Category: Korn Ferry

Masters champion Mike Weir, 14 other past PGA Tour winners highlight KFT return

Led by 2003 Masters champ Mike Weir, 15 players who have combined to win 30 PGA Tour events will be in the field at the Korn Ferry Challenge

Led by 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir, 15 players who have combined to win 30 PGA Tour events will be in the field for next week’s Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass, which will mark the return of the Korn Ferry Tour to Dye’s Valley.
The Korn Ferry Challenge is one of two high-level events that mark the return of professional golf since The Players Championship was canceled after one round on March 13. The PGA Tour is playing the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.
The 72-hole tournament begins on Thursday. Fans will not be allowed on the course except perhaps to watch from their properties that border the playing area and there will be no live TV. The field of 156 players will be chasing a $600,000 purse, with $108,000 going to the winner.
Weir, an eight-time PGA Tour winner who has been plagued with injuries since 2011, is one of five players in the field who have won multiple PGA Tour events, only to lose their status and drop to the Korn Ferry Tour. The others are four-time winners Robert Allenby and Sean O’Hair, and two-time winners Ted Potter Jr., and Fabian Gomez.
Among the other Tour winners are David Lingmerth of Ponte Vedra Beach, Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, and international veteran Alex Cejka.
Lingmerth, Cejka and O’Hair are notable in that they all led or had a share of the 54-hole lead in The Players Championship, at the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course. Lingmerth was in a three-way tie with Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia in 2013 (Lingmerth shot 72 in the final round and Woods won), Cejka had a five-shot lead entering the final round in 2009 (Henrik Stenson won with a closing 66 as Cejka plummeted with a 79) and O’Hair led Phil Mickelson by one shot in 2007 (Mickelson won after O’Hair hit two balls into the water at No. 17).
In addition to Lingmerth, other area players in the field are Chris Baker (Jacksonville), Blayne Barber (Lake City), Sebastian Cappelen (Ponte Vedra Beach), Luke Guthrie (Jacksonville), Rick Lamb (St. Simons Island, Ga.), Sam Saunders (Atlantic Beach), Tim Wilkinson (Ponte Vedra) and Jared Wolfe (Nocatee).
Wolfe is sixth on the Korn Ferry points list and won his first tournament earlier this season in the Bahamas.
All six winners on the tour this season and the top-35 players on the points list at the time the tour was suspended are in the field, led by No. 1 Mito Perreira of Chile, a former Texas Tech player.
Eight Monday qualifiers will be added, four each from Palencia and Eagle Harbor.
The last time the Korn Ferry Tour played was March 1 when David Kocher won the El Bosque Mexico Championship.

Summer at TPC Sawgrass: Dye’s Valley course will be a mystery in the heat

It’s two weeks before the first day of summer and the Korn Ferry Tour is back in Ponte Vedra Beach for the first time in nearly five years.

There has been PGA Tour golf at the TPC Sawgrass in March and May, and the Korn Ferry Tour has played there in the fall.

But now it’s two weeks before the first day of summer and the Korn Ferry Tour is back in Ponte Vedra Beach for the first time in nearly five years.

What will hot weather golf be like for the 156 players who will begin preparing on Monday for the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass, at Dye’s Valley?

Like much about golf in Florida, it depends on what Mother Nature decides.

Dye’s Valley may be as difficult as the players make it when the first round begins on Thursday.

Between 2010 and 2015, when the Korn Ferry Tour had fall tournaments at the Valley (the former Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open and the Korn Ferry Tour Championship), high rough, narrow fairways, firm greens and dry, windy weather resulted in winning scores that were as high as 6-under, and no lower than 14-under, with an average of 10-under.

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But lighter wind and recent rain that have softened the playing surface could make it play a bit easier for those who hit the fairways, setting up relatively easy darts into greens that don’t have the undulation of the sister course on the other side of the property, the Stadium.

If the field has some rust to scrape off — and the last time the players experienced competitive golf was three months ago — it might result in missed fairways into some thick, tangled wet rough, making approach shots decidedly more difficult.

TPC Sawgrass director of agronomy Jeff Plotts said there’s not much he and his staff can do to toughen it up, especially if there is more rain prior to the first round — which is in the forecast.

“It was playing very firm up until last week,” he said. “Then we had some rain, got more humidity and it’s playing longer. That isn’t a problem for these Korn Ferry guys. They hit it so far and they’re always going full throttle. The guys who keep it in the fairway will have some great chances to score.”

