Justin Suh secured Player of the Year over Carl Yuan and Taylor Montgomery.
The future of the PGA Tour is bright.
Look no further than Justin Suh, who Wednesday was tabbed the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year. Suh won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship for his first professional victory, and he also had 10 top-10 finishes in 24 starts last season.
In a vote by fellow Korn Ferry players, Suh secured the Player of the Year distinction over Carl Yuan and Taylor Montgomery, who were fellow finalists. Suh finished No. 1 on both the Korn Ferry’s season-long and Finals Eligibility Points Lists, joining Scottie Scheffler (2019) and Chesson Hadley (2017) as the only players in history to win both points lists.
He finished inside the top 20 in 16 of his final 20 starts.
By sweeping the No. 1 spots on both Eligibility Points Lists, Suh has fully exempt status for the 2022-23 Tour season, an exemption for the 2023 Players Championship and, for the first time in history, an exemption for the 2023 U.S. Open.
S.H. Kim was named Rookie of the Year, and he had a strong season, finishing in the top three thrice in his first seven starts. In 22 starts, he recorded nine top 25s.
Kim earned membership by playing his way through the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, ultimately finishing T-39 during final stage qualifying to earn guaranteed starts.
On the PGA Tour this season, Suh’s best finish is T-29 at the CJ Cup in South Carolina, and Kim tallied a fourth-place finish at the Shriners Children’s Open.
He was the first Air Force grad to play in one of the four men’s majors. Now he’s the first to earn a PGA Tour card.
Old rivalries die hard. Just ask Kyle Westmoreland, the first Air Force Academy graduate to earn his PGA Tour card.
“Go Air Force. Beat Army. Sink Navy. And we’re Tour bound, baby,” he said with the sun setting behind him and 24 others who made their dreams come true Sunday at Victoria National in Newburgh, Indiana.
He was a senior in college at Air Force in 2014 and then served out his five-year commitment, reaching the rank of captain serving in the financial management division. But he never wavered on his goal of playing professional golf.
"Go Air Force. Beat Army, Sink Navy."@Kyle_West_ played collegiality @AF_Golf and completed a five-year service commitment in the @USAirForce before pursuing professional golf.
Westmoreland, 30, finished in the 25th and final spot in the points standings.
He was 13th in driving distance on the Korn Ferry Tour at 319 yards. He had three top-10s and made 14 cuts in 26 events during the season. He earned $122,575 in on-course winnings during the 2022 campaign.
The next PGA Tour season starts in Napa, California, at the Fortinet Championship, Sept. 15-18. Defending tournament champ Max Homa has committed to play. Others in the field include Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland, Brandt Snedeker and past winner Cameron Champ.
Suh shot a 64 on Saturday to take the outright lead at 17 under, setting the 54-hole mark at Victoria National in Newburgh, Indiana.
He didn’t go as deep Sunday but didn’t need to, as his final-round 68 gave him the win in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship at 21 under—his first Korn Ferry Tour win—and the No. 1 ranking in the season-long points race.
And to the winner goes the spoils.
The 25-year-old former USC golfer gained full status for the 2022-23 PGA Tour season for winning the points. But wait, that’s not all. Suh is also exempt in the 2023 Players Championship and the 2023 U.S. Open, the first year that perk was on the line at the KFT finals.
The Finals 25 was determined after Sunday’s round, finalizing 25 PGA Tour cards for next season. Here’s a look at who’s heading to the Tour:
Once a player strikes a tee shot on the LIV Golf Series, he has lost his status on the PGA Tour.
Not sure they should be expecting thank you cards or gift baskets, but when the six newest members of the LIV Golf Series teed off in Boston on Friday for their 1:15 p.m. ET shotgun start, six others earned their PGA Tour cards.
Officially, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Anirban Lahiri and Cameron Tringale were “removed from the 2021-22 FedEx Cup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List,” according to the PGA Tour.
This then elevated Kelly Kraft, Justin Lower, Doc Redman, Austin Smotherman, Matt Wallace and Danny Willett inside the top 125, thus granting them their Tour cards for the 2022-23 season.
