Category: Korn Ferry

Chan Kim wins on Korn Ferry Tour; David Kocher records circuit’s 10th 59

Kocher drained a long birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 59, the third on the Korn Ferry Tour this season.

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Chan Kim went bogey-free for 72 holes at the 2023 Albertsons Boise Open and won on the Korn Ferry Tour for the second week in a row. Kim went 66-62-64-64 to get to 28 under after four days at Hillcrest Country Club and still left himself little room for error considering what David Kocher did Sunday.

Kocher drained a long birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 59, amazingly the third 59 on the Korn Ferry Tour this season.

Kocher had 10 birdies – including six straight on Nos. 2 through 7 – and an eagle to get to 12 under for the day and 26 under for the week.

Kocher joins Mac Meissner, who posted a 59 at the Lecom Suncoast Classic at Lakewood National’s Commander Course in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, in April. That was the eighth sub-60 round in Korn Ferry Tour history.

Michael Feagles had the circuit’s ninth 59 at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greer, South Carolina, in June.

Now there’s a 10th, and a third in four months, thanks for Kocher.

2023 Albertsons Boise Open
Chan Kim celebrates on the 18th green after winning the the 2023 Albertsons Boise Open at Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, Idaho. (Photo: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

As for Kim, he’s the first back-to-back winner in two years. Cameron Young and Mito Pereira each did it on the KFT in 2021.

His last seven holes a week ago were also bogey free, so Kim has actually played 79 consecutive holes without a bogey. He’s the first to win and go bogey-free at the Albertsons.

To the winner goes the spoils, as Kim, second on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, has also earned his PGA Tour card for the 2024 season.

The Albertsons Boise Open is the first of four events in the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

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Alejandro Tosti forced to WD from Korn Ferry Tour event

A Korn Ferry Tour release reported Tosti’s forced withdrawal was due to a disciplinary matter.

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Alejandro Tosti, who entered this week’s Albertson’s Boise Open fourth on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, was forced to withdraw after the first round.

A Korn Ferry Tour release reported Tosti’s forced withdrawal was due to a disciplinary matter. The details of the issue and any related disciplinary action will be handled internally, the release said.

The 27-year-old, who went to college at Florida, has a win and eight top-10 finishes this season on the Korn Ferry Tour. Because of his position in the standings, he has earned enough points to secure his PGA Tour card for the 2024 season.

Tosti opened with a 4-under 67 on Thursday at Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, Idaho.

Watch: This pair of pros missing short putts will give you nightmares

Remember, next time you’re playing golf with your buddies, there are no gimmies. 

Close your eyes, hide the kids, run away.

Professionals can miss gimme putts, too.

Look no further than this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event in Illinois, the NV5 Invitational. Tom Whitney had mere inches to clean up a putt. So he did what any pro does, he walked over, turned around and dropped his putter. He took a swipe at the ball from what could only be described as a couple of inches from the cup.

It lipped out. The ball never had a chance to go in. It missed and then went about three feet away. Whitney stood there stunned, and the Barstool Sports TV broadcast was in disbelief.

Whitney isn’t the only one who missed a short putt. Enter Padraig Harrington, a major winner playing in the Senior British Open. He missed a short putt that touched every inch of the cup’s edge but didn’t somehow fall.

Remember, next time you’re playing golf with your buddies, there are no gimmies.

Fans are loving the Barstool Sports broadcast of the Korn Ferry Tour’s NV5 Invitational

Read some reviews of the unique broadcast here.

This week, the Korn Ferry Tour is in Glenview, Illinois, for the NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank at The Glen Club.

While players are fighting for the championship, a unique telecast is happening behind the scenes.

Barstool Sports is broadcasting all four days of the event from 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET on Barstool.tv.

Their broadcast team includes members of the Foreplay podcast: Sam “Riggs” Bozoian, Frankie Borrelli (on-course reporter), Trent Ryan (on-course reporter) and Daniel Rapaport (on-course reporter). The team is rounded off by Jake Marsh, Francis Ellis and Kirk Minihane.

While Barstool has broadcasted college football and basketball games, this is the first time the company has done so for golf.

Here are some reviews from fans watching the NV5 Invitational.

Longest golf course on Korn Ferry Tour at 8,029 yards features 773-yard par 5

Last year’s winner made birdie on the 13th in two of the four rounds.

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Tee it high and let it fly.

There will be plenty of that this week in Berthoud, Colorado, an hour north of Denver and 5,000 feet above sea level.

The Korn Ferry Tour is making its fifth visit to TPC Colorado, which has been stretched to a record 8,029 yards this week.

You read that right: 8,029 yards.

The course, which opened in 2018, was designed by Arthur Schaupeter and plays as a par 72.

If you’ve seen the guys on the Korn Ferry Tour, you know they can poke it around the yard. But you still gotta marvel at some of these numbers. Here’s a look at the official scorecard:

TPC Colorado
The scorecard for TPC Colorado in Berthoud, Colorado.

