Profiles of “The Q”: Patrick O’Brien & Kyle Berkshire
In today’s video profiles of each of this year’s 16 competitors in The Q at Myrtle Beach, we present “The Local Qualifier,” Patrick O’Brien, and “The Bomber,” three-time World Long Drive Champion Kyle Berksire. Check out what each of them brings to the table as this innovative event draws closer.
Play Golf Myrtle Beach and PGA TOUR Studios have partnered to present this one-of-a-kind competition for a spot to tee it up with the pros next month in the PGA TOUR’s 2025 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, May 8-11, 2025, at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club.
Featuring 16 players, including eight aspiring golf professionals and eight influential content creators, The Q at Myrtle Beach is an 18-hole, stroke-play competition that was played on March 3 at TPC Myrtle Beach. The winner will be revealed when the event airs on YouTube on May, 5, 2025, at 2 p.m. ET.
Patrick O’Brien:
It’s just incredibly competitive and I kind of settled that it wasn’t going to happen, and now I’ve got an opportunity, so I’m really just wishing for the best and going to see where the road takes me.
So I grew up in Simsbury, Connecticut, right outside of Hartford. My dad was an avid golfer. I got dropped at the golf course, that was my summer camp, said, hey, go play golf, put lunch on the account, play more golf, hit balls, practice. So it’s just kind of been ingrained in me since birth.
The Q is different because it’s for that next level golfer. It’s really just a different level of skill and excitement and obviously media attention. There’s no kind of cameras out there at any other events like this. So I don’t know who would call me a local hero, it’d be nice to see someone do. But being from the area and being from the company that helps put this event on, I’m really trying to just represent my company because I really appreciate the opportunity to be here. The guys I have on my team, the best tournament staff in the country, and probably one of the best marketing ones as well. These guys are great and I just want to go out there and make them proud, and hopefully I make people in Myrtle Beach proud.
My name is Patrick O’Brien. I grew up in Simsbury, Connecticut, now reside in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I would say I usually play out of Barefoot, that’s kind of my home area. I would love to shoot a 61 course record on Monday. That would really make me happy.
Kyle Berkshire:
I like to say that I’m as aggressive as I can possibly be without being reckless. That’s kind of the way I approach it. I want to have a conservative strategy and a cocky swing. My family has had a golf club 30, 40 years now. I grew up on the seventh hole, and so it was kind of… My mother played professionally, my dad owned golf clubs, so it was like I was guaranteed to get into the game early.
In long drive, you have long periods of nothing interrupted by very short spurts of extreme adrenaline-packed action. And in golf you have really just this very consistent level of arousal that you need, that you have to manage. If you make an eagle, you can’t get super excited and celebrate and pump your fist. If you make a double bogey, you can’t snap your club, get angry and feel sorry for yourself.
For me, the biggest difference is just I have to manage my arousal and energy level much more intentionally. Play one good round of golf, you’re playing on the PGA TOUR. Obviously, every tournament’s exciting and fun, but it’s just 15 people and 18 holes that stand between you and making a start on the PGA TOUR. I mean, that’s obviously not normally the case.
My name’s Kyle Berkshire. I’m from Crofton, Maryland. My home club is Crofton Country Club. For me, if I can shoot something in the low seventies, high sixties, that’d be great, but I’m just going to do my best to enjoy myself and play the best I can.
