PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Hayden Springer reached into his black Chrysler Voyager minivan and grabbed his 1-year-old daughter Annie. He smiled the smile of a father who missed holding his child all day and gave her a good squeeze.
But just over a month ago, on Nov. 13, his oldest daughter Sage died at age 3. She was prenatally diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a developmental disorder stemming from an extra chromosome.
“She’s a very special girl, and we miss her a lot,” Springer said. “She brought an immense amount of joy to our family and the people around her.”
In the midst of what has to be an incredibly difficult grieving process, Springer has managed to play some impressive golf this week at PGA Tour Q-School despite hardly playing for the last month. On Saturday, he shot 2-under 68 at Sawgrass Country Club to improve to 7-under 203, which has him T-5 and right on the cutline for one of the Tour cards being given for the top five and ties this week.
Springer entered the week with full Korn Ferry Tour status after topping the 2023 PGA Tour Canada’s season-long Fortinet Cup, but he’s well aware of what is at stake on Sunday.
“It’s life-changing,” said Springer, who began playing U.S. Kids events at age 8. “I’ve spent most of my life dreaming of playing on the PGA Tour. It’s a special opportunity to be here and have a chance.”
Here are four more things to know after the third round of the 2023 Q-School.
Endycott leads
Another 65, his second bogey-free round of the week, for Aussie Harrison Endycott at Sawgrass Country Club lifted him to 12-under 198 and a two-stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round.
“I feel really free. Putter feels great. I’m just kind of in a good head space this week,” said Endycott, who is trying to upgrade from conditional status for finishing No. 139 in the FedEx Cup standings (Nos. 126-150 category on the PGA Tour) during his rookie season. “I’ve got a two-shot lead in a regular golf tournament, and trying to close it out. There’s a lot of good players this week. I’ve still got to go and play well. I can’t go and shoot nothing and expect to win. It’s one of those ones where I’m still trying to mentally feel like this is a Sunday of a PGA Tour event. It’s what you work for. It still does mean something.”
Endycott is a coffee aficionado and has been hitting up Sago, the same joint that he visited back in March when he competed in the Players Championship.
“We’ve been there every day,” he said, noting their donut is good, too. “I’m normally a cortado and a flat white, and I get a little shaky after the cortado, so I might have to just stick to one in the morning to keep the putter a little steadier.”
Boomer Sooner
Blaine Hale Jr. still uses his University of Oklahoma yardage book cover, and he’s sharing an AirBnB with former teammates Logan McAllister and Quade Cummins this week at Q-School. Former teammates Max McGreevy and Grant Hirschman are also in the field this week battling for cards. It’s practically a reunion of the 2017 National Championship team. When asked about what it says that so many ex-Sooners are on the leaderboard, he credited coach Ryan Hybl.
“I’ll take Coach Hybl over anyone and just the mentality he instills in his players, just the kind of guy he is, he cares more about us as people rather than golfers. I am just thankful for his leadership,” he said.
Hale shot 67 on Saturday at Sawgrass Country Club, including holing a pitching wedge from 170 yards for eagle at the par-4 fifth hole, to vault into second place at 10-under 200. This is the first time that Hale has made it to final stage — he has never held membership on any PGA Tour-sanctioned tour — and now he’s one round away from making it to the big leagues.
“This was like a little dangling carrot,” he said. “You always think you have a chance but now I actually have one.”
Levin eyes return to the PGA Tour
After a slow start, Spencer Levin is well positioned to return to the PGA Tour for the first time since the 2016-17 season. The 39-year-old vet opened with 72 but bounced back with a bogey-free 6-under 64 on Friday and carded six birdies in shooting 66 at Sawgrass Country Club on Saturday. He shares third at 8-under 202 with Trace Crowe.
Levin’s journey from no status to KFT Monday qualifier and then winning six days later was chronicled earlier this week here. Can Levin complete a storybook return back to the Tour?
“I’ve kind of been around the block every which way with this game, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’ll be fun,” he said. “I know what to expect, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Dye Valley's 64 club and WD'itis
There’s no quit in Trey Winstead this week.
The former LSU Tiger opened with 76 but he’s battled back and fired a 6-under 64 on Saturday at Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass. He’s climbed back to 4-under 206 and T-13 with one round to go.
Winstead’s third round got off to an inauspicious start as he made a three-putt bogey but he righted the ship and added an edge at No. 7 and tied for the low round of the day with Blake Elliott and Thomas Power Horan. He’s within striking distance of the top five and ties and PGA Tour membership for 2024.
“It’s a big day. Like so much can happen. Very fortunate to be in this opportunity. I know I’ll go out and commit to each shot and hopefully a dream will come true,” Winstead said.
Well, there is some question whether that ‘big day’ will be Sunday or Monday. The Tour’s game plan to move tee times up one hour worked to perfection on Saturday as the last group was finishing just as the rain started to fall. It is expected to rain overnight and into Sunday and drop between 3-5 inches of the wet stuff in the area.
Not surprisingly, several players who have very little to gain by completing 72 holes have decided not to wait around to see if the courses are playable on Sunday. Ten players withdrew before, during or after the third round: Austin Cook, Rhein Gibson, Cody Gribble, Carter Jenkins, Kelly Kraft, Tain Lee, Sean O’Hair, Trent Phillips, Sam Saunders and Matthias Schwab. That brings the total number of withdrawals to 16.
