Q-School delivers the ‘completely unexpected’ as four PGA TOUR rookies emerge

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Hayden Springer deployed a 15th club at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s Final Stage. It resides in his heart.

Four weeks after experiencing a parent’s worst moment – the funeral of his daughter Sage, who died last month at age 3 from complications related to Trisomy 18, a severe developmental disorder – Springer experienced professional golf’s ultimate triumph. Springer, 26, earned his first PGA TOUR card with a top-five finish at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s Final Stage, surviving 72 windswept holes – across five days, including a rained-out Sunday – in northeast Florida.

“That one time at Q-School …,” is a common beginning to stories among professional golfers. The story usually ends in tragedy. This one begins with tragedy but ends in ecstasy. Springer’s wife, Emma, described the moment as “very surreal” and “completely unexpected". If anything, she undersold the moment. Springer carded 8-under 272 at Q-School’s Final Stage, finishing in a two-way T4 to earn his PGA TOUR card on the number. He joins Trace Crowe, Blaine Hale, Jr., and Raul Pereda as TOUR first-time members via Q-School; medalist Harrison Endycott (improving on TOUR conditional status) rounds out the five Q-School graduates.

When it comes to Q-School, professional golfers are conditioned to expect the unexpected. Springer’s triumph – one of the human spirit – elevates the term to a new level.

“I’ve never been so proud of somebody in my life,” said Springer’s caddie, Michael Burns, choking up. “After what he’s been through, and to persevere like that for Sage … I’m beyond honored and proud that he’d have me helping with this.”

“I think the emotion inside our family the last couple months has been real tough … the highest highs and the lowest lows,” said Springer’s dad, Neyland, on the scene at Q-School. “For him to control his emotions and do what he just did is pretty impressive. I think everybody should know that. That’s pretty good.”

“Pretty good” might be an understatement. Emma Springer’s “completely unexpected” sentiment feels right, not only for her husband but for all four soon-to-be TOUR rookies who finished in the top five among 165 players who rolled the dice at Q-School’s Final Stage, contested at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club (two rounds on each course). This marked the first time since 2012 that TOUR cards were on offer at Q-School, and the underdog stories that emerged were worth the wait.

Want the unexpected? Crowe had trouble walking on Wednesday, so much so that he abbreviated a planned 18-hole practice round to just nine holes at Sawgrass Country Club.

“It just hurt when I started walking on the outside of my foot,” Crowe said. “Every time I put pressure on it walking, it felt like it was just like a knife digging into the side of it.”

Sunday’s rainout was a blessing in disguise, as Crowe applied some creams, Epsom salts, hot water and ice packs to nurse his aggrieved right foot. The adrenaline kicked in for Monday’s final round, where he carded 3-under 67 at Dye’s Valley Course to finish three strokes inside the number.

Crowe began the 2023 season with conditional Korn Ferry Tour status – the turning point came at the HomeTown Lenders Championship in Alabama, where he got a tee time Friday morning (fog suspended the entirety of Thursday's competition) after Chris Baker withdrew. Crowe finished T11 to improve his priority ranking and set up his season, then won the NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank in July. Now the small-town South Carolina kid is headed to the PGA TOUR.

What would Crowe say to his childhood self? “We did it, dude.”

Want the unexpected? Pereda was outside the number in the waning moments at Second Stage in California earlier this month, only advancing to Final Stage when Alex Chiarella and William Mouw each made a bogey on the 72nd hole (a par 5) to move the cut line to 1 under, where Pereda had finished.

Pereda, a Mexico native, ranked No. 22 on the 2023 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica’s season-long Fortinet Cup standings; if he failed to advance through Second Stage, he’d be back on PGA TOUR Americas in 2024. Now he’s playing at the game’s highest level, on the strength of a final-round 69 at Dye’s Valley Course that included two back-nine chip-ins.

Golf aside, it has been an emotional week for Pereda – he spent a large chunk of Sunday’s rainout in the emergency room with his dad, Francisco, who has been suffering from kidney stones. Pereda choked up Monday when thinking of his dad, who wasn’t able to come out and watch.

