Q-School Drama, Mixed-Team Glory, and Schaper’s Playoff Heroics
In this week’s “The Starter,” PGA professional Brendon Elliott, a three-decade industry veteran, gives his thoughts on the week that was in golf for R.org. Dylan Wu secures his PGA TOUR card with a clutch playoff birdie at Q-School Final Stage. Lauren Coughlin and Andrew Novak dominate the Grant Thornton Invitational with a record-breaking performance. And Jayden Schaper claims his maiden DP World Tour title at the Alfred Dunhill Championship after a stunning playoff eagle.
PGA TOUR: Wu’s Playoff Birdie Secures Dream at Q-School
Dylan Wu stood over a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course with his professional future hanging in the balance. The sun was setting. Ben Silverman waited nearby. One of them would earn a PGA TOUR card. The other would not.
Wu drained it.
The 29-year-old former hockey player showed ice in his veins when it mattered most, converting the pressure-packed putt on the first playoff hole to secure his return to the PGA TOUR for 2026. After finishing the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry tied with Silverman at 11-under par, Wu’s playoff heroics earned him the fifth and final TOUR card available.
“Dreams are on the line,” became more than just a tagline this week. For Wu and four others, those dreams became reality.
The playoff was a new wrinkle for 2025. Previously, the top five and ties at Final Stage earned TOUR membership. This year, a tie for fifth meant sudden death on the difficult par-4 18th, a hole with water lining the entire left side, similar to its famous neighbor on the Stadium Course.
Wu had played in the 126-150 conditional category in 2025, making 104 career PGA TOUR starts. This wasn’t his first rodeo. But it might have been his most important round.
Canadian A.J. Ewart claimed medalist honors at 14-under par with consistent rounds of 66-67-67-66. The 26-year-old Barry University alum earned his first PGA TOUR card, joining fellow Canadian and Barry alum Adam Svensson, who also punched his ticket back to the TOUR.
Svensson, 31, will return to the top level after a terrific week highlighted by a second-round 64. The TOUR winner marked three top-25 finishes in 29 starts in 2025 and will look to carry Q-School momentum into the new season.
Alejandro Tosti returns to the PGA TOUR via Q-School for the second consecutive year. The 29-year-old Argentinian carded an eagle at the 16th on Sunday to vault into the top five. After finishing 114th on the FedExCup standings this year, Tosti hopes the third time is the charm.
Marcelo Rozo, 36, carved his name onto his first PGA TOUR card after a winding 13-year professional journey. The Colombian had just four previous PGA TOUR starts across various pathways. Now he gets a full season.
Five players. Five dreams realized. One playoff birdie that changed everything.
PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour: Coughlin and Novak Dominate Grant Thornton
Lauren Coughlin and Andrew Novak didn’t just win the Grant Thornton Invitational. They demolished the field and rewrote the record book in the process.
The duo posted a tournament-record 28-under 188 at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Florida, winning by three strokes after a closing 9-under 63 in Modified Four-Ball. They broke the previous scoring record of 189 set by Patty Tavatanakit and Jake Knapp in 2024.
“We had more holes than anybody,” Novak said after seeing a leaderboard on the 13th green showed just a one-shot advantage.
That’s when champions separate themselves. Novak holed 10-foot birdie putts on the 14th and 15th, then delivered the knockout blow at the par-5 17th.
Chris Gotterup and Jennifer Kupcho were applying pressure in the group ahead. Both missed the green at 17 in tough spots and had to scramble for par. Novak and Coughlin watched it unfold, then Novak poured in a six-foot birdie that gave them a two-shot cushion heading to 18.
Coughlin’s birdie putt at the last sealed the victory and the record.
For Novak, it was his second team title of 2025. He won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Ben Griffin earlier in the year. He jokingly called winning both the “modern-day Grand Slam” of team events.
The victory was particularly sweet for Coughlin, who earned $500,000, the largest payoff of her career. The two-time LPGA winner had finished T7 at the 2024 Grant Thornton with Cameron Young. This time, paired with Novak in their first appearance as a team, they were unstoppable.
They posted both the low start by a winner (57 in scramble) and the low finish by a winner (63 in Modified Four-Ball) in tournament history. They led after 36 holes and never looked back, becoming the third straight team to convert the 36-hole lead into victory.
Gotterup and Kupcho finished T2 at 25-under alongside Denny McCarthy and Nelly Korda (who also shot 63) and Michael Brennan and Charley Hull. All three teams played exceptional golf. They just ran into a buzzsaw.
Novak finished 25th in the 2025 FedExCup standings with six top-10 finishes in 27 starts. Coughlin had five top-10s in 22 LPGA starts. Together, they were perfect.
Modified Four-Ball is a unique format where both players tee off, then switch balls for their second shots and play that ball until it’s holed. The lower score counts. It requires trust, strategy and execution under pressure.
Novak and Coughlin mastered all three.
DP World Tour: Schaper’s Playoff Eagle Delivers Maiden Title
Jayden Schaper hit one of the shots of his career from a fairway bunker on the 18th hole at Royal Johannesburg Club. Then he holed the eagle putt to win his first DP World Tour title.
The 24-year-old South African defeated defending champion Shaun Norris in a playoff at the Alfred Dunhill Championship after both finished 54 holes at 16-under par. The tournament was reduced from 72 to 54 holes due to severe flooding that made the course unplayable on Saturday.
“It’s just so special, it’s been so close the last few weeks and probably the last couple of years,” Schaper said. “It’s a dream come true and it’s prayers answered.”
Norris shot a brilliant 62 in the final round, making a birdie-birdie start before eagling the eighth for an outward nine of 31. He dropped a shot at the 10th but bounced back immediately, then reeled off four straight birdies from the 13th to take the lead.
He couldn’t birdie the final two holes but had seemingly done enough to defend his title.
Schaper had other plans. He chipped in for birdie at the 16th, his third chip-in of the week, then hit a superb approach at 17 for another birdie to draw level with Norris. He found a bunker off the tee at 18 to prevent a tournament-winning birdie and headed back down the fairway with Norris for the playoff.
Norris hit a fine drive and approach into the green. Schaper found sand off the tee but sent a breathtaking hybrid straight at the pin and onto the back fringe. Norris sportingly applauded the shot.
“Probably one of the shots of my career,” Schaper said.
Then he holed the eagle putt.
“First, there’s one thing I need to say,” Schaper said at the trophy presentation. “I just want to thank my Lord and savior Jesus Christ, there’s only one reason I’m out here.”
The victory was particularly meaningful given Schaper’s history at the event. In 2020, he held the lead going down the back nine but couldn’t close. This time, he delivered when it mattered most.
Overnight leader Eugenio Chacarra finished third at 15-under after a level-par final round. The Spaniard started with a birdie but dropped two shots at the par-3 fifth after hitting his tee shot onto the rocky edge of a water hazard.
The weather wreaked havoc all week. The par-5 sixth had to be converted into a 176-yard par-3 to allow play to continue. Tournament director David Williams suspended play twice on Saturday before abandoning the third round entirely.
“The good thing is now that the players know what’s going on,” Williams said. “They know the tournament’s over 54 holes.”
For Schaper, 54 holes was plenty. One playoff hole was all he needed to announce himself as a DP World Tour winner.