MURRELLS INLET | Had he received a job that he applied for a few months ago, Zach Reuland’s professional touring golf career would likely be over.
He was a finalist for a position at a golf course in Columbia but wasn’t hired, so he soldiered on with what had been up to that point an unfulfilling fledgling golf career.
Reuland will now be playing in a PGA Tour event after being one of four players who advanced to the $4 million ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic through a 67-player open qualifier Monday at TPC Myrtle Beach.
Reuland, of Rock Hill, shot a 5-under-par 67 and prevailed in a one-hole playoff for the final qualifying spot over Steven Dilisio of Swampscott, Massachusetts.
“Three months ago I was thinking about quitting. I was looking at jobs,” said Reuland, who overhauled his game by changing instructors and irons after deciding to continue his career. “I was playing so awful. . . . I had a final job interview at this course in Columbia and if I got it I was going to hang ‘em up. Then I didn’t get it, so I was like I guess I’ll just keep playing. It worked out good.”
Three of the four Monday qualifiers are from the Carolinas, and all four are seeing their dreams realized by playing in their first PGA Tour event, which will be played Thursday through Sunday at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
Liberty graduate Austin Duncan of Gastonia, N.C., won the qualifier with a 7-under 65, while Virginia grad George Duangmanee of Fairfax, Va., and UNC Greensboro grad Randall Hudson of Pinehurst, N.C., each shot 66.
“It’s pretty surreal. I’m pretty fired up,” Reuland said. “I’ve been wanting to do it since I was 5 years old, so I’m pretty excited.”
Five open qualifiers have won PGA Tour events since 1980. Corey Conners is the last to do it at the 2019 Valero Texas Open. The other four are Jeff Mitchell (1980 Waste Management Phoenix Open), Kenny Knox (1986 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches), Fred Wadsworth (1986 Southern Open) and Arjun Atwal (2010 Wyndham Championship).
“I’ve been playing very well the past couple months so I’m excited to play,” Duncan said. “I think I can contend so that’s the goal. Just go out there and have a good week, have fun and play to the best of my abilities.”
Each of Monday’s qualifiers also had to advance from prequalifiers last week, when 18 of 76 players advanced from the Grande Dunes Resort Course on Tuesday and 33 of 137 advanced from Wachesaw Plantation Club on Thursday to join 16 players who were exempt from prequalifiers.
It was also revealed Monday that Nathan Franks, a senior at South Carolina, will make his PGA Tour debut as the winner of The Q at Myrtle Beach, a competition
featuring eight juniors or aspiring pros, and eight influential golf content creators. It was played March 3 at TPC and aired Monday on YouTube.
The Monday qualifiers
On the first hole of the playoff Monday on the par-5 18th, Dilisio hooked his second shot into a pond to the left of the green and hit his next shot into a bunker to the right of the green, allowing Rueland to advance with a par. Reuland was behind a bunker to the right of the green after two shots, chipped to about 20 feet and two-putted for par.
“My thought process was just don’t knife it in the pond and we’ll be okay,” Reuland said “Anything clubfaced it’s fine. It’s definitely not a good [swing thought], that’s for sure. But it worked out.”
Reuland, who won two Colonial Athletic Association individual conference tournament titles at College of Charleston before graduating last year, has played primarily on the GPro Tour, which has nearly 20 events scheduled this season in the Southeast from Virginia to Florida.
He has played in just one previous PGA Tour qualifier and failed to get through the pre-qualifier, and in the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School he missed getting through pre-qualifying to the First Stage by two shots after following up a second-round 66 with a final-round 79.
Duncan is coming off back-to-back wins in the most recent GPro Tour tournaments, for which he collected a combined $27,500. They had decent payouts, but he’ll be playing for a lot more than that this week.
“I’m ecstatic. I’m still kind of speechless at this point,” Duncan said following his round. “I’m looking forward to calling my parents. They’ll be happy.”