“Looking at my dad just hurt … I did it for them,” Pereda said of his family. “He's good. He's got some meds. He's walking. He couldn't go out there and watch. I'm glad he didn't because he probably would have had a heart attack.

“My brother was here, my mom was here, and this is for them, and this is for my entire country supporting me.”

Want the unexpected? Hale Jr. began Q-School with no status on any PGA TOUR-sanctioned circuit. In October, he advanced through First Stage in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The next month, he carded a 6-under final round at Second Stage in Valdosta, Georgia, to advance with three strokes to spare. Now he’s headed to the PGA TOUR after carding 9-under 271 at Final Stage for a T3 finish – playing a PING G425 driver that was stolen two weeks before his wedding last year (his car, containing his clubs, was stolen from a Dallas-area mall). Remarkably, he was reunited with his clubs this summer courtesy of a golf store in Dallas, after the clubs were offered for sale and an employee flagged them as belonging to Hale Jr.. The store called Hale Jr. with the news.

“I was like, ‘Will you grab those for me?’” Hale Jr. recalls asking. “He goes, ‘I already took them and told the guy to leave.’ … I didn’t play my driver for a whole year, but when I got it back, it just felt right, back in my hands.”

When the recent Q-School changes were announced, once again awarding direct access to the TOUR, pundits noted that someone might ascend from mini-tour anonymity right to the game’s highest level. Hale Jr. remembers thinking this too but admits, “I didn’t think it would be me. Let me say that.”

Even internally, Hale Jr. didn’t expect to perform like he did.

For some who narrowly missed a TOUR card, there was a silver lining in just reaching this point. Danny Walker finished at 6-under 274, two back of the top-five cut line, and the University of Virginia alum felt the sting of coming oh-so-close to joining his former college teammate Jimmy Stanger (who attended Sunday to lend support) as a 2024 TOUR rookie.

Despite the sting, Walker concludes Q-School with a sense of gratitude. After losing his Korn Ferry Tour status, he shot 6 under on the final day at Q-School’s First Stage to advance with one stroke to spare. Then he earned medalist honors at his Second Stage site to secure eight guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. With a T7 finish at Final Stage, he earns four more starts (12 total). He’ll have ample chances to chase a TOUR card next season.

Satoshi Kodaira finished solo sixth at 7 under, one stroke off the line. He holds TOUR Past Champion status from a win at the 2018 RBC Heritage, but those starts will be limited.

Patrick Cover and Doc Redman joined Walker at 6 under, two back of the magic number. Cover’s finish included some heartbreak – his tee shot at the 72nd hole found the pond left of the fairway, leading to a bogey when a birdie would have meant his first TOUR card. He was understandably dejected. Redman took a more upbeat approach. The Clemson alum has played the last four seasons on TOUR, but he finished No. 157 on the 2023 FedExCup Fall standings to lose his status. He’ll play the Korn Ferry Tour for the first time in 2024, eyeing a TOUR return via the top 30 on the season-long standings.

These are among countless players who will depart northeast Florida and resort to replaying shots and moments in their minds throughout the holiday season and into the new year. Just five players will have no such qualms – a serenity to savor.

Springer entered the week as the sentimental favorite, but Q-School’s Final Stage historically scoffs at the sentiment. Q-School is known for tragic misses, heartbreak and the what-ifs that can linger for years. If channeled properly, Q-School shortfalls can propel a career, but sometimes the next opportunity never comes.

Q-School’s one enduring truth: when the opportunity presents itself, go get it. Springer, buoyed by Sage’s memory, did just that. Triumph through tragedy.

“It's an interesting kind of thing mentally thinking about her when you're trying to play, and there's pressure and all of that because it is emotional,” Springer said, “but it's happy thoughts. I think about her, and I just think about her smile. That’s the thing that I can just close my eyes and think about her smiling, and it's kind of a grounding, kind of gets you back to neutral.

“Not thinking about golf, not thinking about the last shot, the next shot, just thinking about her and her smile.”

Some might say a 15th club.

Taylor Ryan and Grace Vroom contributed to this report.