There’s no easing into this course, as the opening hole is 624 yards. The second hole is a 238-yard par 3. The card says the fifth hole, like No. 1 a par 5, is 624 but it’s clarified on the Korn Ferry Tour website it’ll play 638 yards this week.

The hole that gets all the attention, though, is the 773-yard par 5 which features a big dogleg left.

And you’re not beaten up through 17 holes, the finisher is a little old 531-yard par 4.

Big-hitting Will Zalatoris is one of the four past champions of the tournament. Last year’s winner, Zecheng Dou, won the event at 17 under. He made birdie on the 13th in two of the four rounds.

‘I don’t really know what’s going on’: Korn Ferry Tour players feel in the dark about future after PGA Tour-PIF agreement

“We’re so in the dark it’s hard to tell whether they made the right move or not.”

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NORMAN, Okla. — Rico Hoey has heard his fair share of chatter the past couple weeks. Then again, who hasn’t in the golf world?

Hoey, a 27-year-old from the Philippines, sits second in the Korn Ferry Tour standings with a win, a T-2 and six top-10 finishes in 14 starts this season. He’s well on his way to securing a PGA Tour card for next season, one of 30 up for grabs in the season-long points race. However, he has no idea what the future looks like, and most don’t.

Two weeks ago, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced the framework of a new global golf entity. Even with the groundbreaking news, there’s still not much known about what the future looks like.

“I don’t really know what’s going on or what’s going to happen,” Hoey said Thursday after an opening-round 7-under 65 in the Compliance Solutions Championship at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club. “For me, I’m just really happy to play out here and am going to focus on that. We’ll just keep hearing whenever the news comes out.”

Hoey’s sentiment is common among Korn Ferry Tour players, which is they are pretty much clueless as to what the future is going to be like. Logan McAllister said he wouldn’t comment on the situation because he didn’t know enough about it.

For most players, it’s business as usual the rest of the season. Beyond, no one knows.

The same has been said from dozens of golfers on the PGA Tour, as well. There have been plenty of conversations regarding whether LIV golfers will find their way back on the PGA Tour and how they can be let back in with the merger.

And for every time a LIV player comes back to the PGA Tour, that’s another spot that a Korn Ferry Tour player would take or players like Grant could lose their spot to.

Outside of the initial announcement, there’s plenty of speculation as to what it actually means. And it’s putting plenty on player’s minds, like Brent Grant.

After earning his PGA Tour card last year, Grant has made 22 starts this year, including last week’s U.S. Open. However, he wasn’t in the field this week at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, so he headed to Norman to continue finding his groove with a new caddie on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Grant was at the RBC Canadian Open when the announcement of the agreement was made, though he didn’t attend the meeting with Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and fellow players. Yet his feelings echo the same thoughts of many on both tours.

“A the end of the day, they gave us no answers,” Grant said. “I feel that there were more than enough guys like me at the meeting who were going to say probably the same things as me. They sprung it on us out of no where. We’re so in the dark it’s hard to tell whether they made the right move or not.

“But for guys like me, Grayson Murray, ones who have won and grinded it out to get on Tour, they kind of feel sold out. But you know, me as a rookie, ultimately they don’t even know who I am, so it doesn’t really matter.”

59 alert: Michael Feagles fires a 12-under round at the Korn Ferry Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am

Have a day, Feagles!

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Michael Feagles made history Thursday, shooting a 12-under 59 at the Korn Ferry Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greer, South Carolina.

Playing the Thornblade Club — Thornblade and Carolina Country Club are being used for the event — Feagles started his day on No. 10 with a birdie. He’d make five more on Nos. 12, 14, 15, 16 and 18 to make the turn with a 6-under 30.

Feagles made one birdie on Nos. 1-4 — the par-5 second — but went on an absolute tear to finish his day. He birdied his last five holes, including the par-3 ninth, to solidify his 59.

“It was pretty surreal for me because I wasn’t really ever thinking about it out there. I had an eagle putt on 5 that would have gotten me to 9 under and I missed, and I basically just dropped the 59 thought. It was just, ‘oh, play good coming in,'” he said after his round. “And then hit it to like a foot on six, two feet on seven and then I’m like, ‘okay, well, if I can birdie the last two, I can do it,’ and I did.

“But honestly, like until the actual ball went in the hole, I was like ‘I don’t think this is going to happen. There’s no way this happens, right?’ People don’t just shoot 59. And it did, yeah. Feeling great, feel great.”

He led Josh Teater by two shots after the morning wave.

More: Pros to shoot 59

Feagles, who turned pro in 2021, is from Phoenix and played his college golf at Illinois. In 10 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, Feagles has missed seven cuts and has yet to crack the top 20.

In April, Mac Meissner eagled his final hole to card a 59 at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Lecom Suncoast Classic.

