At a golf discussion site, a poster made this inquiry --

 "I thought that since Andy Miller made it through qualifying school and was fully exempt, he would surely be able
  to get into any tournament he wanted (except majors and invitationals). I see now that he was the 7th alternate
  at the SONY-Hawaiian Open. Can someone please explain?"  


I replied as follows --

 "Just because one makes it thru Q-School doesn't mean that they automaticly have a spot waiting for them at each full-
  field event. That is because Q-School and Nationwide Tour graduates have lower exempt status then do tournament winners,
  Top 125 finishers, sponsor invitees, Open Qualifiers (which is how Miller got into Hawaii) and certain others.

  For your convenience and reference, here are the Current PGA Tour Exemption Categories
  NOTE: Link reflects 2010 season.

  Graduates of Q-School and the Nationwide Tour currently fall under Exemption Category 24, which comes after several
  of the major categories and about 100-120 players with higher exempt status.

  Each player in Category-24 is initially ranked on the basis of how they finished in Q-School or on the Nationwide
  Tour in the previous year. In the case of Andy Miller, he finished Tied 26th at Q-School, so he is ranked near the
  bottom of the Category-24 selection list.

  Miller, obviously realizing that he wasn't guaranteed a spot at Hawaii, voluntarily went thru the Monday Open
  Qualifier procedure and got himself into the field. That's a pretty commendable feat, considering that usually
  only four players get in via Open Qualifying."