Padraig Harrington may have won the Simmons Bank Championship in Arkansas, but Jason Caron was the biggest winner from the PGA Tour Champions last week.
He secured status on the PGA Tour Champions for the 2025 season, a “ridiculous” accomplishment in and of itself. Thanks to his T-3 finish in Arkansas, Caron finished among the top 36 within the Charles Schwab Cup standings, thus earning a card for 2025.
“I’m speechless really, to be honest. It’s just weird to think that I could even get here. I don’t even know what to say. Honestly, I really don’t know what to say,” Caron said.
“This is not my job. I didn’t—I didn’t know if I was ever this good, I guess, especially of late. Then, all of a sudden, some things started clicking. That putter that I got started working. I don’t know. It just kind of happened, I guess. I really don’t have any words to tell you about what it means or anything like that because it’s kind of shocking.”
At 52, Caron is now the Head Golf Professional at Mill River Club in Oyster Bay, New York, on Long Island. He played two full seasons on the PGA Tour in the early 2000s and spent nine years battling on the Korn Ferry Tour. He also played in the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, where he tied for 30th—an impressive finish considering it was his first appearance in a major, let alone near his hometown. Seventeen years later, Caron returned to Bethpage for the 2019 PGA Championship but missed the cut. His 9-over 79 in the second round did him in that week.
But now, five years later, Caron has produced some ridiculous magic. He tied for fourth at this year’s Senior PGA Championship, which awarded him $154,000 in prize money and plenty of Charles Schwab Cup points. His run to earning a card began then.
Since the Senior PGA in May, Caron played in seven more events on the PGA Tour Champions before this week’s Simmons Bank Championship. He even posted two more top-5s at the Rogers Charity Classic and the Constellation Furyk & Friends.
Then, this week, Caron opened up with a 7-under 65.
“[Mill River Club has] been very nice enough to let me go out and play, and they like that. They’ve always had a good playing professional. Everything kind of just snowballed this year when it came to playing. I wasn’t doing anything different. I didn’t practice harder, I didn’t putt more. I just kind of like let it go and I think that’s been the key to my success is just letting it go,” Caron said after Friday’s round.
“A lot of people say that you’re probably in such a good spot because you have such a good job at home that this is kind of like kind of just free money, if you will, right? So just kind of play free. I think it really has worked quite well this year.”
He began the week ranked 53rd in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, so he needed a top-3 result to finish among the top 36. The top 36 qualify for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship and earn status on the PGA Tour Champions in 2025.
A 3-under 69 and a 4-under 68 followed, which put Caron at 14-under for the championship. Only Harrington and Y.E. Yang finished better.
“Listen, I played great the first day, played good [on Saturday], played very good [on Saturday], and [on Sunday] I was playing—I was playing good. I was never nervous, I was just playing golf,” Caron said after the final round.
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“Had an unfortunate break on one of the holes; I hit it left into the bunker, and it kind of popped out. It was a tough lie, just skanked it up there and two-putted for my bogey. I’m like, ‘Listen, you could still hit good shots coming in, you could move your status up a little bit, that would be pretty good.’ Next thing you know, I made a birdie, made a par, made a birdie, and made another birdie. I mean, I almost chipped in on the last hole.
“No, I really, I’m not going to say I didn’t want this to happen, but I just didn’t think it could ever happen.”
Consider some of the names that did not finish among the top 36 after last week in Arkansas: 2003 Masters Champion Mike Weir, 2001 PGA Champion David Toms, 1997 Open Champion Justin Leonard, and Swedish Ryder Cup stalwart Robert Karlsson.
But Caron did.
“It’s just kind of mind-boggling to think that—if everyone came to my work and saw what I’ve been doing the last 10 years, you would say there’s no chance this could happen. And all the guys in the [Metropolitan Golf] section, actually, I should look at the camera and tell ‘em, you would agree there’s no way this could have happened. Somehow, it did,” Caron added.
“I think that I’ll look back at this and just—obviously I guess something between my ears clicked because I’m playing with Vijay Singh and Steve Alker and all these guys that are staples on the Tour. It just never really bothered me, I guess. I really don’t have an answer for it. I don’t know. I really just don’t know what to say. I’m in disbelief, to be honest.”
Despite earning full status on the PGA Tour Champions, Caron still plans to work his day job on Long Island throughout 2025. He thinks he will make a few starts on tour from January through early April, when the snow is gone and the golf season arrives in the northeast. He will be “back to work” by the early spring. However, Caron will still play in and focus on the five senior majors throughout the spring and summer. His schedule will then free up after August—similar to this past year—and he hopes to play the backend of the PGA Tour Champions schedule in 2025.
But these new opportunities pale in comparison in the grand scheme of things.
“Chasing the white golf ball down the fairway is not my first priority,” Caron said.
“My kids are.”
The Long Island father of two accomplished the impossible, making it to the top of the senior circuit this past week. Yet, he kept his priorities and expectations grounded throughout. He’s a father and a husband first and foremost, a club pro second, and now, a touring pro third. His wife, Liz, is a certified LPGA teaching professional at Mill River Club, too, so yes, golf runs through the family.
But that’s what got Caron into the top 36 in the first place. He focused on himself and his family, prioritizing what matters most. He did not practice especially hard, nor did he have any expectations for himself. His wife and children come first.
Everything “just kind of snowballed” from this past spring, as Caron said. Yet, by the time the snow melts away by next April, Caron should have plenty of PGA Tour Champions starts under his belt. And hopefully, depending on the schedule, his family can join him every step of the way. That would undoubtedly make him the happiest man in professional golf.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