Plotts said rules officials have told him to cut the rough at about 2 inches for the first round, then stow the mowers except for the fairways and greens. If there is rain after the first round, the rough will grow quickly and the weekend field will find it very hard to gouge shots out of the high grass and onto the greens.

Speaking of the putting surfaces, he said the plan is to get them rolling about 12 in the Stimpmeter, which is moderately fast. But the Valley course has relatively flat greens and players at this level don’t mind speedy putts when there isn’t much undulation.

Since Dye’s Valley doesn’t have the Precision Air system under the greens, they’re even further at the mercy of the weather.

Between Jan. 1 and May 23, Plotts said the course had 5.8 inches of rain. Since then, it’s sustained nearly 4 inches.

The only hope for some drying out is the days are getting as long as they get all year, and there will be more hours of sunshine to dry it out — provided there is some sunshine.

“They’re going to be throwing darts in there,” Plotts said.

The course will play to a par of 70, with Nos. 8 and 17, which are par-5s for resort play, converted to long par-4s. Even taking two reachable par-5s away from the players might not matter.

“I talked to a few of the local guys and no one is hitting more than a 7-iron into No. 17,” Plotts said.

Imagine how the players would be chopping up that hole as a par-5.

Plotts said he’s come to expect the unexpected this year when it comes to weather. March and early April were hotter than normal, and May cooler than usual, with a few nights when the temperatures flirted with the high-40s.

The extended forecast calls for temperatures in the low-to-mid 80s, with the rain chance between 30-40 percent on the days of competitive rounds.

“Not much in 2020 has been normal,” Plotts said with a touch of irony. “The guys might have a level of rust but they’re going to have some pent-up energy. Ten-under was a good score here in the fall and it might be pretty good next week.”

The other characteristic of Korn Ferry Tour events at the Valley course has been close decisions. Five of the six tournaments played at the Valley between 2010-2015 were decided by one shot or in a playoff.

The only margin greater than that was a two-shot victory for Chesson Hadley in 2013.

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Vijay Singh withdraws from Korn Ferry Tour opener at TPC Sawgrass

After being met with criticism – and some shocking support – Vijay Singh has withdrawn from the Korn Ferry Tour’s opening event.

It appears crossover golf and MMA fans won’t get to experience Singh vs. Schnell in the octagon after all.

Vijay Singh caused quite a stir a few weeks back when the three-time major champion’s name appeared on the field list for the Korn Ferry Tour’s first post-pandemic event at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course June 11-14.

On Sunday, the PGA Tour confirmed Singh has withdrawn from the Korn Ferry Challenge. Golf Channel was first to report.

Singh riled up golf Twitter – Korn Ferry Tour pro Brady Schnell, in particular – with his initial decision to enter the KFT event. Being a lifetime PGA Tour member, The Big Fijian was eligible to enter the event because he wasn’t playing in the Tour’s return to play that same week at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Schnell called Singh a “turd” and “true piece of trash” for entering the KFT event. On the flipside, Singh received shocking support from Phil Mickelson and also David Duval. Schnell eventually apologized for his reaction.

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Korn Ferry Tour president Baldwin on restart: ‘It’s intense’

Getting ready to resume tournament golf on the Korn Ferry Tour next month won’t be quite as daunting as doing the same on the PGA Tour.

From a logistical standpoint, getting ready to resume tournament golf on the Korn Ferry Tour next month won’t be quite as daunting as doing the same on the PGA Tour.

But one area isn’t being compromised: the safety of players, caddies, tournament staff and volunteers as professional golf continues to ramp up during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The scale is a little bit different,” said Korn Ferry Tour president Alexandra Baldwin on Thursday of the preparations for the Korn Ferry Challenge at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley course June 11-14, the same week that the PGA Tour resumes its schedule with the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. “We’ll only have about 400 people on site [which includes 156 players and 156 caddies]. We won’t have a TV broadcast window [which would require around 100 more people on the course] and fans, so we can control it more.”

But the protocols for testing players, caddies and staff for the COVID-19 virus will be exactly the same at both sites and at future venues — including June 18-21 when the Korn Ferry Tour moves to the World Golf Hall of Fame King & Bear course.

