Five 'Cinderellas' to watch at PGA TOUR Q-School Final Stage

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Just two of 521 players started at pre-qualifying and advanced to Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry.

That’s less than four-tenths of a percent (.38%).

Caleb Hicks, 23, and Wes Homan, 39, are those two. They’re hoping to cash the ultimate lottery ticket and earn PGA TOUR cards as top-five finishers (and ties) at Q-School’s Final Stage.

Consider them dreamers. Also consider them capable of earning PGA TOUR status this week, where 165 players will compete across 72 holes – 36 at each of TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club. You can’t fluke your way to Q-School’s Final Stage.

Hicks turned pro earlier this year; this marks his first Q-School attempt. Homan first played Q-School in 2007, endured a battle with the putting yips that drove him away from the game and has emerged on the other side.

For their similarities in advancing through three separate Q-School stages to advance here, their perspectives on Q-School are worlds apart. Homan has experienced the event’s all-or-nothing stakes for a decade-plus. Hicks is perhaps blessed by naivete.

“If you don’t get through Second Stage, you really have nothing, and there’s a lot of energy to deal with, a lot of fear, a lot of just unknown,” Homan said.

“I’m having a blast,” Hicks said. “It’s fun. If I was going to make it or not, it doesn’t change who I am, so it’s just fun.”

Some in the field, like Hicks and Homan, began Q-School at pre-qualifying in September. Some began at First Stage in October, others at Second Stage in November. Some advanced directly to Final Stage. They all have a chance at professional golf’s ultimate dream: a PGA TOUR card.

“Getting here,” Homan said, “you have a chance.”

All players in the field secure conditional Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR Americas status at minimum once they tee it up Thursday. After the top five and ties, the next 40 finishers and ties will earn guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts. The next 20 and ties will earn guaranteed PGA TOUR Americas starts.

For fans of the underdog, here are five players to root for this week, as the gauntlet of Q-School builds toward Sunday’s crescendo.

Wes Homan

Homan might be the most interesting man in golf. His “real job” is a variety pack of initiatives. He’s preparing to launch a video game. He’s in the marijuana space. He works in car dealerships.

All the while, he advanced through pre-qualifying, First Stage and Second Stage to earn a chance at his first PGA TOUR card.

The Cincinnati-area native turned pro in 2008 and has spent time on various pathway circuits – including a 2014 PGA TOUR Canada title and conditional 2015 Korn Ferry Tour status after a trip to Final Stage of Q-School. Homan contracted the putting yips, though, later that decade, driving him away from the pro game and into the pursuit of a more conventional work pattern. Homan and his wife Libby have three kids – Dilly, Margo and Wally – between ages 4 and 7. Libby tells him it’s OK to play as long as it’s for money.

This week could lead to ample monetary opportunities for Homan, who has made 11 career TOUR starts – mostly via Monday qualifiers. He likes to drive to a few qualifiers across the Midwest each summer. He has always believed in his capabilities tee-to-green; it just took the putting to come around. After advancing through three stages of qualifying, there’s reason to believe things have coalesced at the perfect time.

Homan is longtime friends with veteran pros Adam Long and Scott Harrington, each of whom played the TOUR in 2023. They’re staying together this week; they shared practice rounds Monday at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Tuesday at Sawgrass Country Club. They played a birdie game; when meeting the media Tuesday afternoon, Homan was still amped about a birdie on their final hole. The competitive fire burns.

“It means a lot,” Homan said of being here. “I feel like golf quit me for a while. I was in the basement of the golf world, but I’ve really worked hard. I met a coach named Eric Kaplan who has really helped me get back on track, and this has been a mission of my own just to see where I’m at and get back and play with all these youngsters these days.”

Earlier in his career, Homan was perhaps scared at the idea of never making the PGA TOUR. Now it’s almost as if being here is a bonus. It just might work to his advantage.

Caleb Hicks

Hicks didn’t have a star-studded collegiate career, and he wasn’t sure what to expect from his first Q-School foray. But emboldened by lessons from his late dad Bobby – who passed away from cancer in 2017 at age 50 – and his mom Laurie, whom he still lives with to save money, he has embarked on a magical Q-School journey to cement conditional Korn Ferry Tour status at minimum. Now he eyes a TOUR card.

After completing his fifth year at the University of Texas-Arlington – averaging 73.3 for the 2022-23 season, second best on the team – Hicks turned pro in late spring and has played just “seven or eight tournaments,” nearly half of which have been Q-School stages.

Hicks’ dad introduced him to golf around age 10, and although he laughs that his dad was “a bit of a hard ass at times,” it created a hard-working base that has served him well through the rigors of Q-School and life.

“He put the base of everything in my golf game, who I am as a man,” Hicks said Tuesday. “That’s really what’s helped me through this whole thing, is my dad and how he’s raised me and everything. It’s pretty cool.”

During college summers, Hicks worked as a construction supervisor. Projects included office buildings, residential houses – whatever the day called for.

“From sprinklers to painting, everything,” he said.