Duncan, who first played at North Greenville University before transferring to Liberty and graduating in 2022, has twice Monday qualified for Korn Ferry Tour events, making one cut last July and tying for 63rd to earn $4,000. He has entered approximately 20 Korn Ferry qualifiers and several PGA Tour qualifiers.
He was 4 under through five holes with a pair of birdies and eagle, and made seven birdies, the eagle and two bogeys on the day. “The putter got hot early and I cruised in from there,” Duncan said. “If it was inside 15 feet I felt like it was going in.”
Hudson, who graduated from UNCG last year, birdied his final four holes, which were on the front nine. He hit a wedge to 12 feet on the par-5 sixth, drained a 30-foot uphill putt on the seventh, hit a 73-yard wedge close on the 370-yard par-4 eighth, and hit a 7-iron to 18 feet and holed it on the uphill 472-yard par-4 ninth.
“I was 2 under through 14 and I was thinking I had to get to at least 5 (under),” said Hudson, who plays predominantly on the GPro Tour and had previously attempted a handful of PGA Tour and Korn Ferry qualifiers over the past year. “I was fortunate to make that putt on 7 up the hill. . . . I can’t wait. I’ve pretty much worked the last long while for this, so I’m excited to see it pay off. It doesn’t always pay off in golf so I’ll try to take advantage of it.”
Hudson is staying this week in the Surfside home of former UNCG teammate Nick Lyerly, who works outside at the TPC.
Duangmanee was named an Honorable Mention All-American on the strength of a top-15 finish in the 2024 NCAA Championship as a senior, and was also named an All-America Scholar by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Duangmanee said the only pro tournament with a purse he has played in since graduating from Virginia last year was the 2024 Virginia State Open, where he tied for fourth. He bowed out of the Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in the First Stage, and has reached two previous PGA Tour Monday qualifiers and failed to get through prequalifying a couple other times.
He was in an eight-player playoff for two spots in the Wyndham Championship last August, which ended on the first hole when two players made birdies.
He bogeyed his first hole before rebounding with four straight birdies on holes 3-6 to make the turn 3 under, then sandwiched a bogey on the 13th with a birdie and eagle and added a birdie on the 16th to reach 6 under.
“I knew I had 17 more holes to play, and with these conditions out here and how I putt I knew I could come back from it,” Duangmanee said. “I felt a lot better after [the four straight birdies]. The three holes after that I had very good looks at birdie too, so I knew I was playing well.”
Duangmanee has already played The Dunes Club eight times, as he played in the collegiate General Hackler Championship twice. So he won’t have to scramble to learn the course. He tied for 20th in 2023 at 1 under and tied for 48th at 4 over in 2022.
“I loved it out there when I played in college,” he said. “I don’t know if I played well but I enjoyed being out there. It was a good golf course. So I’m excited to be able to play in this. . . . This is what I’m dreamed of doing my whole life so I’m excited to show what I have.”
Franks prevails in The Q
Franks shot a 3-under 69 that included a pair of chip-ins and eagles on two par-5s.
He held a two-shot advantage going to the 18th hole and held on by a shot with a bogey after hitting his second shot into the water. Joe Hooks and Tyler Watts, a high school junior, tied for second.
Franks is ranked 81st in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He won two college events in 2024, and has recovered from fracturing his elbow in a team bus accident on the way back to campus from one of his wins.
Sean Walsh was the highest-finishing content creator, tying for fifth at even par.
Grand Strand resident Patrick O’Brien, a Coastal Carolina alumnus who was the director of programming for the First Tee of the Coastal Carolinas, finished 10th at 3-over 75 and George Bryan IV tied for eighth with a 74.
O’Brien earned a spot by winning the Myrtle Beach Professional Qualifier with a 2-under 69 at Thistle Golf Club, holing a chip on the final hole.
The inaugural The Q Myrtle Beach earned the PGA TOUR’s 2024 “Best In-Class Element” award. Each player had his own camera crew documenting his play, and has been
promoting the event and his participation.
