At age 32, professional golfer Montrele Wells is banking on his golfing skills for a long, satisfying sports career. “Golf is my life,” he says, after returning from the PGA Tour’s Latin America Q-School. The PGA Tour Latinoamérica is a third level professional golf tour formed in 2012 and operated by the PGA Tour.
For 2015, three Q-Schools were held, in three different countries, allowing Wells– as well as more players– an opportunity to join in PGA TOUR Latinoamérica’s success. Players had their chance to lock up one of the exempt cards up for grabs at each site: Sun ‘N Lake Golf and Country Club in Sebring, Florida played host in the U.S. for the third year in a row (January 20-23). Following were two concurrent sites played, allowing for some players to compete closer to home (January 27-30): The La Planicie Country Club, in Lima, Peru and Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At all three sites the top finisher received fully exempt status for the entire 2015 season. The remaining spots are determined based on each field’s composition and be subject to areshuffle. Conditional status was awarded to those who finished within the top 30 and ties.
Wells made the tight January 5th deadline for players to apply and began making his travel arrangements.
Why did he decide to enter and attend Q-School there?
“I’d never been before and, wanted to test my game— in hopes of taking advantage of another avenue that the PGA Tour has created—for golfers to develop and make it to the Tour,” says Wells. “Unfortunately, I had some wrist issues from prior surgery and fought through the week just to finish.” And he did not give up. The fields consist of a maximum 144 players, with the top fifty plus ties making the cut.
Wells paid for Q-School himself, using funds from his 2014 mini-tour winnings. He also ran a grass roots campaign by simply asking people he knew for $25 in person, by phone, by email, and on Facebook. “I was able to come up with the money through the support of my wife, great family and church members, and friends who want to to see me succeed,” says Wells who used the much-needed money to cover travel, equipment and meal expenses. Players who make the cut will be part of the Tour’s 2015 schedule that includes 18 official events and one unofficial event spanning 13 countries. Purse levels are rising to $175,000 per event with the Tour Championship featuring a $200,000 purse. The Tour opens its fourth season March 16th with the Colombian Open in Bogota, Colombia followed by the Mazatlan Open at Estrella del Mar in Mazatlan, Mexico on March 23rd.
In the end, he selected the Tour’s Q-School located in Peru, “because the Florida site filled up within just the first few hours and Peru was cheaper than Argentina,” says an ambitious Wells whose total cost to attend and participate ended up at $3,850.00 (entry fee $1,850 + other expenses $2,000).
Photo: A few of the Q-School contestants (l-r) Montrele Wells, Galen Aldrich, Chuck Wyatt (Cuban), Will Lowery (former Big Break player on The Golf Channel), Nick Wade, Wesley Yates. None of them made the cut. 
Results: “-14 won it, +1 received conditional status on the PGA Latino America Tour which was the top 31 and ties. I shot 77,78,81,82.”
Wells was indeed disappointed with his results, but says, “It only made me MORE hungry,” and that the experience was “amazing and taught me so much.”
Determined to succeed, The talented player plans to be much more prepared next year, and ‘prayerfully’, injury free. An upbeat athlete with a passion for following his dream, Wells plans to play at least 20 events on the mini tours during 2015, and, go full-time professional. He usualy plays only in six events annually–while working 40+ hours as the Logistics Supervisor for Delta Cargo– but now plans to slide some Monday qualifiers into his schedule. Sine he also volunteers as an instructor/coach at the First Tee Jacksonville (Fla.) it’s going to be quite a balancing act and require a tremendous amount of discipline but, Wells is confident that he can do it. 
“I really hope that some of the wealthier people in the world will see the passion, desire, and determination of myself, and others who are trying to make it in golf. I hope some of these people get behind us financially so, we can diversify this great game. The game that Mr. Sifford, may he RIP, fought so hard to make available for us to compete in, at the highest level.” Montrele Wells can be reached on Facebook.