The Tour’s announcement specifically mentioned the 1:15 p.m. ET time. Once a player strikes a tee shot on the LIV Golf Series, he has lost his status on the PGA Tour.
Kraft, Lower, Redman were removed from the Korn Ferry Tour Championship on Friday after they earned fully exempt status. They cannot improve their standing on the Eligibility List. Smotherman, Wallace and Willett did not reach the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
The top 25 finishers at the Finals will earn PGA Tour cards. The final FedEx Cup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List for the 2021-22 season will be finalized at 5 p.m. ET on Sept. 9, 2022.
There will be 17 PGA Tour cards up for grabs at the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Indiana.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. − Professional golf returns to the Tri-State this week with the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance.
This will be the 11th year Victoria National Golf Club has hosted a professional golf event. Following a change in 2019, it is also the final stop on the KFT with PGA Tour cards on the line. As part of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, it will also be the final year of the current format with a change coming in 2023.
It is always an exciting four days of golf played by some of the best in the country. Here is what you need to know for this year’s event.
What is at stake?
The Korn Ferry Tour Championship is the third and final event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, with a second set of 25 PGA Tour cards being awarded at the conclusion of the tournament.
Eight players have already crossed the threshold the Korn Ferry Tour uses as its fail-safe number for players to finish inside The Finals 25, leaving 17 final available PGA Tour cards this week. The player who finishes No. 1 in the season-long points race earns fully exempt status for the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, as well as a berth for the 2023 Players Championship and an exemption into the 2023 U.S. Open.
The schedule
The tournament will take place Thursday through Sunday with first-round tee times scheduled from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. According to weather.com, temperatures will be in the high 80s or low 90s with clear to partly cloudy skies all week.
Victoria National Golf Course in Newburgh, Indiana.
Golf Channel will have TV live coverage of every round from 4-7 p.m. ET. It will also be streamed on Peacock. Tickets are available through tourchampulf.com/tickets. All-week general admission tickets are $40. Daily admission is $20.
The field
There are numerous players to keep an eye on with PGA Tour cards at stake.
Defending champion Joseph Bramlett returns with a chance to become the first golfer in the 32 years of the circuit to successfully defend at the Tour Championship. He won at Victoria National last year with a final-round 65 to win by four shots at 20 under. Bramlett earned his PGA Tour card last week via the Finals point list.
He isn’t the only past champion of the event with Jonathan Byrd (2017) also scheduled to compete. Other former notable PGA Tour players include Aaron Baddeley, Bill Haas, Sean O’Hair, Bo Van Pelt and Camilo Villegas. The KFT Finals is a mix of players who finished 26-75th on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season points list, 126-200th on the FedEx Cup Playoffs points list, as well as non-members and medical extensions.
While 25 Korn Ferry Tour players already earned their PGA Tour cards through the regular season, a separate points list determines The Finals 25. The player who earns the most points during the three Finals events (excluding those from the regular season) will earn status on the PGA Tour for the 2022-23 season.
Top 10 going into Tour Championship
Will Gordon
David Lingmerth
Philip Knowles
Michael Gligic
Joseph Bramlett
Austin Cook
Dean Burmester
Henrik Norlander
Justin Lower
Thomas Detry
Scott Harrington
Are there any players with local ties this year?
One golfer in the field who will be of major interest is Jeff Overton, a North High School graduate. He has 32 top-10s in nearly 300 career starts on the PGA Tour, including four runner-up finishes. He also earned a spot on the 2010 Ryder Cup team. However, Overton had not played professional golf in over five years due to an epidural abscess after an injection for a herniated disc in his back in 2017, followed by a lengthy recovery.
He made his professional return at the 3M Open in Minneapolis in July but missed the cut. Overton has made one cut in three Korn Ferry Tour events this month.
Victoria National Golf Course in Newburgh, Indiana.
Victoria National was ranked among the top three for six consecutive seasons from 2013-18, and it was the No. 1-ranked toughest course in 2015, 2016, and 2018. A par 72, scores have been lower in recent years after the course previously hosted a Tour event in late April or early July.
The course still remains brutal for those not playing well. The final stretch on the back nine is considered among the toughest closing holes on Tour. Victoria National ranks 47th on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses 2022 list.
