Pressure makes diamonds: Q-School First Stage medalist Patrick Flavin is fearless in quest for PGA TOUR card

Throughout his life in golf, Patrick Flavin has enjoyed a front-row seat to elite talent. Case in point, his first TOUR start at the 2020 WM Phoenix Open as a Monday qualifier, where he played the first two rounds alongside Viktor Hovland.

Hovland was a TOUR rookie at the time, but the talent was clear, and Flavin took two learnings from the experience. Yes, Hovland was good, but Flavin’s game stacked up too.

“It was definitely an eye-opening experience,” said Flavin, who earned medalist honors at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s First Stage earlier this month in Arizona.

“It’s something I still draw on today – that week, " he said. "Once I competed and played with Viktor, who is one of the best players in the world, I stacked my game up next to his and I knew that I could compete with him.

“There’s a huge learning curve in those tournaments. When you are playing against guys that you have watched on TV your whole life, it’s hard to continue to focus on your game and trust that it’s good enough, but now I feel like I’ve had enough experience where I know my game is good enough – I just have to get myself there.”

Professional golf’s turbulent nature requires a calm, optimistic mind, considering the game’s competitive landscape that delivers both groundbreaking success and utter heartbreak. Sometimes at Q-School, a single shot or break can determine those margins.

In his six years as a pro, Flavin, 28, has seen both sides, and he’s ready to channel the lingering emotions and lessons into achieving his lifelong dream: a PGA TOUR card.

Since Flavin decided to pursue golf over baseball at age 12, he had zero doubt that professional golf was his endgame. Having surrounded himself with friends who had the same collective goal growing up, like PGA TOUR member Nick Hardy, the idea never seemed far-fetched.

After four years of collegiate golf at Miami (Ohio) University, Flavin joined Hardy in moving from Chicagoland to Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2019. By swapping Illinois’ ferocious winters for Arizona’s desert-dry heat, the duo took advantage of year-round golf and relished in the newfound consistency.

As Hardy earned his first PGA TOUR card in 2021, Flavin used his friend’s success as motivation to join him. He knew his game stacked up, same as it did with Hovland.

Although Flavin missed the cut at that WM Phoenix Open – held at his “second home course,” TPC Scottsdale – he felt a surge of confidence from those two days with Hovland, who has ascended to world No. 8 and 2023 FedExCup champion. Flavin made nine additional TOUR starts in the 2021-22 season through a mix of Monday qualifiers and sponsor exemptions, and he earned enough non-member FedExCup points to earn a spot in the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Finals, which led him to Final Stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School.

Flavin secured eight guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour for the 2023 season, and although he ultimately played 24 events, he made just 11 cuts with a season-best T14 finish at The Panama Championship. Flavin lost Korn Ferry Tour status and returned to PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry.

Although Flavin had to start from the beginning, he still felt confident in his chances at PGA TOUR Q-School. He believed that his professional career had featured a constant upward trajectory since his successful PGA TOUR Latinoamérica season in 2019, highlighted by his first professional victory at the Bupa Match Play, and he had every expectation to secure a PGA TOUR card.

After bypassing Pre-Qualifying through an exemption, Flavin breezed through First Stage, but he missed by three strokes at Second Stage. It meant an uncertain playing schedule in 2024 – back to the drawing board.

“It was disheartening for sure,” said Flavin. “One of the biggest keys, though, was that it didn’t completely diminish my belief in myself or my drive to keep getting better. Earlier this year, I was totally square one, but I felt like I was playing really nice golf. It was a guessing game last year, I was hurt, so I’m really proud of myself this year for battling back.”

Flavin began 2024 on PGA TOUR Americas through – true to form – Monday qualifying. After a T7 finish at the Bupa Championship at Tulum, Flavin retained conditional status for the North America Swing. Conditional status was enough to get Flavin into the Swing’s second event, the ATB Classic, but it was up to Flavin to secure additional starts through solid performances.

Once again, Flavin had the loom of extending his professional career over his head and needed to combat another uncertain situation. Flavin is no stranger to pressure – courtesy of growing up with two brothers – so when the opportunity arose to solidify membership, he relished the challenge.

Flavin posted four consecutive top-25 finishes to shuffle up and earn enough points to ascend from conditional status and into the top 25 point earners category – essentially guaranteeing himself a spot in each event for the remainder of the season. He entered the season-finale Fortinet Cup Championship at No. 38 on the points list, with a chance at returning to the Korn Ferry Tour – the event featured elevated points, and he would have moved inside the top 10 (to earn a Korn Ferry Tour card) with a victory.

Flavin held the 36-hole lead at the Fortinet Cup Championship, on the verge of doing just that. Although he fell to a T15 finish, he walked away with a reinforced perspective.

“It’s continuing to just trust and believe in myself and my game under these pressure situations,” said Flavin. “I feel like I thrive on that. It’s just accepting those emotions, and knowing that I can deal with the outcome has really been a huge turning point in my mentality.”

Flavin is exempt on PGA TOUR Americas through the 2025 Latin America Swing, both by finishing inside the top 80 on the Fortinet Cup and via medalist honors at Q-School’s First Stage. At the top of his mind, though, is another shot at getting through Second Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School next month.

“I feel like I’ve been in the gauntlet for years now. I’m prepared to deal with it,” said Flavin. “In terms of how I’m feeling about my game going into Second Stage this year versus last year, it’s night and day. It was definitely disheartening for sure, but now having gone through that, I feel prepared to take care of business this time around.”

Second Stage sites will commence in late November and early December. Players who advance from Second Stage will qualify for PGA TOUR Q-School’s Final Stage, Dec. 12-15, held at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club, where the top five finishers (and ties) will earn 2025 PGA TOUR membership. The remaining finishers will receive different levels of Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR Americas status, based on position.