After enduring difficult conditions and unrelenting pressure in the final stage of DP World Tour Q School, James Nicholas was left twisting in the wind.
For two emotional hours, the 26-year-old Scarsdale native was a mess.
“Oh my gosh,” said Nicholas, who played his way into contention with a final-round 67 at Infinitum Golf and Beach Club in Spain. “We finished the round, I thought it was gonna be very, very close, but I didn’t like my chances. I went to member orientation, came out and did some interviews, and checked the leaderboard again. I was still T19 and thinking maybe I did have a chance.”
He went looking for his caddie.
“After like 10 or 15 minutes, I finally found him sitting inside with the curtains down,” Nicholas continued. “He’s like, ‘I’m not watching anybody finish on 18. I just can’t.’ I’m anxious so I wanted to see what’s happening, so I watched players three-putt for bogey, make eagles, and hit into the water.”
Only the top 25 finishers, including ties, earn status on the DP World Tour for the 2024 season.
Nicholas had no way to gauge the impact of each birdie and bogey. After spending four up-and-down years chasing a dream of playing full-time, the former Ivy League player of the year at Yale knew a spot on the European tour could be life-changing.
When he wasn’t on FaceTime with his girlfriend, America Richmond, he was on the phone with anxious family members and friends.
A bogey late in the final round was becoming more and more difficult to look past.
“They live and breathe every swing,” Nicholas said of the folks at home. “I think it was nice for them having that time difference because when they woke up, I was on 15 so there was no praying or voodoo or anything until the final holes. I FaceTimed America once I finished and kind of told her I blew it. She was crying and upset for me, but was telling me that whatever happened, I was going to be OK.”
Optimism began to increase with each passing minute.
“After kind of telling everybody, ‘We’ll see. We’ll see. We’ll see,’ it started looking better and better and better,” said Nicholas, who’s made 39 Korn Ferry Tour starts since turning pro in 2019. “My smile got bigger and bigger and bigger, and I started walking faster and faster and faster. I was like, ‘Well, I might actually be a full member of the DP World Tour. All week, I was one shot back, one shot back, one shot back. I was never inside the top 25 until the end.”
He wound up in an eight-way tie for 22nd a week ago, finishing the six rounds at 14-under.
The mood on the next FaceTime changed drastically as the reigning Westchester and Long Island Open champion shared the news. Mom was still crying, but each tear was celebratory.
“My dad was mid-surgery with a patient on the table, so a resident was reading updates shot by shot,” Nicholas said. “My brother Steven called me, like, over the moon, wanting to know when he could play in a pro-am. My sisters were extremely, extremely proud and giving me all the congrats in the world, and my younger brother Brian called me from Sioux City after he scored two goals in his USHL game.
“We’ve always supported each other in our individual endeavors … and for me to finally like have some sort of success on the golf course, I was so proud and so thankful for the support system America and my family have provided over the years. It was an emotional couple of hours there.”
James Nicholas on the 1st hole during Day Five of the final stage of the 2023 DP World Tour Qualifying School on the Lakes Course at Infinitum Golf in Tarragona, Spain. (Photo: Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
Taking a professional mulligan
Nicholas was all-state in football, hockey and golf at Scarsdale, and went to Yale to play football and golf. He played club hockey in college, too, but eventually dropped football to focus on golf. Nicholas went on to earn Ivy League player-of-the-year honors in 2018 and 2019.
The decision to become a touring professional was initially met with skepticism by a longtime friend of the family.
“I’ve known them forever,” decorated teaching professional and former Sleepy Hollow Country Club head pro Jim McLean said. “James’ grandfather took care of me when I was in New York and I taught Stephen, his dad, when he was a junior. I stay with them a lot when I’m up there.
“When they told me James wanted to play the PGA Tour, my advice was not to do it. He was like a 3.8 in pre-med and biochemistry at Yale. He was already doing things with Greyson clothing. He had a slam-dunk life in front of him if he wanted to play top-flight amateur golf in New York and maybe national stuff. I just know James had a real late start in serious golf. Most of these guys won a lot of AJGA events and were ranked top five as juniors, but here’s the thing about James: He hangs in there and keeps clawing away.”
Nicholas won Korn Ferry Tour status in 2019, but was eventually done in by a reshuffle. He’s since played in countless Monday qualifiers and regional events to keep the dream alive. He’s been to Q school on both sides of the Atlantic multiple times.
