Tag: Korn Ferry Challenge

An inspired Joseph Bramlett comes up 1-stroke short at Korn Ferry Challenge

Joseph Bramlett, one of four Black golfers on the PGA Tour, was trying to be second player of Black heritage to win on the Korn Ferry Tour.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Walking up the 17th fairway after sticking his approach shot 15 feet from the hole, Joseph Bramlett wheeled to his caddie and with an impish grin said, “How cool is this?”

For three months while golf hit the pause button due to concerns with COVID-19, Bramlett itched not simply to get back to competition, but to get in the trophy hunt and he gave it his all in his bid to catch eventual Korn Ferry Challenge champion Luke List.

“My stomach was going crazy and my adrenaline was pumping, and I felt like I could hit my driver 400 yards,” Bramlett said. “That rush is what I’ve missed and it was so great to do it again today.”

Bramlett would sink the birdie putt en route to shooting a 2-under 68 at Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass, and finished tied for second place with Shad Tuten with a 72-hole aggregate of 11-under 269.

KORN FERRY CHALLENGE: Leaderboard

Bramlett, 32, surged into contention on Saturday, shooting 6-under 64, the low round of the day, and trailed the 54-hole leader Will Zalatoris by one stroke. The Stanford product carded birdies at Nos. 7 and 9 to keep the heat on List, who grabbed the lead with an early birdie binge to start his round.

Bramlett’s one mistake came at the par-3 11th hole. Bramlett held two clubs in his hand on the tee as he did often for much of the round on a gusty day. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, who followed the final group on the back nine, joked that he usually grabbed three clubs. But Bramlett chose poorly, going with a 5-iron instead of a 4-iron and his ball splashed into the water fronting the green.

“We thought the wind was a little more left-to-right, but it was probably much more into our face than we thought,” he said. “Just the wrong club.”

The double bogey dropped him three strokes back, but Bramlett made it interesting with consecutive birdies at 16 and 17 to cut his deficit to one stroke.

Bramlett, who has PGA Tour status this season, began the week as the fourth alternate at the Charles Schwab Challenge and originally flew to Fort Worth, Texas before settling for a spot in the Korn Ferry Challenge field when it appeared he wouldn’t get into the stacked field at Colonial.

Bramlett hit 16 of 18 greens on Sunday, but his putter let him down. He missed several chances for birdie on the closing nine that could’ve been the difference.

“I tried to scare him, but couldn’t quite catch him,” said Bramlett, who is scheduled to compete next week at the King & Bear Classic at World Golf Village.

Bramlett, who is one of four African-American players on the PGA Tour,  was attempting to become the second player of Black heritage to win on the Korn Ferry Tour. (Cameron Champ won the 2018 Utah Championship.) It marked his best result on the Korn Ferry Tour since the 2019 Pinnacle Bank Championship in July, where he tied for fourth. Bramlett took solace that the experience of playing in the last group and feeling the nerves of being in contention again will only help him down the road.

“I learned that I’m pretty close,” he said. “I think all of the things that I’ve been working on in my game are heading in the right direction and I hope that I can keep that up this summer.”

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Late birdies enable Will Zalatoris to top another packed leaderboard at Dye’s Valley

Will Zalatoris birdied two of his last three holes to lead the Korn Ferry Challenge at 10 under.

It will be another crowded leaderboard on Sunday in the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass.

They’re calling it the Korn Ferry Challenge.

It will be a challenge, all right … whoever wins on Sunday at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course will have earned it against one of the deepest fields in Korn Ferry Tour history.

Wake Forest graduate Will Zalatoris finally emerged on top after nine other players led or shared the lead at some point. He birdied two of his last three holes and with a 65, took a one-shot lead at 10-under-par 200.

James Bramlett, attempting to become only the second African-American to win on the Korn Ferry Tour, shot the day’s low round with a 64 — with a 6-under 29 on the back nine — and is tied for second at 9-under with fellow PGA Tour member Luke List (65), Chase Wright (66) and Lee Hodges (67).

Shad Tuten (67) and Theo Humphrey (67) are tied at 8-under. There are 10 players within three shots of Zalatoris and 15 within four shots.

Scores | Monday qualifier | Camilo Villegas leads after Round 2

After a third round that began with the players who made the cut on 1-under-par number still only five shots off the lead, the field spread out a bit more on Saturday — but not by much.

