Five Earn Champions Tour Cards at Final Qualifying

Robert Thompson is the 2008 medalist at Champions Tour Q-School, beating John Morse by one stroke with a 7-under par total of 281. The senior circuit's final qualifying tournament concluded Friday at TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Gables, Fla.

Thompson played 161 PGA Tour events in his professional career, and made 75 starts on the Nationwide Tour. At age 51, he got into two Champions Tour tournaments during 2008. Morse won the 1995 Hawaiian Open on the PGA Tour and finished third at this year's Champions Tour AT&T Championship.

The top five finishers earned fully exempt status for 2009, and players 6-12 gained conditional exemptions for the coming year. The remainder of the golfers in the field will be eligible to take place in Monday qualifiers throughout the 2009 Champions Tour season.

Tom McKnight, James Mason and Steve Thomas finished third through fifth, respectively. The golfers earning conditional status were Ronnie Black, Mike San Filippo, Jay Don Blake, Tim Conley, David Ogrin, Russ Cochran and Kirk Hanefeld.

Among the golfers who failed to earn 2009 Champions Tour status were Curt Byrum, Mark James, T.C. Chen, Ron Streck, Massy Kuramoto, Mike Donald, Mike Hulbert, Gary Hallberg and Donnie Hammond.

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