Nearly a year ago, before heading to an Asian Tour event in Thailand, he visited McLean at his golf school in Miami. A lack of results demanded change.
“We sat down and made a plan,” McLean said. “I told him what it was going to take and part of that plan was a daily routine, which stays between James and myself. I told him it would require four hours, seven days a week. I told him it was going to be really tough. He said, ‘I’ll do it.’ And he did. There are probably very few people who would do what I asked him to do and he kept going beyond six months.”
They also made swing changes after breaking down video of touring professional McLean has taught over the years and Cameron Young, another standout with roots at Sleepy Hollow who’s having success on the PGA Tour.
Jon McLean, who played at Oklahoma State and on multiple tours before moving on to instruction, went to work on Nicholas’ short game and putting.
“I was a tour player so I know how difficult it is, but you can see how determined James is and how good he is under pressure,” Jon McLean said. “Unless you’ve been through Q school, you don’t know what he was feeling, so it was good to see him thrive under that pressure. That’s empowering. My dad kind of challenged him to put in some really hard work and James stuck with it.
“This is huge. It’s a complete game-changer, having a full-time place to play on the second-best tour in the world.”
Nicholas has always had the ability to go low, but consistency was an issue. He was under par in all six rounds at the final stage of Q school in Spain.
“James surprised me, let me just say that,” McLean added. “He’s a tremendous athlete. He’s been successful in everything he’s done, but pro sports is a tremendous jump. It was nerve-wracking seeing him be so close at Q school. The PGA Tour is 1A and the DP World Tour is 1B, so this is a big deal. It’s right there. What he’s accomplished is a huge achievement.”
Wait, there’s more
Nicholas came home after Stage 1 of DP World Tour qualifying in France to play in the first stage of Korn Ferry Tour qualifying in Alabama. He needed to do more than advance. Nicholas had to finish on the first page of the leaderboard to avoid a scheduling conflict with Stage 2 in Spain. He won by two shots, locking in a Nov. 28 start at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Georgia.
Preparations are currently underway.
“I just now had a long conversation with my coaches,” Nicholas said by phone on Monday. “I need to sit down and just kind of think for a little bit about whether I should go for a Korn Ferry Tour card. Knowing that the (top five) in the final stage now get a PGA Tour card is an incentive to play next week.”
There’s no reason to rush into a decision with so much golf to be played and having a spot on the DP World Tour relieves some of the stress.
“Ending up in Europe is going to be really cool if that’s what happens,” Nicholas said. “I love traveling, I love exploring different cultures and learning new things, so that would be a dream come true, but also something I think I can handle.”
Downtime has been elusive over the last year.
Thanksgiving will be spent with family heading to Florida to continue the celebration. A tryptophan nap is not part of the plan. He will also check in with friends in New York before heading for Georgia on Saturday.
“I’m going to miss a reunion party for the Scarsdale team that won a Section 1 championship,” he said. “I’m bummed because those guys are still family to me. Those are some of the best memories I have, but I’ll be able to FaceTime in and see all the boys.”
Nicholas also has a side gig.
He’s an equity partner in Grandstand, an interactive social media app for athletes developed by fellow Yale alum Sandeep Rajan.
“We’ve been going back and forth a couple of years now,” said Nicholas, a talented content producer who’s got 104,000 Instagram followers and 375,000 TikTok followers. “I’ve been consulting with the team, giving background and sharing my vision for making life easier and giving fans a better experience while kind eliminating the haters. There are so many naysayers on Instagram and TikTok and you don’t always want to read those negative comments, especially if you’re putting in the time to create this content and form this community.”
There will be updates for invited users and paid content for premium subscribers.
“It’s going to be a space to share a more vulnerable side with people that I know are there to follow me and support me,” Nicholas said.
Grandstand is building toward a wider release and will include athletes from multiple sports.
“I don’t know if I can share exactly who’s signed up right now, but we’ve got Olympians along with athletes who play football, golf and tennis and some college athletes.”
Whatever happens in the weeks ahead, the journey will be well-documented.
“I’ve never had full status on any tour,” Nicholas said. “I’ve always complained that I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going to be two weeks from now. To finally reach a point where I can make a schedule and play when I want to play and where I want to play is great. I’m really looking forward to that stability, but this is only the beginning. There is a lot more work I need to do.”
Mike Dougherty covers golf for The Journal News and lohud.com. Follow along @lohudgolf.