Corey Shaun opens Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry in 9-under 61, leads by five strokes

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – After missing the cut by one stroke at the DP World Tour’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open two weeks ago, Corey Shaun was reminded by his dad Norman that good can come from anything.

At the time, neither could have traced the extent of that sliding-doors moment.

Shaun opened Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry in 9-under 61, setting a competitive course record at TPC Sawgrass' Dye’s Valley Course, to take a five-stroke lead through the opening round at the 72-hole event in northeast Florida which awards 2025 PGA TOUR membership to the top five finishers (and ties). Shaun is five strokes clear of Richy Werenski (Dye’s Valley), with four players at 3-under 67. Players rotate across Dye’s Valley and Sawgrass Country Club for the first two rounds, with the top half of the field through 36 holes playing the third round at Sawgrass Country Club and fourth round at Dye’s Valley (and vice versa).

Shaun holds the largest opening-round lead in Q-School’s modern era (dating to 1992), and his opening-round 61 bettered Thursday’s field scoring average at Dye’s Valley by roughly 10.5 shots. And to think, if his 25-footer for eagle on his 36th hole in Australia had dropped, he wouldn’t even be here.

Shaun earned 2025 DP World Tour status via Q-School in early November (less than three weeks after advancing through First Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School), and he then played the DP World Tour season’s first two events in Australia, fully intent on a full DP World Tour schedule in 2025. Then he realized he was an alternate for the DP World Tour’s next two events (which ran parallel to Second Stage and Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School), and with a weekend to travel and recuperate, his next move crystallized. He would continue the Q-School bonanza and chase a PGA TOUR card.

“I told everyone, if I made that cut (in Australia), I was going to WD from Second Stage of Q-School,” Shaun said Thursday. “I perfectly had that opening of two weeks in a row where I could play Second Stage and Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School, and all of a sudden, I was like, ‘I guess I should play because there are five PGA TOUR cards.’

“I wasn’t really thinking about it because I was like, ‘I should just rest and chill; I’ve been playing way too much golf already.’ I just wanted to find an opening to just relax. But obviously this is like a dream start, can’t really ask for anything more and I’m glad to be here, but it’s just been so much golf at the same time.”

Shaun hasn’t rested much in recent weeks – he was asked Thursday how he maintained the energy to play high-level golf across multiple time zones with minimal rest, and he said he wasn’t exactly sure. But a swing thought clicked at First Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School in October, and Shaun, a longtime golf nut and avid tinkerer, has channeled simplicity into a two-month run of strong form. The UCLA alum finished solo second at his Second Stage site, seven strokes inside the cut line, to advance to Final Stage and cement 2025 conditional Korn Ferry Tour status at a minimum. He spent a relaxing weekend at home with his girlfriend – making sure to buy her lunch and dinner after feeling bad for so many weeks away from home – and then flew cross-country to Florida for Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School. With his DP World Tour membership solidified, he was freed up to chase a PGA TOUR card via the top five and ties this week.

Fifty-four holes remain at Final Stage, with windy conditions expected this weekend in the Jacksonville, Florida, metroplex, but Shaun has taken about as good a position as one can dream. He has steadily built momentum for the past two months, and everything coalesced on a record-setting Thursday on a venerable Dye’s Valley venue, the sister layout to TPC Sawgrass’ THE PLAYERS Stadium Course, which hosts THE PLAYERS Championship each spring.

“To start the year, I was playing pretty poorly and as a result I was just always trying to figure out what can I do better, what can I do better,” Shaun said Thursday. “As kind of an analytical golfer, I was trying to like just try stuff every single day, try something new. Sometimes it's OK, but it's not really probably the most optimal way to be thinking at a tournament, like competing against elite professionals.

“I think since (PGA TOUR Q-School’s First Stage), I've more or less had the same swing thought, like very similar, just trying to dial it in a little bit. Once I kind of figured that out, it's like … every shot I hit, I don't have to worry about what position am I trying to hit right now.”

Shaun held 2022 Korn Ferry Tour status but missed 10 straight cuts in the season’s latter portion, en route to losing his card. He played PGA TOUR Canada full-time in 2023, finishing No. 37 on the season-long Fortinet Cup, but he made just one of six cuts on PGA TOUR Americas in early 2024. Now he’s on a Q-School heater for the ages.

Sometimes in golf, and life, it’s all about timing. In his seventh season as a pro, Shaun’s timing this autumn could prove impeccable.