Jorge Garcia has never played a single Korn Ferry Tour event in his nearly six years as a pro. His lone PGA Tour appearance came at the 2013 Puerto Rico Classic when he was just 17 years old. Currently ranked No. 2,103 in the world, he’s never even cracked the top 1,500.
And yet, he’s four rounds away from changing his life forever.
Garcia, 29, is competing this week at the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The top five finishers from the 176-player field will earn fully exempt PGA Tour membership for 2026.
“I’ve been fighting for this for a really long time,” says Garcia, who was born in Anaco, Venezuela, about 100 miles southeast of Caracas.
Garcia’s early golf development was disrupted when the Chavez government shuttered his home course. He was just nine years old. For the next few years, he hit balls wherever possible until his parents made a crucial decision: they sent him to Miami to live with an aunt and attend the nearby Jim McLean Golf School at Doral.
In South Florida, Garcia thrived. He starred at American Heritage School and on the national junior circuit, becoming a two-time first-team AJGA Rolex Junior All-American. He led Venezuela to victory at the 2013 Toyota Junior World Cup, competing against a young Scottie Scheffler who represented Team USA. When he signed with the University of Florida, Garcia was a top-5 recruit in a loaded 2015 Gators class alongside Sam Horsfield, Gordon Neale, Kyler Tate, and Blake Dyer.
But Garcia’s lack of length—his nickname “Pichu” means “little one” in Spanish—eventually became an issue. After posting seven top-25s as a freshman and finishing runner-up at the 2016 Latin America Amateur, his performance declined. Halfway through his junior season, Garcia transferred to Barry, a prestigious Division II program in Miami Shores.
“Being from Venezuela, I’m very grateful for all the opportunities that I’ve had to play and compete in this game,” Garcia says. “Obviously, going to one of the biggest schools in the country in Florida, the facilities and the opportunities you get are amazing. But my personal experience, I feel like I stalled a little bit there. I didn’t feel like I was getting much better.”
Garcia could have transferred to another Division I school, but he wanted to rediscover his game somewhere he knew he could improve. The move paid off. At Barry, he twice finished runner-up at the NCAA Championship and won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the top player in Division II during his senior year.
“That last year and a half, I found a lot of good stuff, and I got back to playing really good golf,” says Garcia, who advanced to final stage of 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Q-School right out of college but failed to earn status.
This week marks Garcia’s first final stage appearance in six years. He’s missed at second stage by a single shot three different times—once in the U.S. (2022) and twice at DP World Tour Q-School (2024 and 2025). The near-miss three years ago was particularly painful since Garcia was playing some of the best golf of his life and had won first stage by five shots.
Stuck on mini-tours, Garcia took several odd jobs to fund his journey. He caddied and worked as muscle for an international moving company where his wife Nicole was employed, taking a few shifts per month for about two years. He also coaches junior players, including a 16-year-old girl from Venezuela who hopes to play college golf.
“Spending the past four summers in Pinehurst for U.S. Kids World Championships, that’s where I started,” Garcia says. “It’s definitely given me a different perspective and shown me just how far I’ve come. It’s been a long road.”
A turning point came when Garcia received three sponsor exemptions on the Gira de Golf Professional Mexicana, a tour featuring $100,000 purses and pro-ams that occasionally attracts Korn Ferry Tour pros during off weeks. Though Garcia missed all three cuts, he returned in Summer 2024 with significantly improved ball-striking, thanks to work with coach Juan Pina, and won their Q-School. Since then, he’s recorded eight top-25 finishes and just one missed cut in 10 starts. His best result was a T-5 back in September.
Garcia chose the Mexican tour partly to simulate the conditions of higher-level tours—no carts, caddies required, long pants mandatory—preparing himself for when his opportunity finally arrives. That dream is still very much alive.
“I haven’t had all the success as a pro like I did in junior golf, but one of things I love about golf is the grind and learning how to get better and trying new things and always finding a way,” Garcia says. “I think it’s just in my D.N.A. to go out there and try again the next day.”