“There won’t be any difference and there shouldn’t be any difference in the most important area,” said Andy Pazder, the chief tournaments and competitions officer for the PGA Tour. “We will adhere to the same protocols in a tournament city, the initial screening process, sheltering at the tournament hotel and enforcing the same social distancing.”

Baldwin said staging a 72-hole tournament with 156 players and keeping everyone as safe as possible “is a huge responsibility.”

She also pointed out that players on the Korn Ferry Tour, which is the main path to the PGA Tour, have been inactive longer and had played in fewer tournaments (six) than PGA Tour players (22) who last hit shots that counted in the first round of The Players Championship on March 13.

“We haven’t hit a tee shot since March 1 in Mexico,” she pointed out. “This is their livelihood and we recognize the importance of providing them with playing opportunities. They’re trying to put food on the table. But ensuring the health and safety of players, caddies, staff, the host organization and the communities is paramount and as much as we’re eager to play, we’re not going to do so unless we’re being safe and responsible.”

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The first four PGA Tour events and the first six Korn Ferry Tour events out of the gate will not allow fans or players’ families, and will be conducted with a minimum of volunteers and media. Players on both tours are being encouraged to use home testing kits before they leave for Fort Worth and Ponte Vedra Beach, but will still be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival.

“We hope the players use the home kits,” Pazder said. “I would want to know before I left whether I was positive or not.”

The Tour also is providing a host hotel for players to keep them in a “bubble.” It’s not required but the Tour is requesting in the strongest terms that players stay in those hotels.

Charter flights also are available between sites to keep players and caddies traveling together as much as possible — and minimizing their exposure to those outside the bubble — but to get on the charter flights they have to be tested again after playing in the third round on Saturday and will require a negative test to get on board the plane the following Monday.

Those players who are able to fly because of negative test won’t have to go through the initial test at the next tournament stop.

Even though the Korn Ferry events at the Valley Course and the King & Bear are at courses that wind through a residential area, Pazder said homeowners are still not allowed on the course and will be asked to retreat to their backyards if they stray too close.

However, he did acknowledge that many homes have good views of the course and as long as the residents and their friends stay within their property, the players probably wouldn’t mind hearing a few words of encouragement.

“If a few of them want to see what they can and cheer from their back patio, that would be great,” he said.

The Tour rolled out its plans to return during a May 13 teleconference. While it seemed ambitious to begin in less than a month, Pazder said the process has gone as well as he could have anticipated.

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“I am confident we’ll play golf,” he said. “There were things we were still working on that have come together very nicely. We’ve finalized all of our vendors for our testing plans at home and on-site testing, the Department of Homeland Security has granted waivers for pro athletes from all sports who live overseas to travel back to the U.S. from countries that were on a prohibited list and the state of Texas has repealed some of their travel restrictions, which actually were domestic. All of those things transpired since we did that [teleconference] and it has furthered our level of optimism.”

“Everything is proceeding,” Baldwin said. “It’s intense. We’re planning two new tournaments in weeks when it normally would take a year, and undertaking and implementing protocols we never realized we’d have to do on a golf course. We’ve crafted a plan that I think is logical, efficient and effective, but it’s new and we’re all adapting.”

And what will the golf look like?

Baldwin said she doesn’t expect much rust on the Korn Ferry Tour players.

“They’re competitors,” she said. “They want to return to their field of play. Let’s get the balls in the air.”

Defending Vijay Singh: Phil Mickelson, David Duval stick up for prep golfer

Major champions and a Korn Ferry Tour pro jumped to the defense of Vijay Singh’s decision to compete in his first KFT event in June.

Shots were fired on Thursday when Korn Ferry Tour pro Brady Schnell attacked World Golf Hall of Fame member Vijay Singh for signing up for the Korn Ferry Challenge, June 11-14 at TPC Sawgrass’s Dye’s Valley Course.

Schnell tweeted that Singh, a 34-time PGA Tour winner, was a “turd” and a “true piece of trash” for entering the event and taking a spot from one of the lower-level circuit’s players. Schnell has since deleted his tweets.

Singh has largely been skewered on social media for being “selfish” and “tone deaf.” On Friday, several major champions jumped to Singh’s defense.

FORWARD PRESS PODCAST: Relief efforts, questionable aces amid COVID-19

World Golf Hall of Fame member Phil Mickelson jumped into the fray via Twitter.

