#TOURBound: Blaine Hale Jr. survives — and thrives — en route to PGA TOUR card at Q-School

Amidst the hectic nature of Blaine Hale Jr.’s life – traveling to different corners of the country for qualifiers and mini-tour events – at least one thing stays consistent: He watches the TV show “Survivor” every week, where a contestant pool of dozens of players eventually dwindles down to a sole survivor.

Sometimes at Q-School, you find that you are the survivor. At Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, Hale became one of five players from a field of 165 to earn a PGA TOUR card.

The 26-year-old Dallas native shot 9-under 271 across four rounds at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club (two rounds at each course) in northeast Florida, good for a solo third-place finish (the top five and ties earned 2024 PGA TOUR membership). Unlike several other players in the field with exempt Korn Ferry Tour status, Hale entered the week ranked 4,120th in the Official World Golf Ranking and with just one career start in a TOUR-sanctioned event: a T26 finish at the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2022 Veritex Bank Championship.

This year, Hale’s Q-School journey began at First Stage in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he advanced with five strokes to spare. At Second Stage in Valdosta, Georgia, he was well outside the number entering the final round but closed in 6-under 66, matching the day’s low score, to get through. That set the stage for a banner week at Final Stage, where Hale became the only top-five finisher to have started Q-School with zero status on any TOUR-sanctioned circuit.

The struggles make the success even sweeter.

Hale was part of the 2017 University of Oklahoma "Burly Boys" NCAA Championship team. After graduating, he turned pro in 2019 but fell short at Second Stage of Q-School, carding bogey on the 72nd hole to miss by one stroke in Dothan, Alabama.

Two years later (after 2020 Q-School was canceled due to COVID), Hale missed by four strokes at First Stage in Lincoln, Nebraska. It marked a competitive low point.

“When you miss at Q-School, it's such a dark feeling of having nothing in front of you," said Hale. “You're on a nine-hour drive home. … One shot, if I would have made this putt, if I would have hit this shot, you just go through everything. That was probably the lowest (point) where I was like, ‘Man, is this just never going to happen for me?’

“I tell people all the time, being a professional golfer is not necessarily glamorous when you're not playing on the PGA TOUR or Korn Ferry Tour. It's driving to the middle of nowhere (in) Kansas for a Monday qualifier or driving to small-town Oklahoma.”

Although he was struggling with his game, Hale’s 2021 was not a wash. He met his wife Allison that year – on a pickleball court – and started working with Randy Smith, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler’s long-time coach. Scheffler, also a Dallas resident, just so happens to be Hale’s good friend and pickleball partner.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself and I just beat myself … I was very overcritical of my game,” Hale said of his mindset in 2021. “But I also look back at that year as being probably one of the best years of my life. I met my wife that year. I grew a ton in my faith that year ... I started to become a man of God and pour into my faith maybe more than my golf."

Hale was also planting seeds for a competitive renaissance. Speaking last week on the “Better Than I Found It” podcast, he credited Smith’s “old-school methods,” describing their first lesson as lasting three hours and “maybe hitting 30 shots. ... by the end of it, I came out a better golfer and I don't think we really changed anything in my golf swing."

That doesn’t mean the struggle magically went away. The following year, Hale’s car – with his clubs – was stolen and, to add insult to injury, he fell short at Q-School again.

But his spirit didn't waver. Allison Hale, pregnant with the couple’s first child, followed along during Monday’s final round at Q-School, reflecting on the importance of patience during those tough times.

“All we have is our faith and we continued to trust that the Lord knew when his time would be,” she said. “Even with breaks that he’s missed, he hasn't been too far off the cut – just a shot or two off – so we had a lot of peace that this is still what he was supposed to be doing.”

Hale started trending this year, racking up five top-10s in 10 events on the All Pro Tour. He found his clubs (an employee at a golf store in Dallas flagged them down). And ultimately, he advanced through Q-School, old driver in hand.

"I would say the biggest thing this year was consistency,” Hale said. “In the past I've always considered myself very cyclical. And I saw a little bit of that this year, but my bad weeks were much shorter and my good weeks were much longer … As a professional, I just haven't matched up good golf with the opportunities I've been given … I've started to play well in the right moments and play when I need to."

Hale was introduced to golf at the age of 3 by his father, lifelong golfer Blaine Hale Sr., who flew out to Florida with a group of family and friends to follow along at Final Stage.

“By the time he was 6 or 7, he could hang with us for 18 holes,” Hale, Sr. said. “He could shoot a billion but he didn’t care, he was out there having fun with Dad and his buddies … He stays pretty even-keeled. I’ve been drilling that into him his whole life. You don’t want anyone to know how many under or over you are. Stay constant, stay consistent.”

Q-School’s Final Stage medalist Harrison Endycott, who played alongside Hale over the weekend, only had praise for his even-keeled demeanor.

“He's got a lot of game,” said Endycott. "The way he played (Saturday) in those tough conditions, and even today, the way he hung in, he played a lot of golf like a veteran I've seen on the PGA TOUR. He's just got such a great demeanor about the game; I really believe that guy can go and do well out there.”

Under that calm exterior lay a nervous man. “There was not a point really from when I finished on Saturday that I haven't been nervous,” said Hale after the tournament concluded. “When you go to sleep at night, you're laying in bed thinking about, ‘What am I going to do on this hole? Where is the wind going to be?’ Your mind can race for sure.”

But a game as complicated as golf ultimately came down to basic math, according to Hale.

“I think the secret sauce … I had no penalty shots, and I had no doubles,” Hale said. “I kept it in play off the tee and then … where I made some mistakes, I managed to make bogeys.”

So, four years after turning pro, Hale survives the darkest parts of his journey, well-aware of the highs and lows to come. Instead of the concluding “Survivor” million-dollar prize waiting for him, his dream and journey have just begun: competing on the PGA TOUR.