The weekly Pulse of Golfing In The Garden State – new stories every Monday.
This week: James Nicholas joined us on the DROP in January 2025 as a Korn Ferry Tour hopeful. He came back this week as a champion, with an eagle on the 72nd hole for his late grandmother. Meanwhile, the Race for the Crown bracket cut 64 to 32 and Chris went a perfect 16-for-16 in Round 1 picks.
— The DROP Podcast
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Race for the Crown: Round 1 in the Books
Everybody loves calling for upsets, until the voting starts. Only 19% of Round 1 matchups went against the higher seed. The bracket largely held up. But the few results that flipped changed the shape of this thing fast.
The numbers: 111 brackets submitted. Chris went 16-for-16 perfect in the first round of picks. Gregg Johnson, Director of Golf at Shore Gate, leads the overall bracket challenge with 300 points. And for the second time in bracket history, a matchup was decided by a single vote — Great Gorge edged Black Bear 186-185 in the North region.
The Cinderella: McCullough's Emerald Golf Links keeps dancing. After fighting through the qualifying round to make the field of 64, McCullough's upset #5 Riverwinds by 40 votes. The South region had three major upsets, LBI National knocked off Blue Heron Pines, and Tamarack took down Pennsauken.
Chris's bold pick dies: Howell Park fell to Cape May National 201-177, ending Chris's prediction that the #8 seed would upset Ballyowen. The clip of the original prediction went viral in DMs, and overwhelmingly, people took Chris's side.
Mike's new bold pick: High Bridge Hills upsets #1 Shore Gate in the Round of 32. "The only one seed that goes down this week."
Round of 32 matchups to watch:
Galloping Hill vs. Twisted Dune (North) — 341 vs. 371 R1 votes. This could be the highest-turnout matchup of the tournament.
Crystal Springs vs. Wild Turkey (East) — same resort, head to head
Old Bridge vs. Architects (West) — new school vs. old school
McCullough's vs. Heron Glen (South) — Mike has Heron Glen in his finals
Trivia
How many career Korn Ferry Tour starts did James Nicholas make before winning his first title?
A) 34
B) 52
C) 69
D) 81
(Answer at the bottom)
Jersey Boys on Tour
Valspar Championship @ Innisbrook Resort
Matt Fitzpatrick won the Valspar Championship at 11-under with a closing birdie on the 72nd hole, one week after bogeying the final hole at TPC Sawgrass to hand Cameron Young the Players. Redemption doesn't get much cleaner than that. Sungjae Im held the 54-hole lead but shot 2-over on Sunday, including four bogeys in his first eight holes, to fall to T4. David Lipsky finished one back after missing a birdie try on 18 that would've forced a playoff.
Max Greyserman withdrew before the tournament "we need Max to get going" has been the refrain for weeks, and it'll carry into the next event. Chris Gotterup was not in the field.
Weekly picks: Chris's pick Fitzpatrick (1st) won the whole tournament. Mike's pick Bridgeman (T14, -5) had a solid week. Chris takes the picks series lead 3-2. Remember — Chris originally had Sam Burns before discovering mid-recording that Burns withdrew. Pivoting to Fitzpatrick turned out to be the best audible of the season.
Next Up: Club Car Championship at The Landings in Savannah (March 26-29) on the Korn Ferry Tour, Nicholas's next event with John Pak also in the field.
James Nicholas: The Korn Ferry Tour Champion Returns
The DROP Podcast first had James Nicholas on as aguest in January 2025, when he was a Korn Ferry Tour player grinding through his career without a win. Mike said a victory "felt inevitable." Sixty-nine starts later, it happened, the Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia. And the way it ended is the kind of story you couldn't write.
Eagle on the 72nd hole. His late grandmother used to call him after every eagle. "She had to been helping out up there."
Nicholas came back on the show this week in a different place. "Job security in this game doesn't really come often and it's not something that I've ever experienced." The win moved him to 3rd on the Korn Ferry Tour points list (now 5th) and a career-high world ranking of No. 253, he was No. 573 weeks ago. One of his five 2026 goals is already checked: win on the Korn Ferry Tour. The remaining four: Crack the world top 250, PGA Tour card, play a major, and hit a specific fitness benchmark are well in sight.
The interview went deeper than the trophy. Nicholas read his daily schedule off his phone, every minute planned the night before with his mental coach. Wake up at 6:30. Gym by 7. Course by 9:15. Range work, short game, putting drills, on-course play. Home by 4:30. Stretching at 6. Dinner at 6:30. Bed at 9. No days off. Not a figure of speech, he's never taken a full couch-potato day in his life. During COVID, he hit balls into a pillow fort on his couch. In college, he practiced putting on uneven Yale dorm floors.
That intensity has a backstory. Nicholas quit football his freshman year at Yale. A coach called him a quitter. He set his alarm to Eric Thomas's "want to breathe" speech and practiced golf from 4am to 9am in the simulator every morning for three years. His college nickname was Turbo.
"If you want to be successful, you'll never be successful unless you want to be successful as much as you want to breathe."
His word for the 2026 season: validation. Yale kid. Northeast golfer. Seven years of professional golf across three tours. Sixty-nine starts without a win. Then an eagle for his grandmother to clinch it. That's the word.
The viral expense breakdown video that blew up after the win? Nicholas started the trend, he believes he was the first to film nine-hole every-shot videos and adapt corporate cost-of-living content to tour golf. He's hired a YouTube team now but has kept a competitor first mindset: "I'm a golfer first, content creator second." He directs the storylines. The team handles the edit. And he's learning to say no, prioritizing the people who believed in him before the win.
The DROP Pod Event @ Tee2Green Golf
What an insane night we had at our first DROP Pod event. Completely sold out at Tee2Green golf. We had a husband/wife team, a dad & daughter team. High handicaps, low handicaps all competing and having a blast. A true night to remember.
The community is growing & it’s incredible.
DROP Pod Event Winners: Chris Hart & Carter Bomersbach
Pro Shop
Looking to show your Jersey golf pride this season. Check out our selection of shirts, hoodies, and hats in The DROP pro shop. Find quality gear like the DROP rope hat. Lightweight, comfortable, and perfect on or off the course.
The 19th Hole
James Nicholas's daily schedule is planned to the minute, 6:30am wake-up, gym, course, drills, bed by 9pm. He's never taken a full day off. His alarm in college was the Eric Thomas "want to breathe" speech.
Here's the question: what's the one thing you do for your golf game that most people would think is obsessive?
Hit “reply” with your answer.
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TRIVIA ANSWER: C) 69. James Nicholas made 69 career Korn Ferry Tour starts before winning his first title at the Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia.