Surrey’s Adam Svensson also earns full status by tying for second; Yeji Kwon advances to final stage of Ladies European Tour Q-school
If there were any nerves, A.J. Ewart never put them on display. The Coquitlam native just went about his business, hitting one solid shot after another and then dropping his putts into the middle of the hole.
The final stage of Q-school isn’t supposed to be easy, but Ewart sure made it look that way. All the 26-year-old Gleneagle Secondary School graduate did was shoot rounds of 66, 67, 67 and 66 to win what is often described as golf’s ultimate pressure-cooker and earn his 2026 PGA TOUR card.
“You know what, it wasn’t easy but I made it as easy as possible on myself,” Ewart said over the phone from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Ewart credited his ability to keep calm and treat Q-school like any other event — even though he knew it wasn’t — for his success. He insisted he never had any of those ‘I’m this close to my PGA TOUR card’ moments during Sunday’s final round.
“I think that is what helped me to play well,” Ewart said. “I was just able to completely block out all that noise and just play a golf tournament and try to win a golf tournament. I really don’t know how I did it, but I just didn’t let myself get to that point where I was thinking about it. And here we are.”
Ewart said he and caddie Tyler Bakich, a former collegiate golf teammate at Barry University, just tried to keep things light all week. “We just talked about anything,” Ewart said. “We were talking about football or a lot of random stuff. There are a lot of nice houses around the golf course here and we were picking out the one we’d rather have and that kind of stuff. It was pretty light.”
Ewart closed with a four-under 66 that bordered on brilliant. His only hiccup came when he three-putted the par 4 ninth hole for bogey at the Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass. He responded with a birdie on No. 10 and added three more birdies on what was a flawless back nine. He finished at 14-under par to win by two shots.
Hours after tapping in his final putt, Ewart was able to reflect on what he had accomplished and what it means. “It’s everything that I have ever dreamed about, to play on the PGA Tour and play with the best golfers in the world and ultimately become one of the best golfers in the world,” he said. “I think this is all my hard work paying off and all the hours and time I have put in just paying off. I am super excited.”
It was a big week for British Columbia golfers. Surrey’s Adam Svensson tied for second at 12-under to regain his PGA TOUR status after a miserable year.
Ewart has spent the past two years on the PGA Tour Americas circuit. He finished 11th on that tour’s Order of Merit this season to miss earning Korn Ferry Tour status by one spot. Now he gets to skip the Korn Ferry Tour completely. He thinks he can live with that.“
Unfortunately, I won’t be playing on the Korn Ferry Tour,” he said. “But I’m glad to be able to skip a step and get to where I want to be.” One of the first calls Ewart made after his round was to his dad, Brad, his biggest supporter and his coach through his junior golfing years.
“It was pretty emotional,” Ewart said. “He was happy and said he was proud of me and told me my hard work was paying off. He’s excited for what’s to come.” Brad Ewart, a longtime pro himself, was not surprised to see his son play so well.
“He has been able to do it at every level in his career,” Brad Ewart said. “When he finished college and turned pro when he was 23, that’s when I handed him over to Team Canada. Everything up until then was A.J. and I. I used to say to my friends when he was young, 'if he listens to half of what I say he’s going to be a good player.' I think he listened to everything I said and he did it better. Everything I taught him he took that and did it better. Now his whole world has changed.”
Ewart earned $50,000 for winning Q-school. His magical week included a hole-in-one during the second round. He used a 9-iron to ace the 162-yard par 3 fifth hole at Dye’s Valley.
Not surprisingly, his phone blew up after Ewart dropped his winning putt. Friends, family and members of Vancouver Golf Club, where Ewart plays and practices, were texting him to offer congratulations.
“‘It is still blowing up,” Ewart said with a chuckle. “It might take me a week or two to get back to everybody, but I’ll get there. I want to get back to everybody. It feels nice to have all the support.”
Ewart will make his 2026 PGA TOUR debut at the season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii, which goes Jan. 15-18. He’ll take a week off to celebrate Christmas with family and then get back to work. Now that he has his PGA TOUR card, he is determined to make the most of it.
