Michael Feagles credits his uncle with helping him with the mental side of competition; also cited a recent pep talk from his fiancee’
PGA Tour Q-School contenders Chad Sewell, A.J. Ewart came from small colleges
Not every player contending in this week’s PGA Tour Q-School came from a blueblood college golf program. Chad Sewell and A.J. Ewart are examples.
Michael Feagles is in a five-way tie for the lead at the PGA Tour Q-School after the second round.Feagles, the nephew of former NFL punter Jeff Feagles, nearly quit professional golf last year.The tournament has a crowded leaderboard, with 21 players within three shots of the lead.Co-leaders A.J. Ewart and Kota Kaneko both had impressive hole-outs during their rounds.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Michael Feagles didn’t play football like his Uncle Jeff Feagles, who punted for 22 years with five teams in the NFL. Instead, he played golf and went on to become a four-time All-Big Ten player at Illinois for legendary college coach Mike Smalls.
But Feagles, a Scottsdale, Ariz., resident can see some similarities between a solitary position such as punting and golf.
“We’ve talked mental stuff and there’s probably a lot that translates between football and golf,” said Feagles, after he shot 67 on Dec. 12 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley in the second round of the PGA Tour Q-School, presented by Korn Ferry, to join a five-way tie for the lead at 7-under 133.
“Punting and golf is probably the closest, to be honest,” he continued. “Like the feeling of you on an island back there by yourself. You’re alone. So we can relate.”
Feagles also got a short pep talk in the form of a text from his uncle before Tour Q-School began that he said was along the lines of “good playing … keep it up.”
PGA Tour Q-School third-round tee times
He has, with birdies on three of his first six holes, then a quick rally from a double-bogey at No. 11 with birdies at Nos. 14 and 16.
Co-leaders make hole-in-one, eagle-two
Feagles, who advanced from second-stage qualifying on the 2-over number at Star Pass in Tucson, Ariz., is joined at 7-under by 2025 PGA Tour members John Pak (64, matching the day’s low round at the Valley) and Trevor Cone (65, Sawgrass); and two international players, A.J. Ewart of Canada (67, Valley) and Kota Kaneko of Japan (65, Valley).
Ewart and Kaneko both highlighted their rounds with hole-outs. Ewart used a 9-iron from 162 yards out to ace the par-3 fifth hole and Kaneko flopped a 60-degree wedge into the hole from 45 yards away for an eagle-two at the par-4 seventh.
It’s almost anyone’s golf tournament on the weekend. Eight players are a shot off the lead at 6-under, including past PGA Tour winners Camilo Villegas (65, Valley) and Adam Svensson (64 at the Valley to match Pak), 18-hole leader Chan Kim (70, Sawgrass) and Tour veteran Ben Kohles (66, Sawgrass), a Ponte Vedra Beach resident.
Six more players are another shot behind at 5-under and seven are at 4-under. Twenty-one are within three shots of the five players tied at the top.
Feagles got encouragement from fiancé
Feagles, who has been mixing mini-tours and state opens for the past year since he failed to get past the second stage (he’s won the open championships in Illinois, Nevada and Arizona), said his uncle isn’t the only one giving him pep talks. After coming up short in the second stage last year, he contemplated giving up pro golf.
“When I missed last year at Q-School, I didn’t know if I wanted to do it anymore,” he said. “I was frustrated with golf and the state of my game and where my career was at.”
In stepped his fiancée, Ava. She told him — in no uncertain terms, Feagles said — that he needed to keep pursuing his dream.
“She said, ‘no way,’” he said. “’You need to go work your butt off even harder because I’m not letting you quit.’ When she tells you something, when her mind’s set on something, there’s pretty much no other way. So if she wants me to play, I’m probably playing.”
Two contenders come from small Miami college
Equally determined will be players such as Ewart, who has come from Barry University in Miami, the same NCAA Division II program that produced Svensson.
While the Q-School field is filled with players from college blue-blood programs such as Florida, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Texas, Ewart said coach Jimmy Stobs instilled in him a competitive fire.
Barry has won seven conference titles and three national championships since 2007 and Ewart and Svensson have both won national player of the year awards.
“Jimmy breeds good golf and winning golf tournaments,” he said. “He teaches you what it takes to get to the next level. I learned how to compete and I learned how to win … in pro golf, when you’re feeling a lot of the heat, I kind of lean back on past experiences playing there.”
John Pak overcame a rough start
Other highlights from the second round:
Pak, who won the Sea Best Invitational college tournament at the Valley Course when he was at Florida State, double-bogeyed his first hole, the Valley’s 10th, then birdied the next two and had no more blemishes. He birdied four of six holes at one point.Cone birdied three of four holes on his back nine, the front at Sawgrass, to get his share of the lead.Villegas, a five-time PGA Tour winner who is scrapping for his card at the age of 43, was bogey-free and has gone 30 consecutive holes without a bogey.Svensson birdied his last three holes to join the group at 6-under.
The top half of the field will play on Dec. 13 at the Sawgrass Country Club. The field will be re-grouped again after the third round, and the top half will be sent back to Dye’s Valley for the final chase for the cards.
What’s at stake in Q-School?Top five: PGA Tour cards for 2026. Ties will be broken by a playoff, new to the 2025 Q-School. Next 40 players, plus ties: Full Korn Ferry Tour status for 2026. The top-25 of that group will not be subject to a reshuffle (changing priority status based on earnings) until after the 14th event of 2026. The rest of the next 40 will be subject to the second reshuffle, after 10 events. All remaining finishers: The next 130 players or so will have conditional Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2026 and subject to the first reshuffle. They also have full membership on PGA Tour Americas and subject to the first reshuffle. Their finish in Q-School will determine their priority status.Q-School tickets and parking
No tickets are required for fans to watch Q-School rounds at Dye’s Valley and parking is free. Fans should request the attendants at each gate entry to the TPC Sawgrass (off Solano Road and TPC Boulevard, off A1A) that they would like to go to the Valley Course and after being cleared through the gate, follow signs to Lot G.
Only Sawgrass Country Club residents, club members and their guests, and player guests, can attend Q-School rounds at that venue.
How to watch Q-School
The weekend rounds will be streamed on NBC Sports App from 1-3 p.m. on Dec. 13 and 12-2 p.m. on Dec. 14. Golf Channel will air rounds on Dec. 13 from 2-5 p.m. and on Dec. 14 from 2-4 p.m.