“It’s no secret VJ and I aren’t close,” Mickelson wrote, “but I’d like to say on his behalf that in addition to being a member of the Hall of Fame, he’s a big part of the PGA Tour’s success which financially subsidizes, and always has, the KFT. He has earned the right to play when and where he wants.”

That led 1995 PGA champion Steve Elkington to chime in and say, “Phil’s right, of course, you can’t stop someone from going to work.”

When 2001 British Open champion David Duval was told the news and asked for his reaction to Singh playing, Duval said, “Why not? He gets to be at home and play a competitive event. What’s wrong with that?”

Singh lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and practices at TPC Sawgrass regularly.

Duval also noted that Singh, who has earned more than $70 million on Tour, hasn’t been able to compete, either, since professional golf hit the pause button during the Players Championship in March. Singh, 57, splits time between the PGA Tour, where he is a life member, and PGA Tour Champions, which has canceled its tournaments due to the COVID-19 Pandemic until the Ally Challenge, beginning July 31. Singh is eligible for the Korn Ferry Tour start since his status on the PGA Tour doesn’t get him into the Charles Schwab Challenge, which is an invitational.

Duval compared the situation to a tournament director’s use of a sponsor exemption, such as Tony Romo competing in the Safeway Open or when Annika Sorenstam played against the men at Colonial.

“You don’t take a spot away from someone who doesn’t have one,” said Duval, who works as an analyst for Golf Channel. “You either have a spot or you don’t. I’ve never agreed with the argument you’re taking away a spot. You’re either exempt or you’re not and if you’re not exempt you’re in the same boat as everyone else.”

Duval, 48, who still competes occasionally on the PGA Tour via past champion’s status, dropped down to play in the KFT’s inaugural TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes last summer and missed the cut.

“I enjoyed it. I kind of remember my days playing on the Nike Tour. You forget how many really good golfers there are,” he said.

Singh also received support from current KFT pro Erik Compton, who has played on the PGA Tour in the past.

“I would imagine it’s nice for him to get his feel and be at home. It’s like being a host to the event. It’s also scary times and I’m sure everyone would like to compete in their own backyard with very little risk of travel,” he said.

Compton said that it is important to look at the big picture.

“The players should be glad they have a chance to play with a legend,” he said.

Singh declined to explain his reasons for playing. His son, Quass, responded via text, “We feel like it’s not worth it.”

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Pro golfer calls Vijay Singh a ‘turd’ and ‘true piece of trash’ for entering Korn Ferry Tour event

Pro player Brady Schnell called Vijay Singh a “turd” and “true piece of trash” for a entering Korn Ferry Tour event.

Vijay Singh is taking his talents to … the Korn Ferry Tour?

When tournament golf returns, the 34-time PGA Tour champion and four-time PGA Tour Champions winner will tee it up at the Korn Ferry Challenge, June 11-14, according to the Monday Q Info Twitter account. Singh is considered a “life member” of the PGA Tour, but there is no eligibility category for that week’s Tour event, the Charles Schwab Challenge, since it is an invitational. (Some invitationals offer entry to life members, but the event at Colonial isn’t one of them.)

Brady Schnell, a player on the Korn Ferry Tour, isn’t too happy about that.

The 35-year-old took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with Singh being in the field, calling him “a true piece of trash” if he accepts money from the event. They aren’t just Twitter fingers, though. Schnell is more than happy to tell the 57-year-old Singh how he feels in person.

After being flooded with replies, Schnell explained his reasoning for calling out Singh, saying in a tweet that he was “just trying to protect the money AND valuable points for every player on the tour that needs them to move on to the PGA Tour. There is NO point to him playing.”

The 2018 Wichita Open winner wasn’t alone in criticizing Singh’s decision, and he wasn’t done calling him out, either. In response to Singh just taking “one spot” in the field, Schnell had quite the reaction.

Singh isn’t too active on social media, and as of the time of this post “The Big Fijian” has yet to respond. If he does respond, we can’t wait to see what Schnell says next.

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Savannah excited to get Korn Ferry reprieve

The Savannah Golf Championship has been rescheduled for the fall, which is good news for players such as Savannah native Tim O’Neil who have entry into the Korn Ferry Tour event. “I don’t think I have anything else more important to do than that,” …

The Savannah Golf Championship has been rescheduled for the fall, which is good news for players such as Savannah native Tim O’Neil who have entry into the Korn Ferry Tour event.