“It’s anybody’s ballgame,” Zalatoris said. “I’ve got a one-shot advantage, but you don’t even look at it as sitting on a lead. I’ve still got to go get it tomorrow. I’ve shot 10-under the last three days on a pretty tough golf course and I feel like every aspect of my game is clicking. If I win, great, if not, it’s still a learning experience. The ultimate goal is just to get better every day.”

Bramlett may have some added pressure. He will be trying to won the same day that one of his best friends in golf, Harold Varner III, will be contending at the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Bramlett, Varner, Cameron Champ and Tiger Woods are the only African-Americans on the PGA Tour.

For a few holes on Saturday, both Bramlett and Varner led their respective tournaments.

“I feel extra inspired this week to play well, especially seeing Harold doing what he is doing,” Bramlett said. “Harold is doing it at Colonial on the biggest stage and to see what he is doing definitely adds a level of inspiration for me. I honestly want to catch him. If he is going to win, I want to win too. I want to get on it.”

Bramlett torched the back nine at the Valley (his front), beginning with a 40-foot birdie putt at No. 10. He dropped two more birdies, at Nos. 13 and 15, then holed a 9-iron from 172 yards out for an eagle-two at the par-four 18th hole.

How hard was that? The 17th is a converted par-5 hole and playing 500 yards. It’s the hardest hole on the course this week, averaging 4.371.

Nowhere close to being done, Bramlett then birdied No. 18 on a 12-foot putt, turned, and made two short birdie putts at Nos. 1 and 3 before he cooled off with two bogeys among his last four holes.

List will join Zalatoris and Bramlett in the final group. List hasn’t played on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2015, when he qualified for the PGA Tour, but wasn’t able to get into Colonial based on his current number at 124th on the FedEx Cup points list.

No matter. List is playing hard and birdied two of his last three holes to get into the last threesome.

“I would love to be at Colonial, but I kind of took it as a positive being here just to get my feet wet again,” he said. “I worked hard the last month of so, so it has been nice to see some good shots and good putts go in.”

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Scott Langley ’keeps it simple’ to take clubhouse lead in Korn Ferry Challenge

Scott Langley has been as sharp as anybody through two rounds at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley.

Scott Langley didn’t know what to expect from his game this week at the Korn Ferry Challenge — which wouldn’t make him different from most of the other 154 players in the field in their first competition in three months.

But he’s been as sharp as anybody through two rounds at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley.

Langley birdied three of his first four holes and leveled off with 13 consecutive pars before a closing bogey on Friday. But his 68 was good enough for the clubhouse lead at 6-under-par 134, one shot ahead of eight players who were done at 5-under.

Late in the afternoon, Ben Kohles (66), Lee Hodges (65) and Kristoffer Ventura (68) joined Langley at 6-under. Kohles had a one-shot lead and bogeyed the 18th hole.

Jamie Arnold of Australia shot the low round of the tournament thus far with a 63 that included one bogey to drop him out of a possible tie for the lead with Langley. Also at 5-under are Andres Gonzalez (65), Chase Wright (69), Nick Hardy (68), Will Zalatoris (68), Brandon Crick (66), Theo Humphrey (68) and Shad Tuten (64).

Gonzales, who recovered from an opening double-bogey at No. 10, played two days after his wife Kristin gave birth to their third child. He birdied four of his last five holes.

“I could shoot 90 today and be happy,” said the native of Olympia, Wash.

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On another low-scoring day, the Valley still laid its traps. Langley missed only two fairways and three greens in the second round, and for the tournament he’s hit 23 of 28 fairways (.821) and 31 of 36 greens (.861). His only mistake was hitting his tee shot at No. 18 into the water. He scrambled to make the bogey and avert further damage — and seemed no less upbeat.

“It’s really kind of uncharted territory for all of us,” said the University of Illinois graduate and past PGA Tour member, referring to the Korn Ferry’s re-start after not playing since March 1 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re grateful to the [PGA] Tour for all their hard work and looking out for our tour. I played well on Thursday [with a 66] and mentioned to my caddie that I was a little surprised. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect with my competitive game.”