Jorge Fernandez Valdes birdies first playoff hole to beat Trent Phillips at Korn Ferry Tour’s UNC Health Championship

Valdes won for the first time in 80 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Trent Phillips shot a final-round 66, tying for low round of the day, to get into a playoff against Jorge Fernandez Valdes at the 2023 UNC Health Championship on Sunday on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Phillips, who turned pro last year, had four consecutive birdies on Nos. 13 through 16 before closing with back-to-back pars. Meanwhile, Valdes, 30, who eagled the par-4 9th, survived a bogey on the 16th hole to shoot a 68 to also make it to bonus golf at Raleigh Country Club in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Both golfers reached 13 under, one clear of the field, to force overtime.

But the extra golf was over quickly, as Valdes made birdie on the first playoff hole to win for the first time in 80 Korn Ferry Tour starts. Prior to this win, had had five top-25s and five missed cuts during the 2023 season.

Valdes celebrated on the 18th green with his wife Martina and daughter Azalea after the trophy presentation.

Third-round leader and Raleigh native Grayson Murray birdied the final hole but otherwise had a disastrous back-nine, with a double bogey on the par-5 12th and bogeys on Nos 13, 16 and 17. He shot a back-nine 39 and a final-round 1-over 71 to miss the playoff by a shot. Two weeks after winning on the Korn Ferry Tour, Murray tied John Augenstein for third.

Kyle Westmoreland, the first Air Force Academy graduate to earn his PGA Tour card, had a first-round 63, which tied for low round of the week. He started the final round a shot back and went on to finish solo fifth after a final-round 71.

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Rico Hoey birdies 18, wins 2023 Visit Knoxville Open by a stroke for first Korn Ferry Tour victory

It’s the first Korn Ferry Tour win for Hoey in 82 starts.

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Rico Hoey has played in just one PGA Tour event and that was more than three years ago.

After earning his first Korn Ferry Tour win on Sunday in the 2023 Visit Knoxville Open, Hoey took a huge step toward perhaps being a regular on the big tour.

Hoey birdied the par-5 18th hole Sunday at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tennessee, to win by a shot over Chase Seiffert and Norman Xiong. Hoey’s final-round 65 got him to 14 under for the week. It’s his sixth top-10 finish of the 2023 season.

“I’m just ecstatic. There was a lot of hard work. Everyone works hard. And I have battled through things for myself, and I’m just really happy to get it done,” he said. “And I never thought the day would come, but a lot of people told me it would.”

He punctuated his birdie on 18 with an animated fist pump.

“It was just like your heart’s racing, you can’t think straight, your head’s all over the place. I couldn’t control my hands,” he said of his putt on 18. “I just told myself: ‘Just hit it down the line and see what happens.'”

It’s his first win in 82 Korn Ferry starts and his second professional win since he claimed the 2017 Freedom 55 Financial Championship on the PGA Tour Canada.

The last 10 events of 2023 have been feast or famine for Hoey.

2023 Visit Knoxville Open
Rico Hoey poses with the trophy after winning the 2023 Visit Knoxville Open at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo: Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

Prior to winning this week, he tied for second. In the two events before that, he missed the cut. The three events before those missed cuts were three consecutive ties for third. In his last 10 starts, he either has finished in the top 10 or he has missed the cut.

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Joshua Creel shoots a 61, Alejandro Tosti leads Korn Ferry Tour’s 2023 Visit Knoxville Open

Joshua Creel had eight birdies in his first 12 holes Friday.

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Joshua Creel fired a 9-under 61 on Friday to fly up the leaderboard at the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2023 Visit Knoxville Open.

Creel was out in the early wave at Holston Hills Country Club and had eight birdies in his first 12 holes. Five straight pars cooled him off but a closing birdie got him to 9 under, one day after shooting an even par round.

After his career-low and course-record tying round, he was asked what was going through his mind after posting a 29 on the front nine.

“Fifty-nine, yeah. Par 70, turn 29, you’re thinking 59 for sure,” Creel said, adding that he thought a sub-60 round was oh-so-close.

“I lipped out putts on 14, 15 and 16, so that’s 61, could have been a couple better,” he said.

Creel’s red-hot Friday has him within a shot of the lead, held by Alejandro Tosti, the first-round co-leader.

Tosti is seeking his first professional win and knows there’s a lot of work ahead with 36 holes still to play this weekend. But he likes where he’s at.

“Just being in the fight for the tournament. I’ve been playing really good and I feel like I’ve been knocking on the door but not having a good result, so whatever is meant to happen will happen,” he said after rounds of 63 and 67. “I know there are not many guys playing better than me at this time, so I’m very happy with the opportunity.”

Tosti’s Argentinian countryman Jorge Fernandez Valdes is also at 9 under after shooting a 64 on Friday. Jacob Solomon and Matt McCarty are tied for fourth at 8 under. The other first-round co-leader, Nelson Ledesma, shot a 70 Friday to slide back into a tie for sixth.

Camilo Villegas is in the field and he’s tied for 10th (67-67).