Early Round Knockout

It seems like a bad dream now: the burnt edges, the timid chips, the lip-outs, the 4 a.m. wakeups, the long drives to Q school, and the longer trips home. 

My first stage of Q school was last week at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz. The fairways and greens on the 7500 yard layout had turned a brassy color by the opening round, playing firm and fast. The event was marked on my calendar for months and the anticipation affected nearly every day leading up to it. An infection two weeks before the tournament caused my thumb to swell to the size of a mallet putter head, and required two different antibiotics and a week of rest. When tournament time arrived, it wasn’t a swollen thumb that abruptly ended my bid to return to the Korn Ferry Tour, but uninspiring wedge shots and a frigid putter. 

To place so much importance on one tournament can undermine a golfer’s ability to perform, but this is the system we have: Q school is a golfer’s shot to prove they belong. A pro golfer has to be able to perform when it counts, and if you can’t, you’d best find another job. “Play better” is a common refrain in professional golf; “play well when it counts” is the Q school mantra.

In the first two rounds, I was grouped with Brandon Harkins, a former PGA Tour and current KFT member. Harkins has four top-10s on the PGA Tour and a KFT win, but struggled this season on KFT. Despite his win coming three seasons ago, Harkins finished 120th on this year’s points list and had to return to First Stage. Early in the first round, he revealed the KFT season had worn him down and being away from his three-year-old and five-year-old kids was taking a toll. Having just missed the cut in the second to last KFT event of the season, he wasn’t particularly excited to return to First Stage. 

I’ve always been impressed with Harkins’ game: he hits it hard, straight, controls his irons with flighted precision, and has a reliable short game. In 2018, he was paired with Tiger in the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship. Both men played poorly, but Harkins made enough of an impression for Tiger to mention he was impressed with Harkins in a post-round interview. That was seven years ago – a lifetime in pro golf.

In those opening nine holes at Southern Dunes, Harkins’ long game was all over the course but his short game was on point, the opposite of what I brought to the course (we would have been a formidable scramble team). The other player in our group was W.Y. Cho, a friend and Asian Games teammate of Sung-jae Im (“The Prince”). Cho warmed up next to me on the range. The thunderously pure sounds coming from his irons made me pause to watch him. His silky rhythm found the dead center of the clubface every time during his warm-up; on the course, however, that spot was elusive.

For such an accomplished group (mostly from Harkins’ and Cho’s resume), we couldn’t get anything going. You hope for a Q school group where everyone plays well and the chemistry fuels a couple extra birdies and saves a few shots. By the time anyone in the group started making birdies, Round 2 was almost over. The top-19 and ties advanced to Stage 2. I was two under par, four shots off the pace, Harkins was one shot behind me, five off the pace, and Cho was farther back. 

Looming weather pushed the tee times up for Rounds 3 and 4 and because I was staying an hour away, my wakeup calls were painfully early for the final rounds. I hoped fresh morning greens might help a few putts fall. 

One of my playing partners in the third round was Chad Hambright, an Americas Tour member from Southern Cal., with a swing resembling Cameron Young’s. Chad and I spent a memorable day playing and practicing together a couple years ago but today would be different. Chad showed up on the first tee in pain: he had pulled something in his neck and could barely swing. Terrible luck. Usually a bomber, Chad was stuck chipping the ball around the course. He scrambled his way to a 73. The unfortunate injury ended his chances of advancing. 

While I gave myself plenty of opportunities to move up the leaderboard, my speed on the greens was still off. I shot 2 under in the third round, losing half a shot to the pace-setters. The final round would require some true golf heroics. 

Through four holes in the final round I was one under for the day and had a five footer for birdie. I felt a little excitement walking up to the green: maybe I’d been patient enough and my moment had come. I went through my routine, stroked the putt, looked up and saw the putt lip-out. Two holes later, I had a slippery 10-footer for eagle; a real opportunity. To make this putt would have been a massive boost to my confidence, momentum and chances. I completely misread the putt and missed it. A poor bunker shot on the following hole led to a bogey. The walls were closing in. I battled until the end, but another score of two under was six shots short of the advancing score. 

On the long drive home, the car was quiet but my mind was racing. I counted all the missed putts throughout the week: 14 misses from inside 12 feet. On the burnt-out Bermuda greens, putts around the edges of holes weren’t catching edges and falling, they were being repelled. My ball needed more energy around the holes and more aggressive lines; I needed to be willing to risk having a few four and five-foot comeback putts. It was torturously easy to see in hindsight. 

Harkins, Cho, and everyone else in my groups throughout the tournament didn’t fare any better. We all suffered an early round knockout. Pro golf is deeper than it’s ever been and there are fewer jobs available. Harkins said in the past five years, the level of play on the Korn Ferry Tour has noticeably improved and the stats prove it. This is also true of Q school: players can’t sneak through any stage with mediocre golf. 

I take what little solace can be found in my preparation. While the infection in my thumb was a setback, I prepared as thoroughly as I could have. The reality is that the vast majority of competitors will spend dearly on Q school and leave disappointed. Thousands enter and only about 45 players will emerge with guaranteed starts on KFT and PGA Tour in 2026. 

Where do the rest of the players go? Many will set the clubs aside for a while, swear off golf while licking wounds. Perhaps some update their resume and try to line up a few job interviews. But most will keep playing. A 9 to 5? A steady paycheck? Please. Give these guys the rush of a six-foot slider to make the cut over that any day. When the putts start going in, they’ll consider next year’s Q school and begin again. 

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