Tag: Korn Ferry Tour

This Ohio journeyman is so close to his PGA Tour dream (and he shot a 67 on Thursday)

Needing to make an 8-foot putt on the last hole of the 2018 Korn Ferry Championship to reach the PGA Tour, his putt burned the edge.

Justin Lower takes no offense with being labeled a journeyman golfer.

“It fits,” said the 32-year-old from Canal Fulton, Ohio, whose six seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour have included tons of rough road trips and a fair share of heartbreak.

Nothing hurt Lower (pronounced Lauer) more than an excruciating brush with golf greatness. Needing to make an 8-foot putt on the last hole of the 2018 Korn Ferry Championship to reach his goal of moving up to the PGA Tour, Lower’s putt burned the edge of the cup, a miss that ultimately kept him $500 short of earning PGA Tour status.

Hard moments like that leave scar tissue. Lower tried to bandage the wound by using the missed putt as motivation, but the psychological ploy backfired.

“I learned the hard way that it was hurting me more than anything,” he said on Thursday after shooting a 4-under-par 67 that put him near the top of the leaderboard at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at the Ohio State Scarlet Course.

A top-10 finish this week would put the Malone University graduate and 2010 NAIA Nicklaus Award winner in a strong position to finish among the top 25 players receiving PGA Tour cards at the completion of the three-event Finals next week.

Rather than focus on his 8-foot failure, Lower flipped the switch by viewing tapes of him coming through in the clutch.

“There’s a video I watch from the finals of the 2017 Q School where on the last hole I knew I needed the putt to get guaranteed starts (on the Korn Ferry Tour),” he said. “It was about a 12-footer and I poured it right in.”

Not bad for a journeyman.

Lower told himself in 2012 that he would give professional golf about seven years, and if he did not reach the PGA Tour by then he would find another career.

Nearly a decade later and he’s still grinding away, chasing a dream that continues to elude him. What gives?

“I just love the game,” he said. “I don’t want to do anything else. It’s fun. I have an unbelievable support system: wife, family and friends. I’m lucky, for sure. I have one of the best jobs in the world.”

The challenge is remembering how blessed he is, especially when things are not going as planned on the golf course. He cites lack of patience as the thorn in his side.

“I’m always working on my attitude and keeping level-headed. That’s not easy for me,” he said. “I need to learn to not get greedy at the wrong times.”

The final step in mental evolution is believing in himself the way others do.

“I think I’ve got every shot. Everyone tells me that,” he said. “Everyone says it’s my time Whether it is or not we’ll see.”

roller@dispatch.com

@rollerCD

At Korn Ferry Tour regular-season finale, 25 PGA Tour cards earned for next season

The regular season-ending Korn Ferry Tour event proved to be a big day for 25 golfers who earned a promotion for next season.

The Korn Ferry Tour regular-season finale in Omaha carried extra weight for many in the field. Yes, the goal was to win the tournament, but an even bigger accomplishment was achieved by 25 golfers who earned their PGA Tour cards for the 2021-22 season.

Stephan Jaeger, the 2020-21 points leader, took the outright lead at the Pinnacle Bank Championship on Saturday with a 90-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at The Club at Indian Creek. But his pursuit of a third victory of the season fell short when he shot  even-par 71in the final round and tied for fourth. Jaeger still held onto his points lead, and will be fully exempt when he moves on to the big leagues next season.

David Skinns won the Pinnacle Bank Championship, an event he also won in 2018 for his most recent win on the circuit. Skinns closed in 67 for a 14-under 270 total, one shot better than Jared Wolfe and Zecheng (Marty) Dou. The victory vaulted Skinns from 46th place in the points race all the way to 22nd, securing his 2021-22 PGA Tour card.

The list of 25 who earned their Tour cards

1. Stephan Jaeger, 2804
2. Mito Pereira, 2556
3. Chad Ramey, 2480
4. Taylor Moore, 2271
5. Taylor Pendrith, 2154
6. Greyson Sigg, 2125
7. Davis Riley, 2006
8. Jared Wolfe, 1880
9. Will Zalatoris, 1876
10. Lee Hodges, 1851
11. Adam Svensson, 1821
12. David Lipsky, 1782
13. Brandon Wu, 1735
14. Max McGreevy, 1732
15. Paul Barjon, 1729
16. Andrew Novak, 1692
17. Dylan Wu, 1675
18. Seth Reeves, 1651
19. Cameron Young, 1642
20. Nick Hardy, 1597
21. Curtis Thompson, 1549
22. David Skinns, 1547
23. Ben Kohles, 1497
24. Brett Drewitt, 1487
25. Austin Smotherman, 1439

Next up for those who missed out on the Top 25? Those finishing Nos. 26-75 as well as non-member qualifiers and medical extensions can still earn their card through the Korn Ferry Tour Playoffs. There will be 25 more Tour cards up for grabs but the three-event playoffs will also feature PGA Tour golfers who finished Nos. 126 to 200 in the FedEx Cup points race.

The three KFT playoff events are:

  • Albertsons Boise Open, Boise, Idaho, Aug. 19-22
  • Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 26-29
  • Korn Ferry Tour Championship, Newburgh, Indiana, Sept. 2-5

Taylor Moore earns breakthrough win at Korn Ferry Tour’s Memorial Health Championship

Moore set a course record Saturday, then won his first Korn Ferry Tour event Sunday to lock up his PGA Tour card.

