is now set for the Finals which will be held November 28-December 3 at PGA West and can be seen on the Golf Channel.

480 golfers have been whittled down to the 115 that will meet at the end of the month at final stage and only 25 of these men will earn their PGA Tour playing privileges for 2013.

This will be the last year that Q-School graduates will earn PGA Tour cards. Next year Q-School will be held to earn a spot on the Web.com Tour only. In the future PGA Tour players will earn their cards through participation on the Web.com Tour.

Robert Karlsson won medalist honors at the Central Florida section. Billy Hurley, Arjun Atwal, Daniel Chopra and Patrick Sheehan also qualified for the final stage over the Southern Hills Plantation course.

Big names that didn’t make it through to the finals: Robert Damron, Frank Lickliter, Sam Saunders, Lee Janzen and Bubba Dickerson.

Lee Janzen has won eight PGA Tour events including the 1993 and the 1998 U.S. Opens. Sam Saunders is the nephew of Arnold Palmer.

19 players will move on to the final stage from the Panama City, Florida section. Matt Fast was the medalist. Other players that will join him in La Quinta are: the man with three hearts, Erik Compton, Len Mattiace and Glen Day.

Missing the cut and relegated to the Web.com Tour for 2013 are: Marc Turnesa, Craig Bowden, Brett Wetterich, D.J. Brigman and veteran Omar Uresti.

Si Kim from South Korea shot the low score at the Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, California. Moving on to the finals with Kim are: Danny Lee, Dean Wilson, Tom Pernice, Patrick Cantlay, and Jeff Gove.

Veteran Duffy Waldorf shot four-under par 68 on the last day but just missed a trip to finals by a single shot. Joining him outside the number to qualify for final stage are:  K.T. Kim, Jason Gore, Jeff Quinney and David Duval.

For most of the 350 players that didn’t make it to the final stage this means another year of scraping it around mini tour events, Monday qualifying at Web.com tournaments or looking for another line of work. The Gateway and the NGA Pro Golf Tours offer a chance to play for money and hone their game for next year. 

The PGA Tour has expanded their brand to the Canadian and Latinoamerica Tours which gives aspiring professional golfers a minor league to perfect their talents and make their way to the big stage.

Golf can be a cruel and difficult game especially when played for one’s living. A bad bounce, a putt lipped out or a mental lapse is all that separates the pros that you see on your television every week from a guy trying to get to the PGA Tour.