Hicks isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves, as he has done across the last three months of Q-School, navigating various courses and conditions, continuing to advance. He never won a college event but has thrived under Q-School pressure – indicating his competitive mettle. After advancing through Second Stage last month, he thought of his dad.

“He would be freaking out right now,” Hicks said with a smile. “It’s crazy. He’d be so happy.”

Taylor Funk

Taylor Funk turned pro in 2017 and has come up clutch to keep his PGA TOUR Canada card on multiple occasions.

Funk upped the ante at Q-School’s Second Stage, authoring a script that nearly defied reality. He was seven strokes off the eventual cut line with 11 holes to play at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, standing 2 over for the week on one of the more difficult Q-School venues. Then he closed with seven birdies and four pars, including back-to-back closing birdies to secure his first trip to Final Stage. He finished on the number at 5 under, becoming the only player across five Second Stage sites to advance after beginning the final round on the back nine (in the back half of the field).

It included a chip-in birdie on his 17th hole after not chipping in for the entire season on PGA TOUR Canada.

“There are no words for it,” said an emotional Funk after signing his final-round card. “A dream come true … Today, it was pretty special there at the end. It’s hard, man … You only have one shot a year to get up there; I’m 28 and you see your old teammates out there on TOUR, and it feels like you’re missing the chance. Just to be able to have the chance … is pretty special.”

Funk is intimately familiar with crunch time in professional golf. His dad, Fred Funk, is an eight-time TOUR winner, including the 2005 PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass’ PLAYERS Stadium Course. He grew up in Ponte Vedra Beach and estimates he's played Dye’s Valley Course more than 1,000 times. His dad didn’t earn a TOUR card until age 32 – so even though it’s Funk’s seventh year as a pro, a TOUR card would mark an accelerated timeline in the family. Either way, the Funks aren’t afraid to grind, as evidenced by the younger Funk’s mind-bending closing stretch in Valdosta.

Funk finished No. 47 on the 2023 PGA TOUR Canada season-long standings; he has made 21 career starts on that circuit, highlighted by a T6 at this year’s CRMC Championship presented by Gertens. He has suffered misses at Q-School after playing on a highly regarded Texas Longhorns college team alongside the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Doug Ghim.

He's four days from joining them on TOUR.

“I had to birdie two of my last three to keep my (PGA TOUR Canada) card last year and I did, and had to have a good round this year on (the season’s final day) and shot 60,” Funk said after completing the final round at Second Stage. “I think something’s in there, and I don’t know where it is sometimes, but it came out today again, and I’m happy it did.”

James Swash

James Swash signed up for Q-School a week before the registration deadline.

He wasn’t sure he had the funding – he received some GoFundMe donations, but the amount was short of the registration cost. Then his girlfriend Lindsay Manning insisted she use her savings to cover the difference.

“I would not be here this week if it wasn’t for my girlfriend,” Swash said.

The investment has paid off and then some. Swash advanced through First Stage and Second Stage – including a closing birdie at Second Stage in Alabama to advance with one stroke to spare – to secure a tee time this week at Final Stage in his first Q-School foray.

Swash grew up in Middlesbrough, England, and played collegiately at Louisiana Tech, completing his fifth-year senior season in 2022-23. While at Louisiana Tech, he developed a friendship with TOUR winner Sam Burns, who plays out of Squire Creek Country Club, the program’s home course. In 2017, Burns finished T10 at Final Stage of Q-School to earn Korn Ferry Tour status. If Swash can author a similar showing, he could join Burns on TOUR.

In addition to his girlfriend, Swash is grateful for his parents’ support in the journey. His mom Annette worked multiple jobs to cover the cost of junior events; his dad Craig works long hours at an Audi dealership, often with six-day workweeks.

“My parents have done everything possible to give me every opportunity of playing professional golf,” Swash said. “They both have put me before themselves to help me chase my dream. Hopefully, one day I can take care of them.”

Michael Feuerstein

After putting out on the 72nd hole at Q-School’s Second Stage in California, Michael Feuerstein hugged his caddie and lifted him into the air.

It was the representation of unbridled joy and anticipation for the opportunity ahead. Feuerstein, 40, has competed in just one Korn Ferry Tour event. He has made just six cuts in 24 starts between PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. He had never advanced to Final Stage.

“This is what I’ve dreamed of forever,” Feuerstein said after advancing through Second Stage. “I got one taste of a Korn Ferry Tour event last summer, and that’s where I want to play … I’d like to have a year on the Korn Ferry Tour next year, develop certain aspects of my game, and after that, go to the show.

“I became a dad earlier this year. I’m inspired by my daughter to work as hard as I can.”

Now he has the opportunity of the lifetime, four days from a PGA TOUR card. At worst he’s a conditional Korn Ferry Tour member with the opportunity to make a cut and earn more starts via the reshuffle. This week, he’ll hold a spot on the scoreboard alongside TOUR winners and intriguing rising stars. Just like them, he has earned his tee times in northeast Florida.

It’s what Q-School’s Final Stage is all about.