“I don’t think I have anything else more important to do than that,” O’Neal said Monday, May 4, after the Korn Ferry Tour’s announcement of the new dates of Sept. 28-Oct. 4. “I definitely will be available for those dates to play in the tournament.”

The later dates also could be good news for local golf fans who might be permitted to attend the tournament if deemed safe based on the situation and protocols at that time regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

The Korn Ferry Tour, which is owned and operated by the PGA Tour, announced additional modifications and details regarding the restart of the 2020 schedule and a fall calendar of events that will be part of a one-time, combined 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour season.

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Included in the fall series of tournaments is the third annual Savannah Golf Championship at The Landings Club’s Deer Creek Course.

The 2020 Savannah Golf Championship, which was originally scheduled for the week of March 30-April 5, was postponed on March 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event is now one of five tournaments that will make up the Korn Ferry Tour’s new fall schedule.

Tournament director Cheyenne Overby said it’s been a fluid situation but the current plan allows for spectators.

“We will not play unless it’s safe,” she said. “We’re moving forward with that notion that we’ll have fans, that we’ll carry the special events that we have as normal. But we will follow all protocols that are in place at the time of the tournament. If there are guidelines handed down by CDC, the World Health Organization, local public health officials, that’s what we’ll go by.”

Dan McCarthy holds the trophy after donning the seersucker jacket awarded to the winner of the 2019 Savannah Golf Championship. McCarthy won by one stroke at 16 under par on March 31, 2019 at The Landings Club’s Deer Creek Course. [PHILIP HALL/SAVANNAHNOW.COM FILE PHOTO]
According to a release from the Korn Ferry Tour, play will resume with at least the first four events closed to the general public while continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation and follow the recommendations of local and state authorities in order to determine the most appropriate on-site access in each market. Decisions on fan attendance at all events thereafter depend on available protocols.

Overby confirmed that O’Neal has maintained the sponsors’ exemption from Korn Ferry, a global organizational consulting firm and the tour’s title sponsor. O’Neal said he would have understood if it had not been honored because of the complications of players with conditional status and the scarcity of tournaments.

“I’m just happy I still have the exemption and I get a chance to tee it up,” said O’Neal, who hopes that spectators — particularly his children — are allowed to attend.

“They don’t know the news yet but they’ll be excited to come out and watch me play and give their dad some support,” the Savannah resident said.

Overby said that she cannot speak for other events on the Korn Ferry Tour, but the Savannah event will have a Monday qualifier with details still to come. That’s good news for Savannah native and Thunderbolt resident Mark Silvers, a professional golfer like O’Neal without status on the PGA and Korn Ferry tours.

“If anything changes with sponsors or there’s a Monday (qualifier), I will definitely be there,” Silvers said. “Nobody has any plans moving forward unless you’re on the PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour. All of us on the inside, looking in are waiting to hear.”

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Silvers and O’Neal have played in previous Savannah Golf Championships and know well the sports landscape in their hometown.

“It was a huge bummer for everybody in Savannah not to have that event – whether you’re playing or just want to go watch,” Silvers said. “To have it back on the schedule is definitely great for everybody.”

The restart to the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour season will begin as previously announced with the Korn Ferry Challenge on June 8-14 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The event will now be one of four new events in the first six weeks back to play that have been created by the Tour to make up for the cancellation or postponement of events affected by COVID-19.

Korn Ferry Tour announces modifications, including wraparound 2020-21 season

The Korn Ferry Tour announced five fall events to the schedule that will be part of a one-time combined, wraparound 2020-21 season.

The Korn Ferry Tour has announced five fall events that will be part of a one-time combined, wraparound 2020-21 season.

The newly created 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour schedule will bridge two seasons and conclude with 25 PGA Tour cards awarded at the 2021 WinCo Foods Portland Open, with an additional 25 cards awarded at the conclusion of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

Among them is a new event at Orange County National in Orlando, which will be the last event of the year, Oct. 8-11.

The four other added events were all on the original 2020 schedule but were postponed or canceled because of the coronavirus: the Lincoln Land Championship, Evans Scholars Invitational, Wichita Open and Savannah Golf Championship. Instead, they have been scheduled between Sept. 3 and Oct. 4, with no Korn Ferry event held during the week of the rescheduled U.S. Open (Sept. 17-20).

The announcement of a fall schedule comes after the PGA Tour announced last week that, due to circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation or postponement of 13 events from the 2019-20 Tour season, eligibility has been extended for exempt 2019-20 PGA Tour members for the 2020-21 season.

