Guthrie in position to move into contention following first round at Q-School final stage

PONTE VERDA BEACH, Fla. — If Luke Guthrie can find the fairway, he will have a chance to play himself into contention.

The Quincy native shot a 1-over 71 during Thursday’s opening round of the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School’s final stage at TPC Sawgrass, leaving him tied for 42nd in the 170-player field.

Guthrie offset three birdies with four bogeys as he struggled to keep the ball in play. He hit just 4 of 14 fairways, found two fairway bunkers and two greenside bunkers, and made just 9 of 18 greens in regulation.

The Sawgrass Country Club course gave everyone fits. Only four of the top 20 players on the leaderboard played the Country Club on Thursday. The rest played the Dye’s Valley Course, which yielded a 9-under 61 to first-round leader Corey Shaun and three other rounds of 3-under or better.

Guthrie, who was the individual medalist of the second stage to earn status on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025, will play the Dye’s Valley Course on Friday. He will have to find a way to finish stronger to move up the leaderboard.

Despite a bogey on the par-5 fourth hole — Guthrie started on the back nine — he responded with back-to-back birdies to get to 1-under and into the top 20 at the time. However, he found the greenside bunker on each of his final two holes, leading to back-to-back bogeys.

Playing alongside Samuel Anderson and Owen Stamper, Guthrie will tee off in the second round at 7:50 a.m. Friday.

The top five players at the end of the 72-hole event will receive their PGA Tour card for 2025. Golfers finishing 6-30 will receive Korn Ferry Tour status with a guarantee of 12 starts before the third reshuffle. Guthrie is currently guaranteed eight starts prior to the second reshuffle.