It’s said that life is 10% what happens and 90% how you respond. Mark Hubbard embodies that ideal.

Hubbard is fully exempt on this year’s PGA TOUR after finishing No. 67 on last year’s FedExCup, and he’s exempt for next year after finishing 69th on this year’s FedExCup. Monday qualifiers shouldn’t be on his schedule anytime soon.

Except Hubbard missed Friday’s 5 p.m. ET deadline to register for the Procore Championship, the first event of the FedExCup Fall, and he was intent on competing at the TOUR’s long-running autumn stop near his college stomping grounds. So the free spirit decided to go and play the Monday qualifier, where he paced the field with a 7-under 65 at Yolo Fliers Club to secure the first of four available spots in the Procore field. (Also qualifying were Cole Sherwood, Sangmoon Bae and Sam Choi.)

Yolo, indeed.

“Short answer, I missed the commitment deadline on Friday by about 23 minutes,” Hubbard explained Monday afternoon. “Had some technical difficulties with my phone; I dropped it in a cold plunge on Thursday, so I didn’t really have it for a while, but at the same time I probably should’ve committed a long time ago. I was pretty frustrated after Memphis (FedEx St. Jude Championship) and really just needed to check out from golf, and I did that, and it was a good thing for me mentally and physically for my game, but this is one of the things that fell through the cracks unfortunately. So I’m glad I hopefully took care of business today.

“I was pretty down in the dumps on Friday, but I feel like I recovered pretty fast and I came out here with a really good head on my shoulders and a good mindset coming into the day. I don’t feel like I would’ve done that even a couple months ago, so I’m pretty proud of myself for that … It’s definitely a learning experience. I hope I don’t do this again, and I almost feel bad taking a spot from somebody, because I should’ve just been in the tournament anyways. It’s a weird situation, but at the end of the day, I can take a lot of positives from it.”

Hubbard went 19-for-19 in made cuts to begin his 2024 PGA TOUR season, and although he has missed the cut in two of his last four starts, he’s trending toward a breakthrough for his first TOUR title. Hubbard, 35, grew up in Colorado and played collegiately at San Jose State, less than 90 miles from this week’s host venue, Silverado Resort. He has made six cuts in eight career starts at the Procore Championship, with three top-25s in his last four showings. He’s trending in Napa and didn’t want to let an opportunity pass him by.

The TOUR was off last week, but Hubbard worked diligently on his game. The Houston-area resident drove to Dallas for a session with his instructor Corey Lundberg, a tune-up of sorts for the Procore. The work paid off Monday, as Hubbard carded six birdies and an eagle against one bogey.

After forgetting to register for the Procore last week, Hubbard poked fun at himself on X. “I accidentally didn’t register for the @ProcoreChamp so I’m no longer in the field…but I did just break the pop-a-shot record at @BluejackNation so things are going preettttttty well,” he wrote.

Now he can correct one detail from that post. He’s in the Procore field after all.

“It’s just one of my favorite events of the year,” Hubbard said. “It’s an area that kind of feels like a second home. My wife’s from Sacramento, so all of her family comes out … I just have a lot of friends and family in the area too. It’s Napa too. I like wine; we call it one of the wives’ majors. It’s just a great week.”

Click here for scores and tee times from the Procore Championship Monday qualifier.