Langley made a short birdie putt at the par-5 first hole, dropped 20-footers for birdie at Nos. 3 and 4, then made a steady stream of two-putt pars until his bogey at the last.

“I gave myself a lot of chances,” he said. “I didn’t capitalize on as many as I would have liked but overall it’s a good score. I’m trying to hit fairways, hit greens and keep it simple.”

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Langley’s career is notable because he became the first member of a First Tee chapter to earn a PGA Tour card, in 2013. He played out of the First Tee Gateway Chapter in St. Louis and in 2006, when he was 15, he was on the winning pro-am team with Dana Quigley at the PGA Tour Champions event at Pebble Beach.

“The First Tee is great because in a really well-meaning way, it kidn of conceals these really important values you want to teach kids in a really fun vehicle that is golf,” he said. “I was there to play golf and hang with my friens but in those moments and through those experiences the nine core values became a part of me.”

It wasn’t lost on him that the Korn Ferry Tour’s next stop under the revamped schedule is the World Golf Hall of Fame King & Bear course next week — just 2 miles from the First Tee national headquarters.

“My golf career in general is way cooler than I ever thought it would be,” he said. “Anything at this point to me is just pure enjoyment. But yeah, it’s cool that that’s the situation next week, that they’re so close. Obviously, it’s an organization that’s meant a lot to me personally. I’ve been able to witness the incredible, exponential growth that they’ve been able to achieve and their reach since I’ve been a part of it.”

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Colonial reports perfect record for coronavirus testing, but Korn Ferry Tour is a different story

While no positive coronavirus were reported at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the Korn Ferry Tour’s restart event was a different story.

The PGA Tour getting back in business hinges heavily on one thing: negative COVID-19 tests. The Tour cleared a big hurdle at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, this week as it restarted its season with the Charles Schwab Challenge and, more importantly, not a single positive test for the coronavirus.

Commissioner Jay Monahan said on Wednesday that no caddies or players tested positive at Charles Schwab and all had been tested. That equates to 487 tests of players, caddies and essential personnel – all negative, per Associated Press reporting.

The Korn Ferry Tour wasn’t so lucky. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that one player and three caddies tested positive for the coronavirus at the Korn Ferry Challenge in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

The Tour has said it will not release the names of individuals who test positive.

Tee times, TV info | Best photos | By the rankings | Leaderboard

According to the AP, the positive results came from saliva tests conducted at home. The Tour recommended that players and caddies take such tests before traveling to a tournament, but did not require it. Add in the reported tests conducted for the Korn Ferry Tour event, and the number of tests administered (both at home and on-site) reaches 1,559. Nearly 900 of those were done on-site.

A positive test means an individual must self-isolate for a period of at least 10 days. Two negative test results are needed (at least 24 hours apart) before that individual is allowed to return.

Since announcing it would be the first sport to fully resume action, PGA Tour officials have insisted that a series of strict protocols would be put in place, keeping stakeholders as safe as possible. That has played out at Colonial in some ways. There are no fans and no grandstands. Airport-like thermal screening has been set up and players are fulfilling media requests by video in an isolated room.

Then again, on the course, few masks have been seen at Colonial, and volunteers were mostly the ones wearing them. None of the players or caddies on-site were wearing masks and numerous members of law enforcement were also lacking PPEs.

The bubble is in place, but it’s best heavily on guidelines.

Tim Schmitt contributed reporting from Colonial.

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Joseph Bramlett, Tony Finau speak out against social injustice

Joseph Bramlett, one of four players of black heritage on the PGA Tour, voiced his opinion on George Floyd’s death.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Joseph Bramlett’s opening round 1-under 69 at TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course left him five shots behind leader Paul Barjon in the middle of the pack after the opening round of the Korn Ferry Challenge. It certainly didn’t arouse interest from reporters in having him recount his birdies and bogeys.

Instead, it was Bramlett, via his agent, who requested to talk the media, not about his game but rather about the color of his skin and the racial unrest in the world.

Bramlett is one of only four players of black heritage on the PGA Tour – along with Cameron Champ, Harold Varner III and Tiger Woods – and he wanted to use his platform as a professional golfer to speak out about racial unrest, social injustice and police brutality.

Varner was the first to speak out on the nationwide protests and social injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s death, posting a 632-word statement on social media on June 1.

