Former UTC golfer John Houk

photo by GoMocs.com

John Houk has never been one to hide his emotions – good or bad – on the golf course. The former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standout left little doubt about how he felt in the heat of competition.

Houk’s transparency was both a blessing and a curse, and the challenges of mentally redoing a missed putt or errant shot derailed his round at times.

But with experience comes maturity, and Houk is now enjoying a paradigm shift as he embarks on the professional stage of his career. After finishing as the Mocs career scoring leader and a two-time PING All-Region and All-SoCon performer, Houk has found that he finds the right balance in channeling his emotions.

The Athens native who played at Tennessee Wesleyan University before the last two seasons at UTC was able to demonstrate his renewed poise this week at the PGA Tour Q-School First Stage qualifying event at RTJ Magnolia Grove outside Mobile, Ala. Houk earned a spot to advance to the next stage by finishing in a tie for 16th^th with a score of 16-under 272, completing rounds of 70-65-68-69.

“This week I learned to slow down mentally,” Houk said. “I feel like when I’m rattled or have a bad hole, I usually tend to speed up and it can get out of control. I give my caddy, Cade Puryear, a lot of credit this week for slowing me down when I was upset. Walking slowly or taking my mind off the game between shots really helped. I think that’s something I can translate into the rest of my life.”

Houk opened his final round on Friday with a clean new front that featured three birdies. Two bogeys on the back nine might have given Houk away in the past, but he managed two more birdies to finish one stroke short of the cut as the top 21 advanced.

“I really focused on doing my best to stay patient,” Houk said. “It’s something I’ve always struggled with on the golf course. I kept thinking about the Bible verse Jeremiah 29:11 which says, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. I figured that since his plans for me were already set in stone, there was no reason to stress or worry about the outcome. This helped me stay calm as we went through.”

Houk now moves on to the PGA Tour Q-School Second Stage, which will be held at five different locations in late November and early December. Golfers who advance from these events advance to the Final Qualifier at TPC Sawgrass in December, where the top five finishers will receive PGA Tour cards for 2025, and others can earn status on either the Korn Ferry Tour or the PGA Tour Americas.

Knowing he’s only one solid week of golf away from securing pro status is a dream come true for Houk.

“It’s great to be close to having status,” Houk said. “Pro golf is what I’ve wanted to do since I was eight years old. But having a bit of a platform to share what God has done in my life is much more interesting to me than any money or any status. Just being given the opportunity to help the people around me is the exciting part for me.”

Houk wasn’t the only Tennessee-bound golfer to excel this week in the Q-School First Stage qualifiers. Former MTSU golfer Owen Stamper finished tied for 13th^th at the same tournament in Alabama to advance with a 17-under 271 total.

Meanwhile, Knoxville’s Kyle Cottam and Burns’ Hunter Wolcott punched for the second qualifying round in Henryville, Ind. Cottom, who won the 2016 Class A-AA state championship with Knox Catholic before to play collegiately at Clemson, shot 13-under 275 to tie for 11th^th. Burns, who played at the University of Tennessee in college and had three Top 10s on the PGA Tour Americas this year, shot 12-under 276 to tie for 16th.^th.

Brentwood’s Trevor Johnson, who played at Louisville in college, also advanced to tie for 17^th after shooting a 9-under 279 in qualifying in Abilene, Texas.

Former Trevecca Nazarene golfer Blain Turner of Mt. Juliet, posted a 14-under 274 to finish tied for 22nd.^when in mobile. Walker Crosby of Memphis and Josh Bevell of Nashville also fell short with final scores of 13-under 275, while David Holmes of Knoxville (T56), Jack Crosby of Memphis (T67) and amateur Grant Leaver of Murfreesboro ( T72).

Nashville’s Connor Daly failed to advance from the Indiana event, finishing in a tie for 69th^th.

Paul Payne can be emailed at [email protected]