Men's Golf | 12/15/2025 9:53:00 AM

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — A pair of former Buccaneer stars earned their PGA Tour cards this weekend at the PGA Tour Qualifying School at Dye's Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass & Sawgrass Country Club.

Barry golfers AJ Ewart and Adam Svensson were two of the five players from a field of 176 to survive the 72-hole pressure-cooker and booked their tickets to the big leagues.

Ewart, 26, played like a Tour-bound player from start to finish, shooting the low score at Sawgrass CC in the first round, making a hole-in-one on the fifth hole at Dye's Valley on Friday to share the 36-hole lead, and shooting 67 on Saturday in his return to Sawgrass CC. On Sunday, he was stuck in neutral with a three-putt bogey at nine but carded four birdies on the back nine to post 4-under 66 and go from on the bubble to medalist of the 2025 PGA Tour Q-School.

"I think it was my caddie just said it's a new nine, it's a new round, just kind of reset. I was still in a good spot mentally," Ewart said. "I knew there was still a lot of golf to be played and you're going to be tested. I was tested and I was willing to kind of keep going and battle through it."

Ewart, a native of Vancouver, won 14 times at Division II Barry University, was the recipient of the 2022 Jack Nicklaus Award as the NCAA Division II Player of the Year and was awarded the GolfStat Cup as the top collegiate golfer in the nation, across all divisions. After playing the past two seasons on PGA Tour Americas, Ewart was making his first start at Final Stage.

Svensson, a 31-year-old Canadian, opened his final round Sunday with six straight pars, which didn't bode well for his chances of regaining his PGA Tour card. But he remained patient and reeled off four birdies in a six-hole stretch beginning at No. 7. He tacked on one last birdie at 15 to shoot 4-under 66 and finish 12-under 268 and T-2.

"It was just a lot of perseverance," said Svensson, who had to make a 7-foot putt at the last to secure his card. "That last putt I was shaking. I still am."

The Surrey Vancouver native, won nine tournaments in 25 starts, leading the Bucs to the NCAA Division II National Championships in 2013 and 2014. He was named the Phil Mickelson National Freshman of the Year in 2013 and the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year in 2014. He has maintained PGA Tour status the past four seasons and qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs in both 2022 and 2023, highlighted by a No. 37 finish in 2023, the same season he earned his first Tour title at the 2022 RSM Classic.