Bacha's first steps as a pro landed him in the field in PGA Tour Q-School's Final Stage

 

   Carson Bacha, the 2019 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Central York, teed it up in the PGA Tour Q-School’s Final Stage, presented by Korn Ferry, for the first time last week at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

   Bacha wasn’t involved in any of the drama at the top of the leaderboard, where the top five finishers earned playing privileges on the PGA Tour, the big leagues of professional golf, for 2026. I’ll get to a little of that later, but the reality is that there was drama up and down the list of 176 players who teed it up in the Q-School’s Final Stage, which wrapped up Sunday.

   Bacha’s college career wrapped up in late May when Auburn, in defense of the national championship it had won in the spring of 2024, fell to eventual runnerup Virginia in the NCAA Championship’s quarterfinals at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

   The bottom line is that Bacha was a fixture in an Auburn lineup that won the program’s first national championship in the spring of 2024 and was the No. 1 team in the country throughout the wraparound 2024-’25 season, the Tigers claiming the top seed in match play at La Costa after 72 holes of stroke-play qualifying.

   A strong spring with the Tigers in 2025 enabled Bacha to rise to No. 14 on the PGA Tour University Ranking. When he turned pro in the weeks following the NCAA Championship, his status on the PGA Tour University Ranking made him exempt on the PGA Tour Americas’ North America Swing.

   It took the 23-year-old Bacha all of four starts on the PGA Tour Americas to earn his first professional win in a playoff in the Osprey Valley Open at TPC Toronto Highlands in Canada.

   Pretty sure that win all but assured Bacha a berth in last week’s PGA Q-School Final Stage.

   Bacha wasn’t great at Ponte Vedra Beach, opening with a 2-under-par 70 at the Dye’s Valley Course, adding a 2-over 72 in the second round and a solid 4-under 66 in the third round, both at Sawgrass, and closing with a 3-over 73 back at Dye’s Valley for a 1-under 279 total that left him among the group tied for 79^th place.

   If he had been three shots better, Bacha would have been among the players tied for 42^nd or better who earned full status on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2026.

   Bacha will have full status on the PGA Tour Americas, created by combining the old PGA Tour Latinoamerica and the MacKenzie Tour PGA Tour Canada, for 2026, giving him a chance to reach the Q-School Final Stage again in a year.

   A top-10 finish in the season-long PGA Tour Americas points list exempts a player to the Korn Ferry Tour for the following year. Pretty sure Bacha might have some kind of conditional status that might enable him to wrangle an occasional Korn Ferry start in 2026.

   I find it all pretty complicated, but Bacha knows if he keeps playing solid golf, he can move up professional golf’s ladder.

   Brandon Matthews, the former Temple standout and a two-time winner of the Philadelphia Open as an amateur, struggled in Ponte Vedra Beach and withdrew after three rounds. He had opened with a 6-over 76 at Sawgrass, added an 8-over 78 at the Dye’s Valley Course in the second round and carded a 71 in the third round before withdrawing.

   Matthews, the 2010 PIAA champion as a junior at Pittston Area, has battled injuries in recent years and had four starts on the PGA Tour in 2025.

   He might be back at square one on the PGA Tour Americas in 2026. We’ll see. I don’t think anyone has ever doubted his talent.

   One PIAA champion, Neal Shipley, a member of the 2018 Pittsburgh Central Catholic squad that captured the Class AAA team title, will be playing on the PGA Tour in 2025.

   Shipley’s college career began at James Madison, but he transferred to Ohio State for his final two years of eligibility. In the summer before he headed to Columbus, he captured the Pennsylvania Amateur crown at Llanerch Country Club. It proved to be a sign of things to come.

   Shipley was an unlikely U.S. Amateur finalist in the summer of 2023, falling to Nick Dunlap at Cherry Hills, a William Flynn gem in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. outside of Denver.

   After claiming low-amateur honors in the Masters in the spring of 2024, Shipley led the Buckeyes to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship at La Costa, where they fell to eventual champion Auburn.

   Shipley picked up another gold medal by capturing low-amateur honors in the U.S. Open at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.

   Shipley parlayed all that amateur success into a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025, winning twice and finishing in the top 10 eight times. He finished in fourth place in the Korn Ferry points standings to earn a promotion to the PGA Tour.

   There’s a nice Q and A with Shipley, who turns 25 later this month, I stumbled upon in Golfweek while poking around the internet for this post as he prepares for his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

   Meanwhile, back in Ponte Vedra Beach, A.J Ewart, a 26-year-old Canadian, captured medalist honors in Q-School’s Final Stage, closing with a 4-under 66 at Dye’s Valley for a 14-under 266 total.

   Ewart opened with a 4-under 66 at Sawgrass Country Club and added a 3-under 67 in the second round at the Dye’s Valley Course, a round highlighted by a hole-in-one at par-3 fifth hole.

   Ewart, winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award that goes to the NCAA Division II Player of the Year in 2022 while at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., kept his momentum going with a 3-under 67 back at Sawgrass in the third round before nailing down the top spot on the leaderboard and the $50,000 check that went with it with his solid final round.

   After toiling on the PGA Tour Americas the last two years, Ewart will be a PGA Tour rookie in 2026.

   Adam Svensson, Ewart’s countryman and fellow Barry product, headed a trio of players who finished in a tie for second place, two shots behind Ewart at 12-under 268.

   The 31-year-old Svensson surged up the leaderboard in the PGA Tour Final Stage with a 6-under 64 in the second round. Like Ewart, Svensson closed with a 4-under 66 at the Dye’s Valley Course, making a clutch eagle at the par-5 16^th hole.

   Svensson was the Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the top NCAA Division II player in 2014 at Barry. He has won on both PGA Tour Americas and on the Korn Ferry Tour. He struggled on the PGA Tour in 2025, but his strong showing at Ponte Vedra Beach will return him to the big leagues in 2026.

   Joining Svensson at 12-under were Alejandro Tosti, a 29-year-old from Argentina who was a collegiate standout at Florida, and Marcelo Rozo, a 32-year-old from Colombia.

   It is the second straight year that Tosti has earned a spot on the PGA Tour at the Q-School Final stage.

   Tosti registered a 5-under 65 in the third round at Sawgrass before closing with a 3-under 67 as he, like Sevensson, dropped a long putt for eagle at the par-5 16^th hole. That enabled him to get to the house at 12-under.

   The 36-year-old Rozo earned a PGA Tour card for the first time in a 14-year professional career that includes 255 starts on various PGA Tours, only four of which have been on the big tour, with a final round of 1-under 69 at the Dye’s Valley Course.

   The fifth and final PGA Tour card up for grabs at Ponte Vedra Beach came down to a playoff between 29-year-old Dylan Wu, a collegiate standout at Northwestern, and Ben Silverman, a 38-year-old Canadian veteran, both of whom finished with an 11-under 269 total.

   Wu rolled in a birdie putt on the first hole of the playoff, the par-4 18^th at the Dye’s Valley Course, to make sure he will return to the PGA Tour in 2026.

   Wu got off to a great start, making five birdies in the first eight holes of his final round, and was another player who drained a critical eagle putt at the par-5 16^th, on his way to a 4-under 66 at the Dye’s Valley Course.

   Silverman closed with a 3-under 67 to join Wu at 11-under.

   The PGA Tour made it harder to get to the big leagues of golf in 2025. The number of players who earned promotions from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA Tour off the season-long Korn Ferry points list was reduced from 30 to 20.

   All of which made the level of competition at the Q-School’s Final Stage even more fierce. The players seem to get better every year and they all have the same dream to play on the PGA Tour. It’s a dream that dies hard.