"The low man on the totem pole." That is how Tyler Collet describes his place on the John's Island golf staff. He gives lessons, helps members with whatever they need and loads their clubs into the trunks of their cars. In September he also posted the lowest score to par in the 47-year history of the South Florida PGA Section Professional Championship. He did it on the barrier island at Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club.
On October 14 and 15 the South Florida PGA plays the North Florida PGA in the Challenge Cup, a Ryder Cup-format match. The venue is John's Island Club's West Course. Collet is one of the twelve professionals on the South Florida team. When the section's best players come to the West, one of the most accomplished of them will be playing his home course.
Three Days at Orchid Island, Mostly in the Rain
Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club and Quail Valley Golf Club co-hosted the championship from September 15 to 17. It opened with a field of nearly 200 professionals. Collet shot 9-under in the first round on Orchid's Arnold Palmer course and took a lead he never gave up.
Weather shaped the second round. Rain pulled players off both courses in the middle of the morning wave. Orchid Island got play going again soon after the storm passed. Quail Valley sat through a five-and-a-half-hour delay, and three groups still in contention ran out of daylight. Collet was not in any of those groups. He finished the round at 15-under. Quail Valley had taken in so much rain that the whole final round moved to Orchid Island.
His final line was 63, 66 and 67, a total of 20-under, eight strokes ahead of Justin Hicks of Stonebridge Country Club. Over 54 holes he made 21 birdies and 2 eagles. No one in the section had ever finished that far under par. "I had no idea what the record was coming into today," he told the South Florida PGA. "Honestly, my goal for today was to not make a bogey."
Rob Tench, Orchid Island's general manager, congratulated "this year's champion, Tyler Collet, assistant golf professional from nearby John's Island Club." The win also gets Collet into the 2027 Puerto Rico Open on the PGA Tour.
A Title He Didn't Need
The section championship works as a qualifier. The top 14 finishers move on to the 2027 PGA Professional Championship, set for next April at Streamsong Golf Resort in Bowling Green, Florida. Collet already had his spot. He goes to Streamsong as the defending national champion.
He won that national title in spring 2025 at PGA Golf Club. He finished 15-under and beat Houston's Jesse Droemer by 10 shots for the Walter Hagen Cup. It was the widest winning margin at that championship since 2012. The prize included $66,700 and exemptions into six PGA Tour events over the following 12 months. Vero News reported that Collet has played four of those starts, with two left in November. His best finish was a tie for 11th at the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club.
So he played Orchid Island for the title alone. "I was just playing this one to win," he told Vero News. The South Florida PGA had already counted it as his third section championship, after wins in 2020 and 2023.
The Partner Who Finished Ten Shots Behind Him
This week Collet is in County Kildare, Ireland, playing for the United States in the PGA Cup. The PGA Cup matches the top club professionals from the U.S. against Great Britain & Ireland, and this year's edition runs October 2–4 on The K Club's South Course. His day-one partner was Jesse Droemer, the runner-up he beat by ten shots in 2025. Together they won their morning foursomes match 3&2 and then lost the afternoon four-ball 5&3. The U.S. finished the first day down 6–2. The Cup will be decided in Sunday singles.
The PGA Cup is a useful preview of the Challenge Cup because the formats match. Players alternate shots in foursomes, play their own balls in four-ball and finish with singles. Collet comes home from Ireland about a week before the same kind of match starts on the West.
The West Course Gets Its Turn
The South Florida PGA's posted schedule for the Challenge Cup:
- Tuesday, October 13: practice round at noon
- Wednesday, October 14: four-ball matches at 8 a.m., foursomes at 1 p.m.
- Thursday, October 15: singles at 8 a.m., awards ceremony at 1 p.m.
Each match won is worth a point, and a halved match is worth half a point. If the teams finish tied, the side holding the Cup keeps it. South Florida holds it. The section has won it 29 times since the match began in 1981, including the last five in a row. Its most recent win was 17–7 at the Ritz-Carlton Members' Club under 2025 captain Dan Heaslip.
This year's captain is Joe Allinder, head professional at Imperial Golf Club. Allinder played in the Challenge Cup ten times before taking the captaincy. "It's kind of like a team where you could just almost toss the balls up and let them go because all 12 of them are that good," he said when the roster came out.
Several names on that roster were on the leaderboard Collet led at Orchid Island. Justin Hicks finished second there. Derron Peyton and Justin Smith both played their way into third early in the final round. Michael Kartrude, the defending section champion, climbed to 9-under in round two. In two weeks all four will be Collet's teammates on his home course.
The visitors will see a course that has changed in the last few years. Tom Fazio designed the West Course, which opened in 1988. Vero News reported in 2022 that a full renovation was underway, with new grass, new irrigation and restored grading on some holes, and no changes to Fazio's design. The club says the work was completed in January 2023. It describes the West as a 300-acre course laid on a natural sand ridge. The Challenge Cup will be one of the first times a full field of competing professionals has played the renovated course in public view.
The event page lists John's Island as a private, member-owned club and does not post a spectator policy. Members who want to walk with a match should ask the golf shop how the club is handling access that week.
What Comes After the Matches
The Challenge Cup falls in the middle of Collet's fall schedule:
| Dates | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 15–17 | South Florida PGA Section Professional Championship, won at 20-under | Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club and Quail Valley |
| Oct. 2–4 | PGA Cup, U.S. vs. Great Britain & Ireland | The K Club, County Kildare, Ireland |
| Oct. 13–15 | Challenge Cup, South Florida vs. North Florida PGA | John's Island Club, West Course |
| November | Final two PGA Tour exemption starts, per Vero News | Events not yet named |
| Dec. 1–4 | Q-School Second Stage | Five sites |
| Dec. 10–13 | Q-School Final Stage | Dye's Valley at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass Country Club, Ponte Vedra Beach |
| April 2027 | PGA Professional Championship, as defending champion | Streamsong Golf Resort |
The December dates matter most. Vero News reported that Collet is in PGA Tour Q-School, which has four stages, and quoted him as "very close." Players can skip the early stages if they meet exemption criteria. The Final Stage at Ponte Vedra Beach is 72 holes, two rounds on each course. The top five finishers earn PGA Tour membership for 2027. Golf Channel will show the Final Stage weekend live.
Collet was born in Charleston, West Virginia, and graduated from the professional golf management program at Eastern Kentucky University. He came to Florida for year-round golf and has worked at John's Island since 2017. He said he hopes members remember him as "the nice, courteous young man who used to help them put their bags into the car and listen to their life stories." His December schedule will help decide how long he stays on the John's Island staff.
If you're planning to be on the island for the October matches, or thinking about how golf and club life fit into a season in 32963, Anne & Dan Team know these clubs and their calendars well. Schedule a private consultation with Anne & Dan.