Kelly Kraft wasn't aware of the impact that 8-foot putt on Augusta National's 18th green would have on his first Q-School attempt. He just wanted to play two more rounds at the famed course, and who could blame him?

Kraft made that lengthy bogey putt on his 36th hole of this year's Masters to make the cut on the number. Playing the weekend in a major championship comes with many benefits. One of those perks – an exemption to Q-School’s second stage – is paying off this week.

"I'm glad I made that putt," Kraft said.

That exemption is helpful to young pros seeking their first shot at the PGA or Web.com tours. Players like Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth and Hunter Hamrick, all of whom competed in the NCAA Championship just five months earlier, as well as last year’s NCAA (John Peterson) and U.S. Amateur (Kraft) champions, bypassed Q-School's first stage after making the cut in a major.

Q-School is a 17-round process for those who start from the beginning. “The chips aren’t stacked in your favor,” Peterson said of players who start at Q-School’s pre-qualifying stage. Only seven players who ...

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A look at the 25 players who graduated to the PGA Tour from this year's Web.com Tour:

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1. Casey Wittenberg

Age: 27

College: Oklahoma State

Birthplace: Memphis, Tenn.

The skinny: Wittenberg, the 2003 U.S. Amateur runner-up, won his first two Web.com Tour titles this season and finished in the top 25 in 12 of 24 starts, including eight top 10s. He also finished 10th at the U.S. Open. He finished 159th on the money list in his only PGA Tour season (2009). He finished 13th in the 2004 Masters as an amateur. His father, Jim, was a collegiate golfer at LSU who played two seasons (1975 and 1977) on the PGA TOUR. Wittenberg's eight top 10s rank second-most on tour this season.

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2. Luke Guthrie*

Age: 22

College: Illinois

Birthplace: Quincy, Ill.

The skinny: Guthrie, who turned pro after this year’s NCAA Championship, quickly found success on the PGA and Web.com tours. He finished in the top 20 in his first seven starts on the two tours, then won back-to-back Web.com Tour starts in September. Guthrie was an All-American in his final two seasons at Illinois, and became the first back-to-back ...

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Twenty-five PGA Tour cards were handed out Sunday in the Dallas suburbs as the Web.com Tour season came to a close. As is always the case when PGA Tour cards are on the line, there was plenty of drama. Here are 5 Things you need to know from the Web.com Tour Championship.

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1. BOLLI ROLLS: Justin Bolli shot a final-round 65 at TPC Craig Ranch to win the Web.com Tour Championship and earn a return to the PGA Tour. Bolli started the week at 44th on the money list, but the $180,000 winner’s check moved him to ninth.

“I can’t say I expected it, but it was one of those days where everything went my way,”said Bolli, who finished at 16-under 268. He capped the win with a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole. Bolli started the final round two shots behind co-leaders Justin Hicks and James Hahn, but made eight birdies for a two-shot win over Hahn.

This was Bolli’s fourth career Web.com Tour victory. He last played the PGA tour in 2010, finishing 215th on the money list after making just four cuts in 23 starts.

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2. BUBBLE ...

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The PGA Tour has announced that the Dye’s Valley course at TPC Sawgrass will host the final event of next year’s Web.com Tour Finals, which will debut in 2013. The Web.com Tour Championship will be played Sept. 26-29, and is the final event in the four-tournament series.

The Dye’s Valley course, located at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., hosted the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open from 2010 through 2012. In 2011, it produced the highest winning score among the 26 tournaments on the Web.com schedule that year.

The Web.com Tour Championship will finalize the 50 players who earn PGA Tour playing privileges for the 2013-14 season and their eligibility positions under the Tour’s new qualifying system, which makes the Web.com Tour the pathway to the PGA Tour.

“The new Web.com Tour Finals will create a unique and exciting four-week finale to the Web.com Tour season, beginning in 2013, with everything playing out at the last event at TPC Sawgrass,” said PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. “Hosting the culminating Finals event at the home of the PGA Tour and in Web.com’s hometown of Jacksonville will be a ...

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McKINNEY, Texas — James Hahn shot a 7-under 64 on Saturday in the Web.com Tour Championship for a share of the third-round lead with Justin Hicks.

