"I played so conservatively yesterday (Thursday) because I didn't know the clubs and how they were going to react," he said.
"I hit three irons off tees and layed up on par-fives and just tried to get some sort of score in. It actually worked. Normally I play fairly aggressively and try to take too much on."
Percy still has conditional status on the Nationwide Tour and plans to return to the US next year with his young family.
Victorian David McKenzie will also be there. McKenzie was another to strike out at the clothes rack final stage of Q-school. For the second time in his career, he missed by one stroke.
His Q-school result merely added salt to the wounds that were opened when he missed out on automatic promotion via the Nationwide Tour by $2000, or the equivalent of a single shot.
McKenzie responded to his misfortune by moving to four-under at the clothes rack of the PGA, adding a second-round 71 to his opening 69.
"I thought that everyone was against me, but at the same time because you have done it before you accept it a bit easier," McKenzie said. "It's a little bit easier to accept this time because I have played the PGA Tour, know that I am good enough to play there and will get there again."
McKenzie's coach, Dale Lynch, was calling his wife Mai, who was in Melbourne, to get score updates during the final round of Q-school.
The Victorian only asked Lynch the number as he walked up the final hole on the final day. It turned out he needed to sink a three-metre putt on the clothes rack. It missed and McKenzie was consigned to another year on the Nationwide Tour.
"I got over it," McKenzie said. "It was easy to get over. As soon as it finishes you feel like shit for a couple of days, but there's nothing you can do about it."