It was a year full of learning for Alistair Docherty, but with Second Stage of Q-School on the horizon it’s easy to drill down to one singular objective.

Time to win.

Docherty had a heartbreaking finish to his 2023 Korn Ferry Tour campaign. At the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, Docherty was 4 over for his final five holes. He ended up 86th on the Points List; a 3-over effort during that five-hole stretch would have put him 85th. Nos. 61-85 got to jump right to Second Stage. Docherty, on account of some ill-timed squares on his scorecard, was forced to go back to the beginning and try again.

“You just chalk it up to a learning experience. I wasn’t very pleased with the overall outcome and where I finished. In my opinion I had one good tournament. Maybe two,” Docherty said of his 2023 season. “There were so many learning experiences throughout the year and so many things I would do differently if I had another chance at it, so hopefully this coming year I’ll have another chance and bank on those experiences and hopefully get a PGA TOUR card.”

Luckily for Docherty his First Stage site, Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Arizona, is a place where he’s plenty comfortable. Last year his putter was hot, and he shot 26 under to take medalist honors at the First Stage site. This time around he shot 11 under – including a 4-under 68 in the final round – to finish comfortably inside the number.

Onward.

“I was very, very tired, physically and mentally after the season,” Docherty said. “We had two weeks off, then I was in First Stage. It was a quick turnaround. I did what I needed to do. I didn’t press anything. I didn’t force anything.

“Not that anyone should try to do this, but I wasn’t going in there to try to win; I wanted to survive and move on.”

Docherty called moving on from First Stage a win. The all-important Second Stage, later this month, comes next. Those who advance to Final Stage will secure conditional Korn Ferry Tour status at minimum for 2024, in addition to guaranteed PGA TOUR Americas starts and a chance at a TOUR card.

“So, I’ll be trying to win that. If I’m not in the hunt going into the final round I’m not going to try to press and try to win,” Docherty said of Second Stage. “Because you’ve got to get to Final Stage.”

Docherty will be playing with a heavy heart at his Second Stage site, as he was very close with Kevin McAlpine, the ex-husband to three-time LPGA major winner Anna Nordqvist and former caddie to Lexi Thompson, who died in mid-October at just 39.

Some time after McAlpine’s death, Docherty tried to get back to some semblance of normal with his golf routine. He teed it up at the 2023 Oak Tree National Pro Scratch Invitational in Edmond, Oklahoma – won by FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland and his partner.

“It’s one of the hardest golf courses in America,” Docherty said with a smile. “When I got out there to play a practice round, I see why everyone who is a member here stripes it and has a filthy short game, because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to play well there. Ever.”

Having the opportunity to tee it up at a storied track against some PGA TOUR-level competition (also in the field were, among others, TOUR winners Taylor Moore and Robert Streb) let Docherty continue to play golf with a laser-like focus on minimizing mistakes.

That, he said, is the key at Q-School.

“Q-School in general is just a marathon and you’re just trying to not make those big mistakes that are so costly – because you can’t move on. Just make sure you don’t make mistakes. Keep the ball in front of you. The people who keep it in front of them end up going through,” Docherty said.

If there is anyone outside of his immediate family who is hoping for Docherty to make it through, it’s Sam “Riggs” Bozoian from Barstool Sports. Docherty is a Barstool-sponsored athlete. He and Bozoian played golf together in Arizona a couple years ago and became fast friends. Now they are frequent golf partners in Scottsdale.

Barstool Sports ended up producing the broadcast for this year’s NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank – stemming from Bozoian’s friendship with Docherty. The Barstool host was trying to watch Final Stage of 2022 Q-School and clicking through the online shot tracker to see how Docherty was doing. Docherty was tied for 125th after an opening-round 76, but he would shoot 9 under for the following three rounds and finish one shot inside the magic number. This came after Docherty ran out of money and began caddying at a tony Scottsdale private club to make ends meet.

“Just watching it and we kind of started talking a lot on (the Fore Play Podcast) about how it’s amazing that you can’t really watch Korn Ferry Tour, how week-in and week-out – if you kind of understand what’s at stake, people actually playing for a chance to keep playing for their careers – it would be as compelling as any golf,” Bozoian said in an interview with the Korn Ferry Tour earlier this year.

On a recent appearance on Barstool’s golf podcast, co-hosted by Bozoian, Docherty re-confirmed his dream to one day get to the PGA TOUR and how it’s been a “crazy, windy road” so far. But he’s been thrilled to have the Barstool backing for now.

“He’s just taken me under his wing and helped me out so much,” Docherty said of his friendship with Bozoian. “Being part of the Barstool brand and wearing their apparel is amazing.”

The support is there. The promising mental and physical approach is there. Now it’s just time to put in the work and try to achieve that singular, important goal.

“Now there are two weeks (left) until you can change your career,” Docherty said. “It’s exciting. There’s two weeks of preparation and then you go make it happen.”