Jack Maguire punches ticket to Second Stage with Robby Shelton on bag

Jack Maguire and Robby Shelton first met while playing the Palmer Cup as college freshmen. Their paths kept crossing, including for two seasons together on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Shelton reached the PGA TOUR with an accelerated pace but lost his card and returned to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022. He didn’t miss a beat, winning twice and regaining his TOUR card via The 25.

But he also made time for his friend.

Thanks to two days of Shelton caddying for Maguire at First Stage, the Florida State alum comfortably earned his way into Second Stage, finishing at 21 under across four rounds in Mobile, Alabama – just one shot back of medalist honors.

And now Maguire is hoping to keep those good vibes going as he looks to return to the Korn Ferry Tour himself and join Shelton on the PGA TOUR sooner rather than later.

“I just talked to him the whole time and kept it fun,” said Shelton. “Those four days can be a grind. It was just a lot of fun caddying for a friend.”

Maguire, a Florida native who has spent his whole life in the Bradenton area, decided this summer to move to Birmingham, Alabama to be around more high-level golfers. His club in Bradenton, The Concession, was shutting down for four to five months this summer to have some work done on it. Shelton stayed with Maguire in the winter and lived with him in January and February of this year, and Shelton returned the favor, letting Maguire live with him for June and July before he found his own place.

There’s a group of 15 or 20 that will play highly-competitive games at their club, Greystone Golf and Country Club.

“I played a lot of golf with the guys there,” said Maguire. “There was competition every single day. That was big. It’s been great.”

Shelton grew up playing Magnolia Grove – Maguire’s First Stage site – and it was an easy trip, staying with some family before resuming his TOUR campaign. And it’s not quite hunting season yet – “I used to do my hunting underwater, but he’s getting me to do it on land now,” said Maguire – so Shelton had some time.

“I wanted to get him through and help him out,” said Shelton.

Shelton is one of the quieter guys on TOUR, but Maguire, with a laugh, said it’s a bit of a misnomer.

“He’s very quiet until you get to know him and then … he wouldn’t stop talking. It was funny,” said Maguire about their 36-hole adventure at First Stage. “Once you get to know him, he’s an awesome guy, super down-to-earth, and you would never know he plays on the PGA TOUR and done what he’s done unless you pry it out of him.”

While Shelton was capturing both the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX and the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna – and finishing second on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List – Maguire was working on his craft wherever he could.

He had a solid campaign on the Florida Elite Golf Tour, based in Orlando, winning the points list this summer. He called that a big boost to his confidence.

“I’ve always had success when I’m playing as much golf as I can,” said Maguire. “That’s the approach I’ve taken the last few months. A little less time on the range … and I haven’t taken a video of my swing the last few months, which is something I never do.”

Maguire’s coach, Matt Mitchell, is the same swing savant he’s trusted since he was about 10 years old. They’re back working together, Maguire said, and even Shelton is working with him now, too.

After Maguire’s second year on the Korn Ferry Tour, he was struggling and went looking for other options. But he wasn’t comfortable with his swing for about a year, he explained. He went back to Mitchell right before the 2020 season, which he started well (he missed the first cut of the season but went T7-T21-T16-T7 after that). Unfortunately, after the COVID-19 pandemic hiatus, he couldn’t find his form again. He ended up 106th on the 2020-21 Regular Season Points List.

What more could he say? It sucked.

“I just hadn’t known anything else in professional golf other than the Korn Ferry Tour,” said Maguire. “The first couple months after missing (at Second Stage) and losing status … last year was the first year I didn’t have Korn Ferry Tour status for about six years. For a month for two, it was tough.”

Maguire put his clubs away for a month after that, about 365 days ago exactly, and then pivoted his mental approach. He embraced the opportunity to take a few months with nothing on his schedule and just work. And work. And work.

“I knew exactly what I wanted to go with my game and what I needed to do,” said Maguire. “Not having a timeframe for working on your game was really nice. Even if it was going to take me two months to get where I wanted to be, that was fine. There was nothing immediate coming up.

“It’s cool to be able to win here or there and have some more trust in your game.”

Once Maguire started playing well again, he said, he got more excited and ready to go again with competition. If you’re in contention, you’re playing against good golfers, no matter if it’s a mini-tour or anywhere else, he said.

“I feel like I’ve had a pretty good attitude towards Q-School in the past,” said Maguire. “As long as I play well going into it, I just want to go out and have fun and go play.”

First Stage is in the rear view mirror now. Maguire knows it. And he won’t have Shelton around to keep things light when he heads to Plantation Preserve next week.

But he knows the feeling he had last year is not something he wants to relive. He put in the work. He’s ready to go.

And hopefully he’ll have a chance to rejoin Shelton.

But this time both as players on the PGA TOUR.