It had already been a long and stressful day, and Zach Zaback’s back-nine stumble almost removed him from earning guaranteed starts on the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour.

Key word, though, is ‘almost.’

Zaback, who was one of the final players on the course in the final round of Final Stage, made a birdie on the par-5 18th at Orange County National (Panther Lake) to post 12-under for 72 holes. His birdie knocked 12 players to T41 and out of contention for guaranteed starts. Zaback finished at T30.

“I just wanted to make birdie and finish strong,” said Zaback. “I didn’t really look that closely to see if everyone else was in.”

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He admitted, with a laugh, he knew those dozen guys may have hated him in that moment. But at the end of the day, it’s a competition.

“At first it didn’t really register that a birdie would bump all those guys out,” he said. “I didn’t want to take the chance that the number would move … I really wanted to make birdie no matter what.”

Other than actually making the putt, Zaback said there was one more obstacle in his way prior to making that final birdie.

Zaback said a “random guy” was up by the 18th green, and as Zaback was approaching the green yelled out, “You make par and you’re in!” which, he said, was a weird thing to see and hear.

Zaback believes the guy near the green was likely with someone who was at 11-under. It threw him off.

“But,” Zaback said, “it almost motivated me more to make that birdie.”

The 25-year-old spent the last two seasons playing the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, and he finished 42nd on this year’s Order of Merit after finishing 28th the year before. He has full status on the Mackenzie Tour for 2020, but he wanted more.

A star at the University of Connecticut, Zaback hasn’t quite taken the leap he was hoping for after college. He’s played just one Korn Ferry Tour event to this point in his career (he Monday qualified for one in 2017) and he made it to Final Stage two years ago – but finished outside the top-100.

Prior to Final Stage, Zaback knew he wanted to take advantage of his opportunity to earn some guaranteed starts. He believed his game was ready to take that next step.

“Some guys talk about winning, which is a main goal, but I wouldn’t say I had a specific expectation for that,” said Zaback. “I just wanted to make sure I stuck to my game plan and thought if I did that, it would be a good week.”

The 25-year-old got off to a solid start, shooting a 5-under 66. After a 1-over 73 in the second round, Zaback admitted he tried to press and get even lower heading into the weekend. Something similar happened to him at Second Stage, where he played “awful” in the second round, but was able to put together better third and fourth rounds to move on.

He said his second round at Final Stage was sloppy.

“I was hitting uncharacteristic shots,” he said. “I was thinking I wanted to shoot another low round and make the weekend a lot easier.”

Zaback bounced back with a 5-under 67 on Saturday, and he admitted that nerves got to him on the back nine. He was 4-under through nine holes but made bogey on Nos. 12 and 13, putting him in a tricky spot as the sun began to set.

“I was thinking it might be me getting ahead of myself and basically saying, ‘You could par in and be fine,’ and that was not a good mindset to have,” he said. “After those bogeys I was able to go back to the mindset I had on the front nine, just being aggressive and making birdies.”

Zaback, who didn’t know he wanted to make golf a career until college – growing up in Connecticut, he didn’t play year-round golf, and was a very serious soccer player until high school – managed to rally when he needed to Sunday.

Despite a bogey on the par-3 17th – and despite the external distraction of someone yelling at him coming up the 72nd hole – he got the job done.

Next year will mark the first time Zaback has guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour.

“It was just relief,” said Zaback of breaking through. “I’m just happy with taking the next step and proud of the way I finished. I was happy to be able to pull it off and take that next step towards the ultimate goal of the PGA TOUR.”