Hicks, the second-round leader, had a 67 to match Hahn at 12-under 201.

The top 60 on the money list qualified for the season-ending event at TPC Craig Ranch, and the final top 25 will earn 2013 PGA Tour cards. Hahn and Hicks have already wrapped up tour cards, with Hahn 13th on the money list, and Hicks 11th.

Justin Bolli was two strokes back after a 67. He's 44th on the money list.

Michael Putnam, 30th on the money list, was fourth at 9 under after a 67.

McKINNEY, Texas — Justin Hicks shot a 2-under 69 in breezy conditions Friday to take a two-stroke after the second round of the Web.com Tour Championship.

The top 60 on the money list qualified for the season-ending event at TPC Craig Ranch, and the final top 25 will earn 2013 PGA Tour cards. At 11th on the money list, Hicks has already wrapped up a tour card. He had an 8-under 134 total.

Justin Bolli and Canadian Brad Fritsch were tied for second. They each shot 71. Fritsch is 21st on the money list, and Bolli 44th.

Russell Henley, the former Georgia player who won the Jacksonville Open on Sunday for his second victory of the year, was 5 under along with James Hahn, Scott Gardiner and Michael Putnam. Henley is third on the money list, Hahn 13th, Gardiner 14th and Putnam 30th.

The winner will receive $180,000 from the $1 million purse.

McKINNEY, Texas - Tag Ridings entered the Web.com Tour Championship ranked No. 51 on the money list.

And with the top 25 earning PGA Tour cards for next season at the event's conclusion, Ridings will have to win at TPC Craig Ranch in order to obtain a card.

He got off to a good start in achieving that goal, shooting 6-under 65 on Thursday to end the first round in a six-way tie for the lead. Also sharing the lead are Justin Bolli (No. 44 on money list), Cliff Kresge (No. 38), Michael Putnam (No. 30), Justin Hicks (No. 11) and Brad Fritsch (No. 21).

Luke Guthrie and Philip Pettitt Jr. are one shot back after opening-round 66s.

The Web.com Tour Championship begins Thursday at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. The top 60 on the tour’s money list are competing for a $1 million purse, including a $180,000 winner’s check. The big bounty means that every player in the field has a chance of moving into the top 25 on the money list and earning a PGA Tour card. Here are 5 Things you need to know before play gets under way:

1. MONEY MATTERS: The money list will be the focal point this week, as the top 25 at week’s end earn PGA Tour cards for 2013. Camilo Benedetti, a 33-year-old from Colombia, currently holds down the 25th spot. He’s never held a PGA Tour card in 10 years as a pro, but he’s been close. He missed his card by a shot at Q-School in 2010 after making bogey on the final hole. He was in fourth place through two rounds of last year’s Web.com Tour Championship before shooting 74-73 to finish fifth at 4-under 284, three shots away from earning a PGA Tour card.

Benedetti is just $287 ahead of No. 26 Doug Labelle II ...

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Russell Henley won the Jacksonville Open on Sunday for his second Web.com Tour victory of the year, beating B.J. Staten with a par on the first hole of a playoff.

Henley birdied the final hole of regulation for a 5-under 65 to match Staten at 10-under 270 on Dye's Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass. Staten finished with a 68, then had a double bogey on the playoff hole.

Henley had five birdies in a front-nine 30, but opened the back nine with seven straight pars before bogeying the 17th to drop a stroke behind Staten.

"I pretty much went into 18 thinking I have to make birdie," Henley said.

Henley hit his approach to 15 feet and made the putt to get back to 10 under.

"I remember I was reading something about Jack Nicklaus in a magazine about making pressure putts," Henley said. "It said to believe in your line and make a confident stroke and I did that right there. I just tried to put a confident stroke on it, had the right read, and it was really cool seeing it go in."

Henley earned $108,000 to jump from ninth ...

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MIAMI — Shawn Stefani won the Miccosukee Championship on Sunday for his second Web.com Tour victory of the year, closing with a 3-under 68 for a five-stroke victory over Australia's Alistair Presnell.