“To whoever wants to listen, I have so much I want to say,” his note began.

Woods also issued a statement of support against racial injustice and several other influential figures in the game spoke to Golfweek. Bramlett and Tony Finau, who is of Tongan and Samoan descent, are the latest in the golf community to bring their voice to the story.

”Have I dealt with racism in my life as a person of color in this country? Yes, I have. I’m not proud to say,” Finau said in a video posted Wednesday. ”I’m not proud to say that I have been disrespected and mistreated because of the color of my skin.”

Finau detailed an incident with police that happened in 2014.

”I voice my opinion because I stand with those who are for justice, those who are for equality and that are against police brutality and anyone abusing their authority because of the color of someone else’s skin,” he said. ”I’m against racism, and I’m for Black Lives Matter and this movement.”

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CBPPZJjJuVF/?utm_source=ig_embed

Bramlett watched Finau’s Instagram video and was moved by Finau’s experience.

“I was really glad he shared it, to be honest. I wouldn’t have expected Tony would’ve gone through something like that,” Bramlett said. “I think he surprised a lot of people. I think it’s a further example of what people of color go through in this country.”

Bramlett, 32, may not have been subjected to such blatant racism, growing up a child of mixed race in Northern California, where he attended a private school before matriculating at Stanford.

“I don’t have any George Floyd-type stories,” Bramlett said. “I’ve gotten some funny looks as a kid growing up, going to the golf course with my dad. I’ve had some run-ins with junior and amateur organizations over the years, but all in all, all encompassing, I’ve had a great experience with golf. Especially ever since I’ve gotten out here on the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour. I’ve been treated, in my opinion, like anyone else out here, and I’m really grateful for that because I think 40-to-50 years ago that wouldn’t have been the case. So, I’m very grateful to the people who have come before me and I’ve had a pretty good experience.”

But Floyd’s death struck a chord with Bramlett. He called it an emotional period. Asked why the Floyd incident has proved to be a tipping point in race relations, Bramlett called it a “ticking time bomb,” after incidents such as Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and said, “I think the really big difference with this is that we’re in quarantine, so everybody’s sitting in their living room, everyone’s on their phones all day, and you blatantly saw a cop murder a black man right in your living room, essentially. And I think that brought what people would chalk up to being black urban legends, it brought it right into their living rooms, and people were forced to see it, to face it and to think about it. And it pissed a lot of us off.”

The PGA Tour set aside an 8:46 a.m. tee time that featured no players at both the Charles Schwab Challenge and Korn Ferry Challenge – eight minutes and 46 seconds being the length of time that a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on the neck of Floyd before he died. How did Bramlett spend that minute? He bowed his head and said a prayer for Floyd’s family.

“I reflected on my heritage,” he said. “I’m in a unique place where I’m mixed, I’m white and I’m black. It’s something that I’ve been raised with. I’ve grown up to and was taught a lot about some of the challenges the black community faces in this country. I really just kind of sat and thought about how grateful I was to be in the position I’m in, in this world.”

Despite all the soul-searching, Bramlett remains conflicted about how he can be part of efforts for change.

“I really wish I did. I’ve done a lot of talking the last two weeks with friends and loved ones, and I don’t know that there necessarily is an answer right now,” he said. “But in terms of what people can do, educate yourselves; talk to people who are close to you; have tough conversations from an honest and open-minded position. I really think that’s the biggest positive that has come out of this is that the world has kind of shut down the last two weeks due to the protests, and people have been forced to sit and think about what’s really going on and take a little bit of a deeper look.”

Whatever Bramlett decides to do going forward, he proved by initiating his own press conference that he’s willing to be a spokesman for his race in the golf world.

“First and foremost, I can be a good role model and I can be someone of understanding. I think my heritage is unique in this situation and I feel like I’ve got a little bit of a foot on each side of the fence, and I can kind of see where a lot of people are coming from,” he said. “As of right now, I’m just really trying to do some soul searching within myself and just be me.”

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Korn Ferry Tour winner David Kocher aims to regain momentum at TPC Sawgrass

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.

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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The Korn Ferry Tour returns to Florida this week. Here’s a refresher course

Here’s a primer on the Korn Ferry Tour, the primary avenue to PGA Tour membership for the vast majority of players.

