Two years ago, Zach Bauchou voluntarily walked away from his lifelong dream of making the PGA Tour to be with his wife for the birth of their first son — but now, the golfer is relishing in a dream-interrupted come true.
Bauchou, 29, finished the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour season ranked No. 11 earlier this month, easily securing his spot as one of the top-30 golfers who earn a spot on the PGA Tour next season.
“It sounds so cliché, but you can just never give up,” Bauchou said, according to PGATour.com after clinching his spot on the PGA Tour card, holding his two children in his arms as he celebrated. “I think the best players are on the PGA Tour, so it’ll be really cool to play against the best players in the world now. I’m excited for the year for sure.”
Bauchou’s two-year comeback story was recently recounted in a feature by Golf.com, which praised his “truly remarkable” decision in the final qualifying round of the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season to abandon the tournament in order to quickly travel to be with his wife Victoria, who was going into labor with the couple’s first son James.
The Virginia native, who played golf at Oklahoma State and was part of the school’s national championship-winning team in 2018, made it in time to witness James’ birth, according to Golf.com. Bauchou then fell short of qualifying for the PGA Tour last season, finishing just three spots outside of the top 30.
At the time, Bauchou seriously considered giving up on his dream to become a PGA Tour golfer and instead began making plans to become an assistant college coach. Bauchou told PGATour.com that the decision would allow him to spend more time with Victoria and their two sons.
“I was going to quit because of that,” Bauchou said. “It’s a lot of traveling. I feel like it educated me in a way, which was good. Even though I didn’t play well, I still got something from it… I was excited about [coaching]. I enjoyed my time in college and would have enjoyed trying to help guys get better. That’s where I was at in my life at that time.”
But Bauchou decided to take one more shot at achieving his dream this summer. And it was a different story altogether for the now-professional golfer.
The former national champion notched four top-10 finishes and 11 in the top-25 throughout the spring and summer. Then, earlier this month at the Simmons Bank Open, Bauchou all but clinched his dream of making the PGA Tour by winning the tournament and sending him skyrocketing up the Korn Ferry Tour rankings with just one week remaining in the season.
“It means a lot,” Bauchou said earlier this month after winning the Simmons Bank Open tournament, according to PGATour.com. “It’s been a long season, and I feel like I’ve gotten better throughout, so it’s nice to show that this week and see some good results so far.”
By qualifying, Bauchou becomes the last of his 2018 NCAA National Championship team’s starting five golfers to qualify for the PGA Tour.
“He’s incredible,” his former Oklahoma State teammate and friend Viktor Hovland told PGATour.com earlier this month, calling Bauchou a “really funny guy” as he laughed about how the two friends would often razz each other on the course.
Now, Bauchou will have the chance to do so again now that he, Hovland and the rest of their teammates will compete against one another next season on the PGA Tour.
“He had some tough times after school, really struggled with the driving yips for a while,” Hovland said. “[I’m] really proud that he’s able to turn that around. He deserves to make it.”