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Ryan Ellerbrock goes back to Q-School
Golfer takes aim at making the PGA Tour
Ryan Ellerbrock, a 34-year-old San Diego native, has been smacking golf balls since he was three. His uncle, Bryan Gorman, played on the PGA Tour during the ‘90s. Ellerbrock credits Gorman for getting him into the golf situation. “I grew up playing everything,” he tells me. “I played water polo, swam, tennis, baseball, and then decided to go with golf in high school and really pursue it. Then I ended up getting a full ride scholarship to Point Loma Nazarene.”
Shortly after he graduated from PLNU in 2012, he turned pro, playing eight years on the PGA Tour Latin America. Following that, he did three more years on the PGA Tour Canada. “Then there was a gap there,” he says, “where I actually quit golf for a little while and caddied on the PGA Tour for Martin Trainer. I was having a tough time playing then, financially. I caddied for him in Puerto Rico. He ended up winning the event there, and that changed my life because I obviously got a big check and then was able to go back and pursue golf again professionally.”
Right now, Ellerbrock is currently touring with the APGA (Advocates Professional Golf Association). Established in 2010, the APGA is a minor league professional tour circuit that aims to give talented players access to competitive tournaments and give players more exposure. Ellerbrock’s notable APGA achievements include winning the Famers Insurance Fall Series Finale in 2023, then winning the TPC John Deere Run last year in Illinois. “It’s a big gateway for playing big golf courses,” Ellerbrock says, “and gives me an opportunity to check my game on some tough venues that the PGA Tour actually play. That’s been a nice little godsend and kind of picked up my career a little bit. It’s allowed me to play 15-18 tournaments a year.”
The 2023 APGA Farmers Insurance Champion is hoping to earn his PGA Tour card this year
Now he's aiming for the major leagues: the PGA Tour proper. Each year, there are three stages through which a prospective tour member must advance, not counting the pre-qualifying stage. One of these is the PGA Tour Q-School—a brutally tough competition where one bad round can send a hopeful home, ending any chance of their earning a tour card for the year. The first 72-hole stage will be played from October 7-10 at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta.
As part of his preparation for Q-School competition, Ellerbrock has developed a string of strategies to keep his mind right. “I’ve just been playing pretty much every week to gear me up. Mentally, I’m feeling good coming into this tournament. I have a new sports psychologist I work with now, which has been great. At the end of the day, I’ve got the talent to do it. I’ve done it so many times. It’s a matter of just executing and keeping an understanding that it’s a marathon versus a sprint. It’s a matter of keeping it simple and not making it more complicated than it is. It’s just another four days of golf.”
Ellerbrock knows the Bear Creek course well, and has seen its greens many times over the years, in part because this will be his fifth visit there for Q-School competition. “My experience runs deep there,” he says. “Normally, Bear Creek is second stage. In 2019 I missed getting through there by one shot. That was a super devastating day.” In 2022, Ellerbrock finished 2nd at the California State Open at the Murrieta course. This past July, he finished 11th at the same event. It was a way to gauge how he was playing while getting some competition rounds in to prepare for October. “I love that course. It’s one of my favorite places. It’s hard, and you’ve just got to play good golf.”
If you're not an established member of the Tour, Q-School competition is the most important few weeks of a golfer’s year. “There are 10,000 guys right now all over the country getting ready to do this,” Ellerbrock says. To advance to the second stage of Q-School competition, he will need to place 22nd or better at Bear Creek. The final round of Q-School will be held December 11-14 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. There, the top five players will earn their PGA Tour cards.
If Ellerbrock wins his Tour card at the end of the year, “I think I’d flourish,” he says. “I just need the opportunity to get out there and make some things happen.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
Ryan Ellerbrock goes back to Q-School
Golfer takes aim at making the PGA Tour
Ryan Ellerbrock goes back to Q-School
Golfer takes aim at making the PGA Tour
Ryan Ellerbrock, a 34-year-old San Diego native, has been smacking golf balls since he was three. His uncle, Bryan Gorman, played on the PGA Tour during the ‘90s. Ellerbrock credits Gorman for getting him into the golf situation. “I grew up playing everything,” he tells me. “I played water polo, swam, tennis, baseball, and then decided to go with golf in high school and really pursue it. Then I ended up getting a full ride scholarship to Point Loma Nazarene.”
Shortly after he graduated from PLNU in 2012, he turned pro, playing eight years on the PGA Tour Latin America. Following that, he did three more years on the PGA Tour Canada. “Then there was a gap there,” he says, “where I actually quit golf for a little while and caddied on the PGA Tour for Martin Trainer. I was having a tough time playing then, financially. I caddied for him in Puerto Rico. He ended up winning the event there, and that changed my life because I obviously got a big check and then was able to go back and pursue golf again professionally.”
Right now, Ellerbrock is currently touring with the APGA (Advocates Professional Golf Association). Established in 2010, the APGA is a minor league professional tour circuit that aims to give talented players access to competitive tournaments and give players more exposure. Ellerbrock’s notable APGA achievements include winning the Famers Insurance Fall Series Finale in 2023, then winning the TPC John Deere Run last year in Illinois. “It’s a big gateway for playing big golf courses,” Ellerbrock says, “and gives me an opportunity to check my game on some tough venues that the PGA Tour actually play. That’s been a nice little godsend and kind of picked up my career a little bit. It’s allowed me to play 15-18 tournaments a year.”
The 2023 APGA Farmers Insurance Champion is hoping to earn his PGA Tour card this year
Now he's aiming for the major leagues: the PGA Tour proper. Each year, there are three stages through which a prospective tour member must advance, not counting the pre-qualifying stage. One of these is the PGA Tour Q-School—a brutally tough competition where one bad round can send a hopeful home, ending any chance of their earning a tour card for the year. The first 72-hole stage will be played from October 7-10 at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta.
As part of his preparation for Q-School competition, Ellerbrock has developed a string of strategies to keep his mind right. “I’ve just been playing pretty much every week to gear me up. Mentally, I’m feeling good coming into this tournament. I have a new sports psychologist I work with now, which has been great. At the end of the day, I’ve got the talent to do it. I’ve done it so many times. It’s a matter of just executing and keeping an understanding that it’s a marathon versus a sprint. It’s a matter of keeping it simple and not making it more complicated than it is. It’s just another four days of golf.”
Ellerbrock knows the Bear Creek course well, and has seen its greens many times over the years, in part because this will be his fifth visit there for Q-School competition. “My experience runs deep there,” he says. “Normally, Bear Creek is second stage. In 2019 I missed getting through there by one shot. That was a super devastating day.” In 2022, Ellerbrock finished 2nd at the California State Open at the Murrieta course. This past July, he finished 11th at the same event. It was a way to gauge how he was playing while getting some competition rounds in to prepare for October. “I love that course. It’s one of my favorite places. It’s hard, and you’ve just got to play good golf.”
If you're not an established member of the Tour, Q-School competition is the most important few weeks of a golfer’s year. “There are 10,000 guys right now all over the country getting ready to do this,” Ellerbrock says. To advance to the second stage of Q-School competition, he will need to place 22nd or better at Bear Creek. The final round of Q-School will be held December 11-14 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. There, the top five players will earn their PGA Tour cards.
If Ellerbrock wins his Tour card at the end of the year, “I think I’d flourish,” he says. “I just need the opportunity to get out there and make some things happen.”
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