These adjustments mean the Korn Ferry Tour won’t have a graduating class in 2020; however, the Tour has established a performance benefit for the top 10 from the Korn Ferry Tour points list following the conclusion of the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Those players will be granted access into all PGA Tour events for the 2020-21 season.

With six events completed through the El Bosque Mexico Championship, the remaining 2020 schedule now consists of 23 events. Korn Ferry Tour events to be contested in 2021 as part of the combined 2020-21 schedule will be announced later this year.

“While we won’t have the opportunity to graduate a Korn Ferry Tour Class in 2020, we feel our reimagined wraparound schedule – with newly created playing opportunities – is the best solution to our season that has been disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis,” said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin.

The restart to the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour season will begin with the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The event will be followed by a second event in Northeast Florida at The King & Bear Course at World Golf Village in St. Augustine. This new tournament takes the place of the Wichita Open Supporting Wichita’s Youth, which will move to one of the newly created fall dates.

“With the impact sustained thus far to our 2020 schedule, it was imperative that we strive to create new playing opportunities for our membership, including these four events that were not on our original schedule,” Baldwin said.

The Lincoln Land Championship in Springfield, Illinois, will move from the week of July 13-19 to one of the new fall dates, which leaves the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper in Springfield, Missouri, as the first of six events on the original 2020 calendar that will remain as scheduled through the Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

In addition to the Lincoln Land Championship and the Wichita Open Supporting Wichita’s Youth, the Evans Scholars Invitational in Chicago, and the Savannah Golf Championship in Savannah, Georgia, were also rescheduled for the new fall season.

Revised 2020 Korn Ferry Tour Season schedule:

  • June 8-14: Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass, TPC Sawgrass (Dye’s Valley), Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
  • June 15-20: The King & Bear Classic at World Golf Village, The King & Bear GC at World Golf Village, St. Augustine, Florida (Saturday finish)
  • June 22-28: Utah Championship, Oakridge CC, Farmington, Utah
  • June 29-July 5: TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes, TPC Colorado, Berthoud, Colorado
  • July 6-12: TPC San Antonio Challenge at the Canyons, TPC San Antonio (Canyons Course), San Antonio, Texas
  • July 13-18: TPC San Antonio Championship at the Oaks, TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course), San Antonio, Texas (Saturday finish)
  • July 20-26: Price Cutter Charity Championship, Highland Springs CC, Springfield, Missouri
  • July 27-August 2: Pinnacle Bank Championship, The Club at Indian Creek, Omaha, Nebraska
  • August 3-9: WinCo Foods Portland Open, Pumpkin Ridge GC (Witch Hollow), North Plains, Oregon
  • August 10-16: Albertsons Boise Open, Hillcrest CC, Boise, Idaho
  • August 17-23: Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, Ohio State University GC (Scarlet Course), Columbus, Ohio
  • August 24-30: Korn Ferry Tour Championship, Victoria National GC, Newburgh, Indiana
  • August 31-September 6: Lincoln Land Championship , Panther Creek CC, Springfield, Illinois
  • September 7-13 : Evans Scholars Invitational, TBD, Chicago, Illinois
  • September 21-27: Wichita Open Supporting Wichita’s Youth, Crestview CC, Wichita, Kansas
  • September 28-October 4: Savannah Golf Championship, The Landings Club (Deer Creek), Savannah, Georgia
  • October 5-11: Orange County National Championship presented by Knight 39, Orange County Golf Center & Lodge (Panther Lake), Winter Garden, Florida

The Korn Ferry Tour is expected to resume play with at least the first four events closed to the general public while continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation and follow the recommendations of local and state authorities in order to determine the most appropriate on-site access in each market. Decisions on fan attendance at all events thereafter will be dependent on available protocols that could be implemented to ensure the health and well-being for all involved.

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Korn Ferry foursome hooks in with Nashville event’s sponsor

Brandt Snedeker had high praise for Simmons Bank, which announced Friday a multiyear player sponsorship agreement with four professional golfers on the Korn Ferry Tour. Simmons Bank became title sponsor earlier this year of the Korn Ferry Tour …

Brandt Snedeker had high praise for Simmons Bank, which announced Friday a multiyear player sponsorship agreement with four professional golfers on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Simmons Bank became title sponsor earlier this year of the Korn Ferry Tour Nashville event, renamed the Simmons Bank Open for The Snedeker Foundation.