Stefani finished at 15-under 269 at Miccosukee Golf and Country Club, and earned $108,000 to jump from 16th to fourth on the money list with $303,311. The top 25 after the final two events will earn 2013 PGA Tour cards.

"Getting my PGA Tour card means the world to me," Stafani said. "I've worked very hard to make it to the tour and it will be a dream come true for me."

The 30-year-old former Lamar player also won the Midwest Classic in August in Overland Park, Kan.

Presnell finished with a 67. He earned $64,800 to go from 39th to 19th on the money list with $187,342.

Stefani opened with round of 68, 71 and 62 to take a six-stroke lead into the final day.

"To be honest I was not worried about the lead or protecting the lead when I started," Stefani said. "You expect someone to come out and play well and Alistair did just that. He played a ...

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POTOMAC, Md. — Sweden's David Lingmerth won the Web.com Tour's Neediest Kids Championship on Sunday to wrap up a 2013 PGA Tour card, closing with a 4-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over Casey Wittenberg.

Lingmerth finished at 8-under 272 at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm and earned $108,000 to jump from 27th to seventh on the money list with $249,043, more than enough to guarantee a top-25 finish.

Wittenberg shot a 69. He earned $64,800 to regain the money lead with $407,453.

WEDDINGTON, N.C. – Russell Henley bounced back from a fourth-round bogey at No. 18 – one that dropped him into a three-way tie with Patrick Cantlay and Morgan Hoffmann and forced a playoff – making par at the final hole to win the playoff and capture the Web.com Tour’s Chiquita Classic on Sept. 30 at the Club at Longview.

Henley, who now has two wins on the Web.com Tour, held a one-stroke lead heading into the par-4 18th, but hit his approach shot into the water and had to make a 20-footer to force a playoff. Cantlay had missed a 25-footer for birdie to win at No. 18. The pair finished at 22-under 266 to tie with Hoffmann.

On the playoff hole, it was Hoffmann who found the hazard. And after Cantlay, who was trying to become the 21st Monday qualifier to win on the tour, missed the green short on his second shot, Henley stuck it to about 20 feet and then two-putted from there to capture the tournament.

The Chiquita Classic will be part of a four-event playoff series next year that will determine PGA Tour cards for the following season.

WEDDINGTON, N.C. – Brad Fritsch made his third eagle in his past two rounds and shares the lead after the second round of the Web.com Tour's Chiquita Classic Saturday at The Club at Longview.

The Candian drained an eagle putt at the par-5 17th en route to an 8-under 64, which tied for the low round of the day. Fritsch is tied with Russell Henley for the top spot.

Henley, a former player at the University of Georgia, shot 6-under 66. The two lead third-place Lee Janzen and Russell Knox by two strokes.

WEDDINGTON, N.C. - Play was suspended due to darkness during Thursday's first round of the Web.com Tour's Chiquita Classic at The Club at Longview.

Among those who finished their rounds, five players held a share of the lead when play was called. Russell Henley, Skip Kendall, Will Wilcox, Jason Kokrak and Scott Dunlap all finished with 6-under 66s.

Lee Janzen was also 6 under and had two holes left before play was suspended.

Luke Guthrie won his second consecutive Web.com Tour event Sunday at the WNB Golf Classic, shooting 17-under 271 to finish one shot ahead of Cameron Percy and defending champion Danny Lee.

Guthrie now leads the tour's money list, in spite of not turning pro until after the NCAA Championship in June and not making his Web.com Tour debut until the last week of July. Guthrie, who also won last week's Albertsons Boise Open, has finished in the top-3 in four of seven Web.com Tour starts, and finished in the top-10 in all but one start on the circuit.

Guthrie, who had a hole-in-one in the tournament's second round, started the final round in fifth place, five shots back of Lee. Guthrie birdied his first three holes Sunday en route to a final-round 66, Lee shot 72. Percy bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 to finish a shot back.

"I'm just trying to ride it out," said Guthrie. "As a golfer you go through these runs where the hole gets bigger, your mind slows down and it seems easy. The trick in golf is have more days like this than the bad ones."

Brett Wetterich ...

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