Patrick Flavin, Livin' the Dream

There are few roads that lead to playing on the PGA Tour.  The most likely is through the Korn Ferry Tour, the minor league of the PGA Tour.  Patrick Flavin is giving it his best to achieve the PGA Tour without playing the Korn Ferry Tour. He is trying to earn enough Fed Ex Cup points in PGA Tour events, through Monday qualifying, to earn the right to play the PGA Tour full time.

The most common way to get on the PGA Tour is to qualify for Korn Ferry Tour, then play well enough to advance on to the PGA Tour. However a little known route to the PGA Tour is a finish in the top 25 in a year end series of three Korn Ferry Championship tournaments.

Players finishing at the bottom of the PGA Tour point list (125-200) and the top 75 on the Korn Ferry tour points list are eligible to play in the year end series.

How does a player earn points without having status on the PGA Tour?  Through Monday qualifying or a sponsors exemption.

Nearly every week there is Monday qualifier where 300 or more players attempt to get one of four spots in the PGA tournament. At the 2022 Waste Management Open in Scottsdale there were over 800 players trying to get one of the four spots. It’s a difficult task.

The scores necessary to qualify on Monday are typically between 62 and 65. In the modern history of the PGA Tour few players have Monday qualified more than once or twice in a year.

Patrick Flavin has Monday qualified five times for PGA Tour events and once for a Korn Ferry Tour event this year. It’s an astounding feat.

Patrick Flavin, a 26 year old Chicago area resident, graduated from Miami University in Ohio. He turned professional in 2019.

“I was a soccer and baseball player, and started playing golf a little later,” said Patrick. “I was small. I always thought of myself as a pro baseball player.”

Patrick started his professional golf career heading to the Latin America Tour in 2019. “I won the qualifying for the Latin American Tour in Brazil,” he said. “I finished sixth on the money list which got me conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.”

“I grew up in a Latino area of Chicago and can speak Spanish fluently,” he said. “A big reason I was successful on the Latin American Tour is I knew the language. I developed a good relationship with the caddies. I was comfortable.”

Following a pandemic interrupted 2020 and 2021 period in which his play was uneven, he was given a sponsors exemption into the Evans Scholars Korn Ferry event in Chicago. He finished 5th and it gave him new  confidence.

In late October of 2021 he was in Florida for the second stage of the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying. After a disappointing finish and failing to advance to the third stage, he was looking for events in which to play.

Qualifying for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, a PGA Tour event, was in Florida shortly thereafter and Patrick entered.

Keeping a positive attitude after the disappointing Korn Ferry qualifier, he won a spot in the PGA Tour event. He did better than just getting in. On Saturday afternoon of the event Patrick found himself leading the tournament. While he did not win, he hung in there, finishing 17th.

Early in 2022 he went to Puerto Rico to in an attempt to Monday qualify for the Puerto Rico Open, another PGA Tour event. Again he was successful and again he made the cut in the tournament finishing 22nd.

The two events proved that, “What I was doing was good enough. I didn’t need to be perfect.” He was not intimidated. “I just kept focusing on what I could control. Focus on yourself. Keep your head down.”

The two finishes opened up a new world for Patrick. “I felt like I belonged.”

“The sports psychologist at Miami of Ohio, Jim Slager, helped me,” Patrick said. “I learned to have gratitude for playing golf, not living and dying with every shot. I don’t have to be perfect, just be myself. I use a lot of positive self talk.”

In addition he could see a different path to the PGA Tour. He was able to earn 76 Fed Ex Cup points in making the two cuts.

PGA Tour rules state that if a PGA Tour non member wins as many Fed Ex points as the 200th player on the Fed Ex point list he would be eligible to play the season ending Korn Ferry three tournament series. The top 25 finishers in that series gain status on the PGA Tour.

He changed his schedule from attempting to qualify for Korn Ferry events to qualifying for PGA Tour events.

“I need to win about another 100 points to qualify for the final three tournament Korn Ferry Tour Championship series,” said Patrick.

The amiable Patrick has become somewhat of a sensation Monday qualifying for three more PGA Tour events and one Korn Ferry event.

He qualified for the Corales Puntacana Championship in Mexico, RBC Canadian Open and the Travelers Championship.

“I am so grateful to be able to play the PGA Tour,” Patrick said. “It’s always been a dream of mine.”

He also Monday qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour event, the AdventHealth Championship in Kansas City.

Potentially because of the notoriety, he was granted a sponsors exemption into the AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas.

A top 10 finish in a PGA Tour tournament would be needed to gain the points needed to get into the Korn Ferry Championship series. He missed the cut.

“I’ve played against many PGA Tour and Korn Ferry players,” Patrick said. “It gives me confidence and comfort. I’m not intimidated.”

While he played some good first rounds, he did not make a cut from January going into July. “Managing the emotions of qualifying on Monday is a challenge. The feeling of getting in on Monday is fantastic,” Patrick said. “Getting in rhythm and mentally fresh for the event is the challenge. Monday is draining.”

Patrick was given another sponsors exemption into this year’s John Deere Classic which finished July 3.

“You’ve been playing well,” I said Wednesday before the John Deere Classic. “I think you will make the cut.”

He did - he finished in 10th place, with a round of five under par on Sunday. “It was a huge week, massive week for me,” Patrick said.

Earning another 74 Fed Ex Cup points, it appears he will get into the Korn Ferry Tour Championship series.

“The good PGA Tour players believe in themselves,” he said earlier. “I’m trying to progress, get better at the game and not worry about results. I can have a good or bad week, I just want to get better. I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to play the PGA Tour. It’s a dream come true.”

“He is extremely driven,” said Craig Johnson, PGA Golf Professional at Patrick’s home course, Chicago’s Merit Club. “He would show up at 7:00 AM practicing all morning, working on his short game and putting, and play in the afternoon. He is very competitive.”

“He is patient,” said Zac Zedrick, his college coach. “He has learned how to keep himself neutral on the course. He is self confident and ultra competitive.”

“I love the process of trying to get better,” Patrick said. “I have had great support from my parents. They always point out the good things. I have also had great coaching.”

Another PGA Tour player, Nick Hardy, has grown up with Patrick at the Merit Club. “They were best friends and pushed each other,” said Johnson.

“He came to the game late so he has never plateaued. He went to Miami of Ohio and something clicked for him,” Johnson said. “He is an outstanding young man.”

Patrick Flavin has figured out how to play at his highest level. However the next step is always the most difficult in golf. Nothing would surprise me as Patrick plays the 2022 PGA Tour year. He is a Monday qualifying phenom, living his dream, in A Life In Golf.