The four players, called Team Simmons Bank, are Dawson Armstrong from Brentwood, Kevin Dougherty, Braden Thornberry and Will Zalatoris.

The fifth annual event, with a $600,000 purse at Nashville Golf and Athletic Club, was scheduled for April 30-May 3, but was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Simmons Bank also announced a new initiative — Drive, Putt, Do Good — to help offset the charitable fundraising component for the Snedeker Foundation that was eliminated with the event’s cancellation. The bank will donate $50 to the Snedeker Foundation for every birdie made by Armstrong, Dougherty, Thornberry and Zalatoris make this season.

“Simmons Bank has been an unbelievable partner already in the short time since they joined on,” said Snedeker, a former Vanderbilt star who has won nine times on the PGA Tour. “We’re awfully disappointed we couldn’t showcase them this year in the event, but going forward we couldn’t have a better partner.”

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Armstrong played golf at Lipscomb before turning pro in 2014. He won on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada in 2019 and ended the season No. 8 to earn 2020 Korn Ferry Tour membership. He is ranked 86th on the Korn Ferry Tour, which develops golfers for the PGA Tour.

“These are definitely strange and difficult times, and the fact that Simmons Bank is willing to support my goals as a professional golfer, and help the charity out as well, says a lot about what they are made of,” Armstrong said.

Snedeker said having a local player like Armstrong on Team Simmons Bank will benefit the fundraising effort.

“I couldn’t think of a better ambassador for anybody,” Snedeker said. “He is the perfect guy to kind of lead the charge and help Simmons show their commitment to the Korn Ferry Tour, to our tournament and what golf means to them.”

Dougherty also turned pro in 2014 after graduating from Oklahoma State. He is in his third season on the Korn Ferry Tour and had seven top-10 finishes in the last two years.

Thornberry, who played at Ole Miss, turned pro in 2018 and is 51st on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Zalatoris, who played at Wake Forest, also turned pro in 2018 and is 12th on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter. 

Korn Ferry Tour doubling up in Jacksonville, San Antonio

The Korn Ferry Tour will hold a second event in the Jacksonville area in June, with two in San Antonio, Texas, later in the season.

The Korn Ferry Tour will hold a second event in the Jacksonville area in June, giving the tour a doubleheader to restart the season within a short drive of PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. It will do the same with San Antonio, Texas, later in the season.

The addition to the schedule was outlined in a memo to the Korn Ferry membership by president Alexandra Baldwin, which was obtained by the Florida Times-Union, part of the USA Today Network.

The King & Bear Classic will be June 18-21 at the second World Golf Hall of Fame course, designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. It marks a return of professional golf to the course since the PGA Tour Champions held the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf there in 2001 and 2002.

SCHEDULE: Korn Ferry Tour 2020

The Korn Ferry Tour plans to restart its 2020 season June 11-14 with a yet-to-be-named tournament at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course. The Korn Ferry Tour Championship and before it the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open were held at Dye’s Valley from 2010-2015.

Neither tournament will have fans in attendance and will not be televised. Both purses are expected to be $600,000, with $108,000 going to the winner.

The back-to-back events reflect the Korn Ferry Tour’s strategy through its first six events of holding two tournaments in close proximity to each other to minimize travel, maximize the ability to test players and caddies for the COVID-19 virus and reduce the chance for exposure.

Later, the Korn Ferry Tour will head west to play the Utah Championship in Farmington, Utah, June 25-28; then go less than 500 miles away to Berthoud, Colorado, for the TPC Colorado Championship on July 2-5.

The tour will then move to the TPC San Antonio in back-to-back weeks, playing at the Canyons Course July 9-12 and the Oaks Course July 16-19.

The Korn Ferry Tour is the primary path to PGA Tour membership, with the top-25 on the regular-season points list and the top-25 on the Korn Ferry Finals series earning PGA Tour cards for the next season.

There will not be a Korn Ferry Tour Q-School this year. However, there will be limited promotion from the secondary circuit. The top 10 players from the final Korn Ferry Tour points list following the conclusion of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance the last week of August will be allowed to play in all of the PGA Tour’s additional tournaments such as opposite-field events for the 2020-21 season.

Additional information concerning the Korn Ferry Tour’s adjusted and extended season is expected to be announced May 4.

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