Division II phenom A.J. Ewart breezes through First Stage of Q-School

Several countries outside the United States have become perennial golf powerhouses. England, Spain, Ireland and Australia come to mind.

Add Canada to that list. Four PGA TOUR winners in the past 12 months, plus Brooke Henderson’s continued LPGA stardom.

A.J. Ewart, who zipped through First Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry – his third-round 64 included an ace at the par-3 third at The Falls Club in Lake Worth, Florida – is keen to add his name to the ever-growing list of TOUR members from the Great White North.

And he has a good example to follow in Adam Svensson.

Ewart, who is from Coquitlam, British Columbia (about 20 miles from Vancouver), turned professional this spring after a celebrated career at Barry University, a Division II school near Miami. There, he won 14 times.

Fourteen times.

He topped the school record set by Svensson, a fellow Canadian, and was named the 2022 Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the top player in Division II golf as a junior.

After completing college in spring 2023, Ewart had a tough summer on PGA TOUR Canada – just three made cuts in nine starts, finishing No. 89 on the Fortinet Cup standings – but he returned to Florida for First Stage, and the comfortable setting led to a solid result. He finished T5 at 16 under, five strokes clear of the cut line. Onward to Second Stage, and the quest for a PGA TOUR card rolls on.

Players who advance from Second Stage of Q-School will compete at Final Stage, contested Dec. 14-17 at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club. The top five and ties at Final Stage will receive 2024 PGA TOUR membership, with the next 40 and ties earning guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. The remainder of the field at Final Stage will earn guaranteed starts for PGA TOUR Americas’ Latin America Swing and conditional Korn Ferry Tour status.

“It was huge,” Ewart said of his effort at First Stage. “Q-School is tough. You’re not guaranteed anything. And you have to play for everything you deserve. I tried to look at it as just another tournament and go through my process and be prepared and execute, and I thought I did a pretty good job of that.”

Ewart won plenty as a junior and amateur in his native British Columbia and was part of Golf Canada’s national team program just like Svensson, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Nick Taylor – the PGA TOUR winners from the last 12 months.

Ewart says it’s “been awesome” to see their success on the top level (there was nearly a fifth winner, with Adam Hadwin falling in a playoff to Rickie Fowler at the Rocket Mortgage Classic) but Ewart was quick to point out the successes of Canadians on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR Canada this summer, too.

Both Roger Sloan and Ben Silverman won on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023, and both earned PGA TOUR cards. There were two Canadian winners on PGA TOUR Canada as well – Stuart Macdonald and Etienne Papineau, with the latter earning Korn Ferry Tour status for 2024.

“It’s nice to see and it’s nice to know the (Golf Canada) program works really well,” he said.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Ewart to get to this point, however, as he admits Barry University wasn’t his first or second choice. It wasn’t even on his radar. Ewart had originally committed to Arizona State University just as he started with high school.

“It was the only school I wanted to go to and the only school I really visited,” he said.

Things fell through there, he said, when Tim Mickelson left the school in 2016 and then nothing really fell into place the way he hoped. He sat out a few years and says he didn’t think he would even go to college.

He was told about the Barry University program and how it had worked for other guys – including Svensson, who is five years older than Ewart. Division II golf, he admits, wasn’t his first pick.

“But everything happens for a reason and it’s how things worked out and I’m thankful for it,” Ewart said.

While at Barry, Ewart won twice as a freshman and then ended up winning seven times as a junior – his Jack Nicklaus Award-winning campaign – before adding four more wins in his senior season. The seven wins as a junior tied Svensson for the most in a single year.

“Learning how to compete is one thing, and learning how to win is another," Ewart said. "Winning is a totally different animal. It was nice to learn and put myself in those situations. I think people argue like, ‘Oh, it’s D-II golf it’s not as strong,’ but you take the top guys in D-II and the top guys in D-I and they’re not going to be too far off.

“You might be playing at a D-II level but you’re learning how to win, and I don’t care what level you’re at. A win is a win.”

Ewart made a habit of winning while he was at school, but it’s a whole new ball game now. Things moved quickly in the springtime when he wrapped up his collegiate career. After Barry finished second at the NCAA D-II Championships, six days later Ewart was at PGA TOUR Canada Q-School and a few days after that he was at his first event – and then on the road for six weeks learning the ropes.

The quick turnover in the spring and the whirlwind summertime stretch took some adjustment, Ewart said. He admits he dealt with some burnout at the end of his playing year, which had a “big effect” on him.

“There was no time to really think about (turning pro) which was nice, but I kind of paid the consequences near the end,” he said.

But Ewart ended up learning a ton about how to prepare his body for long weeks on the road. The comforting return to Florida before Korn Ferry Tour Q-School (if this is any sign that Ewart is still getting his footing as a pro, he’s currently living with a few roommates in Florida as he prepares for Second Stage and is lucky enough to be using Barry’s facilities still) was helpful as he got settled again before some big-time opportunities this fall.

And perhaps the opportunity to convert another Canadian to a PGA TOUR member.

“It’s comforting to see and to know that the blueprint is there,” Ewart said, “and it’s yours for the taking. You have to go and get it.”