The PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage brings so much pressure. After all, it makes you #TOURBOUND. The 2025 edition runs from December 11 to 14. A structural shift in the recent season rewards the top five finishers with immediate PGA Tour membership cards. Now, let’s take a look at the prize money breakdown and the winner’s payout before the next season officially starts.

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Is There Prize Money at the PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage 2025?

You might expect a massive check for winners, as this is an integral event, but the 2025 Q-School offers a total purse of just $510,000.  The winner takes home $50,000, which is less than the standard 18 percent share according to the PGA Tour’s prize money distribution chart.

What Players Actually Earn From the PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage?

The payout structure rewards the top 45 finishers and ties with at least $6,000. The field of more than 170 players isn’t playing for the purse; they are playing for the more important thing: a PGA Tour card or guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts.

Does the Q-School Final Stage Winner Receive a Cash Payout?

And even if they miss the top five, players can earn money and Korn Ferry status. Here is the full breakdown of what every player is battling for—

How Much a PGA Tour Card Is Actually Worth Financially

This season, the PGA Tour will reduce the fully exempt status from 125 players to 100, so it is putting new money behind its developmental pipeline.  And though the PGA Tour card’s financial value varies widely, even an average pro player is guaranteed a $500,000 league minimum stipend. At the end of the season, all fully-exempt members (Korn Ferry Tour category and above).

And the members who ranked 126th or worse in prior FedExCup points are eligible for $150,000.

Non-exempt members of the tour will have access to a new Travel Stipend Program, which provides $5,000 for every missed cut according to the PGA Tour player handbook. It will help them to manage expenses and other tournament-related expenses.

Alongside all of this, the players can acquire free tickets for their family that include the player’s spouse, children, and parents, and have the luxury of the Tour’s dining area, the most expensive courses, which would ordinarily cost almost $1,000 per visit. For example, no amount of money on earth will earn one a journey up Magnolia Drive. One has to be an exclusive member of the PGA Tour and play well in the key tournaments to win that opportunity.

Then comes the attractive sponsor and bonus programs that add some additional money to the PGA Tour’s already lucrative perks.

So the real “win” is the exemption category of winning a full-field PGA Tour event, meaning cards, starts, and money are essentially what’s on the line ahead of the players in the future.

The Rules: Cards, points, and the ‘no tie’ rule at the PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage 2025

The format presents a 72-hole stroke play marathon across two very different golf courses. And according to the 2025 rules, only the top five players earn PGA Tour cards, and ties are no longer enough. If players tie for the fifth spot, they must face a sudden-death playoff to finalize the last spot. So the difference between finishing 5th and 6th is not just financial, as the 5th-place finisher heads to the Sony Open in Hawaii with full access, while the 6th-place finisher heads to the Korn Ferry Tour for a year.

But winning here doesn’t bring the usual perks of a Tour victory, as the champion receives zero FedEx Cup points and zero Official World Golf Ranking points.

Don’t miss the drama this weekend, as the 2025 Q-School Final Stage is not just a golf tournament. It will witness a life-changing moment for five players who leave Ponte Vedra with a safe job for the next season, while others face a harder road with an uncertain year and limited starts. You can catch the moments on Saturday from 1:00 PM ET on the NBC Sports App, and the final round broadcasts live Sunday at 2:00 PM ET on the Golf Channel.