Exciting PGA Tour Champions Q School Final Showcases Former Major Winner, Major Leaguer, Golf Channel Analyst, and 72-Year-Old

Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz secures a spot in the PGA Tour Champions final stage of qualifying, joining 77 other golfers.

Smoltz, 55, is competing for one of the five cards up for grabs at TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course.

With 213 wins over a 21-year pitching career, Smoltz has yet to secure a top finish in his previous three Q school attempts, his best being tied for 54th in the first stage.

Smoltz achieved a World Series win with the Atlanta Braves in 1995, won the National League Cy Young award in 1996, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.

While he hasn’t participated in a PGA Tour Champions event since 2021, he has competed in nine events overall, including the 2018 U.S. Senior Open.

Other familiar figures trying their luck at TPC Scottsdale this week include:

• NBC/Golf Channel reporter Notah Begay III, back for a second consecutive year

• Former Arizona State golfer Todd Demsey, known for using persimmon clubs

• Shaun Micheel, winner of the 2003 PGA Championship

• Ted Purdy, a Tucson native and University of Arizona alum

• 54-year-old amateur Bryan Hoops of Scottsdale, who boasts 19 holes-in-one, 15 of which were achieved in tournaments

• Jonathan Kaye, two-time PGA Tour event winner, including the 2004 FBR Open, now the WM Phoenix Open, at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course

• 72-year-old Dick Mast, who has played in a total of 360 PGA Tour events, 191 Champions events, and secured four victories on the Korn Ferry Tour, the most recent in 1999. He was a last-minute addition to the field after Andrew Marshall’s withdrawal

The first tee times are scheduled for Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), with Smoltz playing alongside Daniel Chopra and Jason Bohn at 8:52 a.m. local time off the first tee. The event concludes on Friday, and admission is free for interested attendees.

Story originally appeared on GolfWeek