'What if game' is route to madness at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Pierceson Coody can’t go there.

The putt that grazed the left edge, the birdie and the PGA TOUR victory that wasn’t.

The surest route to madness at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry is thinking about all the ways it could have been avoided.

“I try not to reflect on it too much,” Coody after signing for a 6-under 64 (T31) to give himself an outside shot to earn his PGA TOUR card (top five and ties) Sunday.

At the ISCO Championship in July, Coody thought he’d converted for birdie on the second hole of a five-man sudden-death playoff. It slid by, though, and Harry Hall chipped in to win on the third extra hole. Coody finished 131st in the FedExCup Fall and now he is here, teeing it up at Final Stage.

“It was a good 25-footer with a lot of break; thought it was going to curl in there,” he said. “I’ve thought of several moments. I was playing well at Colonial (Charles Schwab Challenge, final-round 74, T5), could have got a few more points there.

“It was just a lot of situations that I ended up in where I could have got a few more points,” he continued. “It’s not ideal, it’s not fun. I would have loved for that ball to go in, but unfortunately, that’s not the situation.”

There are many ways to show the mental torture of golf’s annual bar exam, but one of the most cringe-inducing is to note how many players nearly didn’t need to be here.

It’s not just Coody, who would be exempt on the PGA TOUR through 2026 had his putt dropped at the ISCO. Also at Q-School is Matt NeSmith, who had two short birdie putts in the ISCO playoff, missing both on the high side. He missed five straight cuts to end the season, was 143rd in the FedExCup Fall, and thus wound up in windy northeast Florida trying to improve his status for 2025.

NeSmith shot 3-over 73 at Sawgrass Country Club on Saturday, and like Coody, is T31 going into the last round, needing to go low to have a chance.

Alistair Docherty, who shot a third-round 67 at Sawgrass Country Club to share the 54-hole lead with Matthew Riedel at 6-under par, also nearly avoided Q-School. He needed a two-way T2 finish at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance to finish in the top 30 and earn PGA TOUR membership, but Doc Redman’s birdie on the 72nd hole created a three-way T2 finish. Docherty finished 32nd. Hello, Q-School.

Austin Smotherman, who shot 1-over 71 at Sawgrass Country Club and at 4-over is tied for 47th, can relate to close calls. The 30-year-old out of SMU has ricocheted between the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour for much of his professional career.

“I made 13 of 16 cuts on TOUR and I finished 169th,” Smotherman said. “I had all the weekends in front of me to be able to have enough low rounds to do it; it just came down to stalled-out rounds, poor putting for nine holes here or there.”

Smotherman was 28th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green this year, but 176th in SG: Putting (-.557). The difference was especially pronounced at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he said, where he lost nearly seven strokes on the greens and finished T42. He thought he would have a strong fall to keep his card. He didn’t.

“I know where I belong,” he said. “If it means a Korn Ferry season, so be it. It’s a chance for me to prove to myself and put my back against the wall like when I first came out of school and missed my Korn Ferry card by a shot in my first Q-School ever in ’16 and played in South America. It’s a fine line what the Korn Ferry might give you to be ready for TOUR golf.”

Smotherman is not alone in trying to take the long view.

“I’m only 24; I’ve been doing this for two years,” Coody said. “It’s weird to think that I just started. I’m fortunate I’m still a TOUR member; even though I have conditional status, I’ll still get into some events that I could make the most of next year.

“Things could change,” he continued. “I’ve just got to remember that I’m trying to get better for the long haul, and I hope I’m doing this until I’m 60 years old.”

Cole Sherwood, who shot 4-under 66 at Dye’s Valley, also saw the big picture. He’s only 22, fresh out of Vanderbilt, and got through Second Stage on the number. He has conditional Korn Ferry Tour status for finishing seventh in PGA TOUR University and aims to improve that at Q-School (top 40 and ties after the top five and ties who earn their PGA TOUR cards are exempt for multiple reshuffles for the ’25 Korn Ferry Tour season).

“In 2015, 2016, there was an NCAA regional at UT Golf Club, where I grew up,” Sherwood said. “Scottie Scheffler, Doug Ghim – of the top 20 guys, like 10 are TOUR players now. But all those guys had different routes to get there.

“Some got on TOUR right away,” he continued. “Others had a little bit slower of a route, but you find a way. You learn the most through the struggle and the process.”

The latest chapter of the struggle and the process will conclude Sunday.