What Does it Take to Qualify for a CGA Event?

Welcome to the Two Down Press golf newsletter!

Happy Ryder Cup weekend! I’m fired up to watch some golf, but I have a confession to make - I think I’m cheering for Europe…

What started as pity-rooting for parity during the 2016 and 2021 blowouts at Hazeltine and Whistling Straits has morphed into full-fledged fandom. I can’t really explain why, but I think it’s ultimately the same sentiment that drives fans to pull for the underdog during March Madness - or at least that’s how I’m justifying it to myself!

In this week’s newsletter, we’re diving in to some data to try to answer an age-old question for amateur golf tournament dabblers - what does it take to qualify? We looked at recent qualifying trends for 2 major CGA championships to try to shed light on how the amateur game is changing amidst golf’s biggest boom in decades. We also have our typical news and notes roundup from around Carolinas golf, so check it all out below before you lock in to the morning foursomes!

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINE

What Does it Take to Qualify for a CGA Event (and is it Changing)?

Midway through the back 9 of a qualifier earlier this summer, I checked the live scoring only to see the cutline slipping out of reach. “Man, these events are getting harder to qualify for,” I expressed in a dejected tone to the other members of my group. They all nodded and generally agreed, saying they’ve noticed similar trends and that qualifying scores appear to be getting lower.

After the event, I pressure-tested this theory with a few other frequent CGA competitors and no one seemed to bat an eye at the hypothesis - in a pre-rollback world where average joes are gaining 1-3 yards of carry annually without so much as sniffing a dumbbell, declining scores in amateur golf tournaments should probably be expected.

Curiosity and and the desire to justify my MC ultimately led me to dig deeper for a definitive answer. After scouring the CGA Archives, here’s what I learned about the state of scoring in CGA qualifying in an attempt to answer the headline question.

Carolinas Amateur Qualifying

The CGA’s flagship event seemed like the most obvious place to start for today’s analysis. A quick glance at scoring since 2018 (struggling to access data from 2017 or prior) shows a clear decline in the last 8 seasons, with the average qualifying score (i.e. making the cut on the number) dropping nearly 3 full shots from 74.3 in 2018 to 71.6 in 2025. I don’t know about you, but this feels like a huge change in a short period of time - going from roughly +2 to under par on average to qualify is significant.

Medalist scoring (i.e. the low score/”winning” score for the qualifier) hasn’t moved quite as much, but there has certainly been a drop, with the average for the last 3 years holding steady at ~67 - about a shot lower than the 2018 baseline.

When looking at these results, it’s important to remember the other key factor beyond raw scoring that determines where the cutline falls in a given event - the number of qualifying spots available. This variable helps explain the dramatic scoring dip in 2022, as the average number spots per event for that year’s championship at Charlotte Country Club dropped to 3.3, by far the lowest number in this historical period.

While the severity of the 2022 drop is hard to explain (my theory: more exempt players entered given the quality of the venue, thus reducing available spots for qualifiers), there is a clear downward trend in number of spots available when zooming out and looking at the full sample. This has been slightly offset by an increase in the number of qualifying events, which has commonly 7-8 pre-COVID and has risen to 10 per year, but regardless of the reason, it’s safe to say it’s getting tougher to secure a spot in the Carolinas Am.

Carolinas Mid-Amateur Qualifying

Given the severity of the scoring decline at Carolinas Am qualifiers, one might assume this is a universal trend at CGA events. Not so fast, my friend! Applying the same analysis to the Carolinas Mid-Am, the premier championship for players age 25 and up, shows little change in average cutline since 2018.

Interestingly, there has been a decline in the number of qualifying spots for this championship as well, with the average dipping from 13.8 in 2018-2021 to 9.5 in 2022-2025 (again offset by an increase in number of qualifiers). The corresponding decline in qualifying score, however, does not seem to have manifested. Contributing factors could include this event’s position on the schedule (April), where qualifying typically takes place before competitors hit mid-season form, but on net it seems like the Mid-Ams aren’t the ones that should be complaining about the state of qualifying!

In conclusion, this exercise has my mind in a pretzel and leaves me yearning to dig deeper. If you have more Carolinas golf questions you want answered, send them over!

STORIES TO TRACK

Charlotte’s Connor Macon Wins Carolinas Women’s Mid-Am by 8: Macon, who played college golf at Furman, posted 2 rounds under par to finish at -3, 8 shots clear of Wilmington’s Michelle Jarman and friend-of-the-program Colleen Shepard.

• Full scoring: View final leaderboard

Woodard Continues Hot Streak, Wins Carolinas Women’s Senior Am: Fresh off her big win, U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Dawn Woodard returned to her home state of South Carolina to grab the title at Woodfin Ridge. Talk about a heater! Woodard’s 67 in round 2 lifted her to a 4-shot victory over Greensboro’s Julie Streng.

• Full scoring: View final leaderboard

Refreshed Carolinas Golf Magazine Released: The CGA released an overhauled version of their quarterly publication with a Golfer’s Journal-esque look and feel. The Fall 2025 edition included some great photography and an awesome profile on our sponsor Twilight Golf Club - great work by Editor Josh Stueve and the rest of the team.

Stockholders’ Course at Raleigh Golf Association Reopens After Renovation: We’re not typically the most up-to-speed on the Triangle beat, but this news caught our attention this week. The 9-hole course, which is part of the RGA facility and will become the back 9 of an 18 hole course once the full project concludes, recently reopened after a significant overhaul by Kris Spence. Raleigh-based McConnell Golf, the largest owner/operator of private clubs in the Southeast, partnered with the public facility earlier this year, providing stability via a long-term lease extension and investment through a $3.5MM commitment to course improvements. Cool story and kudos to McConnell for protecting and enriching public golf in a major metropolitan area!

HOUSEKEEPING

Dear reader,

I made an incredible omission from last week’s newsletter that was fortunately flagged by a subscriber (thanks Tim!). After publishing my short story on the results from the Carolinas Senior Amateur at Highland Country Club, I was made aware that champion John O’Brien plays tournament golf without shoes! I can’t believe I missed this - it should have been the headline! Barefoot Bandit Steals Carolinas Senior.

I have so many questions. Some photos appear to indicate that he carries a pair of flip-flops to wear on the green??? If anyone has more information on this or can put me in touch with John, I’d love to get the full story. Is he crazy? A genius? Maybe a little bit of both? Let us know what you think.

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