The Korn Ferry Tour is back on the First Coast after a two-year absence, with tournaments to be played June 11-14 at TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and June 18-21 at the King & Bear course at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida.

It won’t be permanent, at least not yet.

The Tour played at the Valley Course from 2010-15, then at the Atlantic Beach Country Club in 2016 and 2018 (the 2017 tournament was canceled because of Hurricane Matthew). The first three years at the Valley was a regular-season event and the Korn Ferry Tour Championship was played from 2013-17, until it was moved to Victoria National in Newburgh, Indiana, last year.

Here’s a primer on the tour that is the primary avenue to PGA Tour membership for the vast majority of players:

The name game

Since it was launched in 1990 as the Ben Hogan Tour, umbrella sponsorships have determined the name of the circuit. Since then it’s been the Nike Tour, Buy.com Tour, Nationwide Tour, Web.com Tour (a Jacksonville web consulting firm did the honors) and now the Korn Ferry Tour. Korn Ferry is a “global organizational consulting firm” based in Los Angeles.

Who plays?

It’s a mix of recent college grads, PGA Tour members who have lost their exempt status and pros in between. But the fields can be pretty good. At the Valley Course this week, the field will include 15 players who have combined to win 30 PGA Tour events, led by Mike Weir with eight.

The “pathway”

PGA Tour officials cringe when the Korn Ferry Tour is referred to as a “minor league” or “developmental” tour. Since the rules were changed in 2013 to eliminate national qualifying tournaments for the PGA Tour, the strategy is to market the Korn Ferry Tour as the “pathway” to the PGA Tour.

Here’s how it works: The top 25 players on the final regular-season points list earn PGA Tour cards for the next season. The top 75, combined with Nos. 126-200 on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup points list, play in the Korn Ferry Finals, a three-tournament series to determine 25 more PGA Tour cards based on performance in those tournaments. Later in the fall, the Korn Ferry national qualifier fills the roster of players for the coming KFC season.

Except…

There will be no Korn Ferry Tour graduating class in 2020 because of the schedule interruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The results of this season will be combined with the 2021 season to determine the 50 PGA Tour cards for 2021-22. One caveat is that the top 10 players at the end of this season will get conditional PGA Tour status and will be eligible for events held opposite World Golf Championships or majors.

Does it work?

Before the Hogan Tour, only the top 125 players on the PGA Tour money list from the previous year were guaranteed of playing high-level tournament golf each week. There were always Monday qualifiers, but that left a lot of very good players with only mini-tours.

“There are so many good players now that each and every one of them should have an opportunity to play,” Deane Beman, then-PGA Tour Commissioner, said at the time.

Since Mike Springer won the first Korn Ferry event at the 1990 Bakersfield Open and went on to win twice on the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry graduates have won 549 times on the PGA Tour, including 24 majors. Korn Ferry graduates include World Golf Hall of Fame member Ernie Els, David Duval, Bubba Watson, John Daly, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, Jimmy Walker, Tom Lehman, Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland.

How good is the golf?

While most Korn Ferry courses aren’t set up like U.S. Opens, these guys light it up. There have been 34 scores of 60 or better in the history of the Korn Ferry Tour, including a 58 by Stephan Jaeger in the 2016 Ellie Mae Classic at the TPC Stonbrae, and six rounds of 59 – including Jacksonville University graduate Russell Knox and Atlantic Beach resident Sam Saunders. Two players, Jaeger and Daniel Chopra (2004 Henrico County Open) have shot 30-under for 72 holes.

To win on the Korn Ferry requires birdies and eagles, and lots of them. Only two winners last season shot single-digits under par, and the average winning score was 17 under. The scoring average for Korn Ferry winners in 2019 was 67.13.

How good is the money?

Well, it’s good but not supposed to be that good, to give players an incentive to advance to the PGA Tour and its wealth of riches. Last year, Scottie Scheffler banked a tour-leading $565,338, which would rank No. 159 on the Tour’s official money list. The purses for the next two weeks will be $600,000, with $108,000 going to the winner.

Paul Claxton of St. Simons Island, Georgia, became the first Korn Ferry player to reach $1 million in career earnings in 2013 but that’s like Crash Davis breaking the minor league home run record in “Bull Durham.” The highest purses are $1 million for the Korn Ferry Finals.

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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