“It was unbelievable” - Ryan Gerard reflects on his ‘nervous’ competition at The Honda Classic as a Monday qualifier

Ryan Gerard, a Korn Ferry Tour rookie, earned tee time at The Honda Classic through the Monday qualifier playoff, which concluded on Tuesday morning. No one, including himself, would have expected what happened over the weekend.

Gerard finished fourth at the PGA National, shooting 3-under 67 on Sunday to aggregate at 10-under. With a Top-10 finish at The Honda Classic, the 23-year-old has qualified for the upcoming Puerto Rico Open.

The University of North Carolina alum went bogey-free in the fourth round until the last hole when his second shot found the water and he had to settle for a bogey.

“It was unbelievable,” said Gerard. “It’s everything you could dream of. When you’re a kid practicing at night on a putting green, you’re like, ‘I have this putt to win a PGA TOUR event.’ It’s funny to say because I was just there four or five years ago in high school thinking about it, and now – I never had a putt to win, but I kind of felt like I had a chance coming down the stretch if I put some stuff together."

He added that being in these pressure situations is a great learning experience as a player and as a person too, and it will help him play better in the future,

Gerard won $411,600 for his great run at PGA National where he carded four rounds of 69-63-71-67 on one of the Tour’s not-so-easy tracks. He entered the tournament with 150/1 odds to finish in the top five as per DraftKings, despite a recent tied 3rd finish at the Korn Ferry Tour's Astara Golf Championship earlier this month.

Gerard believes he has the game and the ability to do well.

“I have the game that translates out here if I play well,” said Gerard. “Maybe not every week, maybe not every course right now, but one day I believe that I can play and win out on the PGA TOUR. That is a very important thing for me confidence-wise."

Gerard received 135 non-member FedExCup points, which would make him eligible for the Special Temporary Membership. It permits a player to accept unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the season. Dylan Wu leads the list so far with 175.228 points. Gerard has a chance to cross him in Puerto Rico.

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Honda Classic money earnings

Chris Kirk won the Honda Classic on Sunday

Here's the Honda Classic leaderboard and the money they received for their respective positions.

Position player score earnings

1 Chris Kirk* -14 $1,512,000

2 Eric Cole -14 $915,600

3 Tyler Duncan -12 $579,600

4 Ryan Gerard -10 $411,600

T5 Ben Martin -9 $288,120

T5 Sepp Straka -9 $288,120

T5 Ben Taylor -9 $288,120

T5 Justin Suh -9 $288,120

T5 Shane Lowry -9 $288,120

T10 Dylan Wu - 8 $220,500

T10 David Lingmerth -8 $220,500

T12 Zach Johnson -7 $186,900

T12 Cameron Percy -7 $186,900

T14 Brandon Wu -6 $136,500

T14 Jim Herman -6 $136,500

T14 Stephan Jaeger -6 $136,500

T14 Lee Hodges - 6 $136,500

T14 Adrian Meronk -6 $136,500

T14 Ryan Brehm -6 $136,500

T14 Kramer Hickok -6 $136,500