Shane Bertsch disregards doubters, earns exempt PGA TOUR Champions card at Q-School

Say this much about Shane Bertsch: He’s not complacent.

Sit on his position as 39th in this year's Charles Schwab Cup standings, which might have earned him 20-plus PGA TOUR Champions starts in 2024?

That would be a no.

“I actually look at it the other way,” Bertsch, 53, said. “It didn’t say fully exempt next to my name. Now, it does.”

The reason it does is because Bertsch entered Final Stage of PGA TOUR Champions Q-School to fight for a better standing. Only five players in the 78-man field get cards for next year, and Bertsch made sure he was one of them by coming in third.

“Quite honestly, the end of the year left a bad taste in my mouth,” said Bertsch, who moved from 56th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings to 39th over the final month of the season. “I was making a great run at the end of the year. Bogeying the last hole (at the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida) cost me the top 36. I was already registered for Q-School. I’m like, ‘I played well there three years ago, so why not?’

“Some players are perfectly fine knowing they’re in 18 tournaments or whatever. I want to play in every single tournament.”

Bertsch said it will be nice not to have to write letters to get into tournaments, or arrive early and wait around because of alternate status. He’s worry-free for 2024.

The Denver native boasts one win on PGA TOUR Champions, the 2020 Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge. It was an added event that year after the players returned from the COVID hiatus. He said he felt like he has played well on Tour since turning 50, with final finishes in the Charles Schwab Cup standings of 37th in 2020-21 (the elongated COVID season), 38th in 2022 and 39th this past year.

“I’ve been hitting the ball really well on the Champions Tour the whole time,” Bertsch said. “I haven’t had any issues playing the courses from tee to green. My putting hasn’t been where I’d like it to be. I was experimenting a lot this year – short putter, arm-lock putter. Twenty-five, 30 years ago, I was one of the best putters in the world with a standard putter.

“This year, my putting wasn’t consistent. I went back to an arm-lock putter the last half of the year. The main thing that has changed … I did a few more tweaks to my putter, got the grip right, got the setup right. The hardest thing about the arm lock is getting it set up to be comfortable.”

Bertsch put the newly configured putter in play during the final round of the SAS Championship. It caught fire in the next two events, both in the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs. He finished T13 at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic and was tied for the lead after the first round at the TimberTech before finishing a season-best T4.

Bertsch was paired with Padraig Harrington in the second round in Boca Raton and held his own for 16 holes. He then went bogey-double bogey while the Irishman went birdie-birdie. Harrington went on to win the event by seven strokes.

“That kind flipped it, but I played with Ernie (Els) the last day and did well,” Bertsch said. “I played with some incredible players and felt like my game was right there. I felt great. I honestly feel like I should have a lot more tournaments like that.”

Bertsch carried that confidence into Q-School. He said he not only putted more consistently, but he felt he made more putts outside 15 feet than he had all year.

If he can putt better for a whole season, Bertsch just might add a second victory and make his first Charles Schwab Cup Championship appearance.