“It’s a goal to play on the PGA Tour, but you don’t want to just play on the PGA Tour, you want to win on the PGA Tour, play in majors, win majors and do other things. Those are my goals. Getting there is great. I have worked hard, but now I have to work even harder and do a little bit more and get the most out of myself. I am excited, but there’s a long way to go.”
SALVAGES SEASON: Adam Svensson rebounded from a rocky start to finish tied for second. Svensson was three-over after his first five holes of the first round. He recovered to shoot an even-par 70 and then climbed the leaderboard the rest of the week. Like Ewart, he closed with a four-under 66. Unlike Ewart, Svensson confessed to having plenty of nerves. He had to drain a five-foot putt for par on the final hole to avoid a playoff. “That last putt I made, I was literally shaking,” Svensson said. “So I am just happy to be done.”
For Svensson, Q-school was a nice ending to what was a miserable season on the PGA TOUR. He finished 167th on the FedEx Cup points list and wasn’t even sure he would draw into final stage. He did and made the most of it. “I’m extremely happy,” he said. “You know, you just never know in this game, and to get it back after a rough year, it’s special. It’s nice.”
A third Canadian, Ontario’s Ben Silverman, just missed getting the fifth and final PGA TOUR card. Silverman lost a two-man playoff to American Dylan Wu on the first playoff hole. The other two PGA TOUR cards went to Alejandro Tosti of Argentina and Marcelo Rozo of Colombia, who both tied with Svennson at 12-under.
Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin tied for 62nd at two-under par. Hadwin has conditional status on the PGA TOUR that should get him into a dozen or so events. He will also be exempt on the Korn Ferry Tour. Merritt’s Roger Sloan tied for 79th at one-under and will have conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour. Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for 92nd at one-over and will have full status on the Korn Ferry Tour due to his solid play on that circuit this year.
MARRAKECH EXPRESS: Port Coquitlam’s Yeji Kwon closed with a four-under 68 to survive a Ladies European Tour first-stage qualifier right on the number and earn a spot in this week’s final stage in Morocco. Kwon finished the event at three-over par and tied for 19th. This week’s Q school finals are being held in Marrakech.
UBC CHANGES: The University of B.C. and former golf coach Chris Macdonald have issued a joint statement to UBC Golf Alumni and Supporters. “After a celebrated 24 seasons leading the UBC Golf program, head coach Chris Macdonald has chosen to resign from the role in order to spend more time with his family,” the statement reads.
Macdonald began coaching the UBC women’s team in 2001 and took charge of the men’s team in 2004. He led the Thunderbirds to seven Women’s NAIA Championships and two Men’s NAIA Championships. His teams also won 18 Canadian University/College Championships on the women’s side and nine on the men’s side.
“I’d like to thank Chris for his contributions during his time with UBC Athletics and Recreation and acknowledge the successes of the golf program under his guidance,” said Kavie Toor, managing director of UBC Athletics and Recreation.
“We wish Chis all of the best in his future endeavors.” Assistant coaches Keir Smith, Jeff Buder and Kerri Moffat led the UBC teams through a successful fall season and UBC recently named former Thunderbird standout Cory Renfrew as Program Adviser to the golf program.
AMATEUR HOUR: Vancouver’s Leah John is the latest B.C. Women’s Amateur winner to become a regular on the LPGA Tour. John earned her 2026 LPGA Tour card by tying for 10th at qualifying school in Alabama earlier this month. John won back to back B.C. Women’s Amateur titles in 2021 and 2022. The last B.C. Women’s Amateur winner to play regularly on the LPGA Tour was 2004 winner Samantha Richdale of Kelowna.
Other B.C. Women’s Amateur winners who went on to play on the LPGA Tour included Penticton’s A.J. Eathorne, who won three straight B.C. Women’s Amateur titles in 1995, ’96 and ’97; Jennifer Wyatt of Richmond (the 1986 and ’87 champion), Dawn Coe-Jones of Lake Cowichan (the 1982 and ’83 champion) and Lisa Walters (Young), (the 1979, ’80 and ’81 champion).