David Kocher was the last man standing following a three-way playoff in the Korn Ferry Tour’s El Bosque Mexico Championship on March 1.
How could he have ever anticipated that he’d also be the last man to hold a winner’s trophy on the Korn Ferry Tour for more than three months?
Kocher and the rest of the players on the Korn Ferry Tour will finally get their chance to play meaningful golf on Thursday when the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass begins at the Dye’s Valley Course.
They will be chasing a $600,000 purse and $108,000 first-place check as their tour joins the PGA Tour in Fort Worth to resume competitive golf after it was suspended on March 13 at the Players Championship.
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“It was crazy, how things turned so quickly,” said Kocher, a Charlotte, North Carolina, native who is the first player in University of Maryland history to play in four NCAA championships. “I was playing very well and remember thinking that I could definitely build on this. I had really good momentum and I was bummed I couldn’t carry that to the next tournament [in Louisiana].”
However, Kocher isn’t losing sight of the fact that he’s played exceptionally well since turning pro in 2018 and qualifying for the PGA Tour Series-China.
He knocked out five top-10s in 2019, including a victory, and earned a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour by finishing third on the Order of Merit.
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Kocher has made five of six cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour and followed up a tie for fourth in the LECOM Suncoast Classic with his victory over Paul Barjon and Chad Ramey in Mexico. That elevated him to third on the points list, behind Mito Pereira and Davis Riley.
Kocher two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th hole at the El Bosque Country Club to win on the first hole of sudden death, capping a breathless day in which he rallied from five shots back to get into contention, then survived a shot in the hazard on the 72nd hole to make a 12-foot par putt and reserve his spot in the playoff.
Kocher’s momentum was going to be interrupted anyway by the Korn Ferry Tour schedule. The Tour wasn’t due to resume for another three weeks after Mexico but Kocher said it was still a bit of a shock when he found out late the night before he was going to drive from Charlotte to Broussard, Louisiana, for the Chitimacha Louisiana Open.
“I was obviously a little upset,” he said. “But I think I’ve handled it pretty well.”
His answer was to go back to work. Kocher has practiced and played frequently with friends and fellow pros at the TPC Piper Glen, Raintree Country Club and the Charlotte Country Club, trying to sharpen a tee-to-green game that was among the best in the early weeks on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Kocher is 12th on the tour in driving accuracy (.904) and eighth in greens in regulation (.833).
On the rare occasions he’s missed a green, Kocher has gotten up-and-down 75 percent of the time, ninth on the tour.
Kocher has been so locked in that he’s hit only one approach shot in a bunker and missed only 11 other greens. Kocher is third on the tour in total birdies with 96 and has logged scores in the 60s in 11 of his last 16 rounds.
“My ball-striking has always been one of the most solid points of my game,” he said. “If I’m hitting a lot of greens, I can compete with anyone. My confidence level is very high after winning a top-five. I know I can play well and win out here.”
Prior to any practice rounds, Kocher said he had played Dye’s Valley only twice.
That, combined with a strong field that includes 15 past PGA Tour winners, will make it a highly competitive week, he said.
“I expect them to play pretty well, especially the guys in Florida who play in these conditions,” he said. “This is one of the best fields in Korn Ferry Tour history … a lot of good players.”
Plus, he’d like to accomplish something else: meeting another former Maryland player who hit a ton of fairways, Ponte Vedra Beach resident Fred Funk.
“He’s a great friend of the program,” Kocher said. “I’d love to meet him.”
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