They were going low this week at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Memorial Health Championship.

None went lower than Taylor Moore, who set a course record on Saturday at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois, and then finished the job on Sunday for his first win. Moore posted scores of 66-66-60-65 to win by three shots over Erik Barnes. Andrew Novak finished solo third, four shots back. John VanDerLaan and Grant Hirshman tied for fourth, five shots back.

The red numbers were everywhere you looked at Panther Creek, which was playing at 7,244 yards.

Jared Wolfe shot a 61 on Friday to tie the course record. Moore’s 60 the next day set the new benchmark, and, was part of a record-setting day for the tour, as the overall scoring average of 66.908 was the lowest in any single round in tour history. In addition, there were four 62s posted over the four days.

Moore is the second player on the circuit to card a 60 this season. For the week, he had 26 birdies and one eagle. His lone bogey over the four days came on the first hole on Friday.

But that’s not all. Moore is now guaranteed to finish in the top 25 in points on the tour, meaning he has earned his PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season.

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After career low, Erik Barnes in hunt but he trails Rick Lamb at KFT’s Memorial Health Championship

Lamb led Erik Barnes, of Marion, Indiana, and Chad Ramey by a stroke. Barnes’ 63 tied his career low on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Rick Lamb ended his opening round of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS at Panther Creek Country Club a day late but it didn’t prevent him from taking the first-round lead.

Lamb, of Nashville, Tennessee, finished with a 9-under-par 62 on Friday in his two-day round — suspended Thursday due to rain and lightning at 3:29 p.m. Golfers were subjected to rain showers on Friday as well, but play began with the remaining first-round golfers at 8 a.m. Second-round tee times were moved to begin at 10:15 a.m. on Friday, with the last group out at 5:15 p.m.

Lamb had birdies on Nos. 11, 12, 14, 16 and 18 on his first nine holes then finished his 18-hole round with a barrage of birdies on the final four holes to finish with a career-low 62.

“I’ll take four birdies in a row anytime, it’s nice to finish the round that way,” Lamb said Friday morning. “But there’s a lot of golf left and it’s going to be a long weekend with all of this rain, a lot of stopping and starting.”

Last week in Colorado, Lamb missed the cut with a two-day score of 153.

“The game feels good,” said Lamb, a 30-year-old graduate of the University of Tennessee. “Pretty good bounce-back after last week. Last week was weird for me. I thought my game was in a pretty good place and then I went out and played terribly. It’s good to come back strong after that.”

Lamb led Erik Barnes, of Marion, Indiana, and Chad Ramey by a stroke. Barnes’ 63 tied his career low on the Korn Ferry Tour. Barnes is looking for his first win on the circuit.

Ramey, of Fulton, Mississippi, won the Live and Work in Maine Open last year for his only Korn Ferry win.

Charlie Wi, of South Korea, T.J. Vogel, of Hollywood, Florida, John VanDerLaan, of Southbury, Connecticut and Charlie Saxon, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, all finished with 7-under 64s. Wi, Vogel and VanDerLaan were able to finish their rounds on Thursday.

Last year’s champion at Panther Creek, Brett Drewitt, finished his first round 6-under and tied for eighth. No player in the 32-year history of the Korn Ferry Tour has won the same tournament in consecutive seasons.

University of Illinois graduate Nick Hardy shot a 5-under 66 in the first round.

In Friday’s second round, Jared Wolfe, of Ponte Vedra, Florida, tied the Panther Creek course record with a 10-under 61. Chase Wright set the record-low mark in 2018, also in Round 2.

Tyson Alexander uses colorful card to catch up to Taylor Moore at TPC Colorado Championship

Tyson Alexander pieced together a 1-under 71 and caught Taylor Moore in the lead position at the TPC Colorado Championship.

Tyson Alexander’s card was nothing if not colorful on Saturday. Playing at Colorado altitude, the University of Florida product alternated birdie with bogey quite symmetrically for the first five holes before following his birdie at No. 5 with another one at No. 6.

And then another bogey at No. 7.

By the end of the day, Alexander had pieced together a 1-under 71 and had caught Taylor Moore in the lead position at the TPC Colorado Championship.

Alexander, 32, has already won once in this Korn Ferry Tour super season. He claimed the trophy at the Veritex Bank Championship back in April. But the results since have been spotty. He missed three cuts in a row in May and early April and has missed 19 cuts in 33 events played since January 2020.

Still, Colorado could be his week.

Second-round leader Taylor Moore lost his advantage despite a 3-under 69. He and Alexander both will enter the final round at 14 under. Behind that? Tour veteran Tag Ridings, 46, at 12 under.

Located about an hour north of Denver, the course officially checks in at 7,991 yards, making it the longest ever on the Korn Ferry Tour.

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Will Zalatoris won the TPC Colorado Championship last year. What about this time?

Will Zalatoris took home the 2020 title with a 273 total that barely held off Chase Johnson, who fired a final-round, course-record 63.

It’s mid-summer in Northern Colorado, and one of our newer sports traditions is back as the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes returns for its third annual edition this Thursday through Sunday, July 8-11.

And it does so this year with fans welcome back after the 2020 version was held without them due to the coronavirus pandemic.

That didn’t prevent a memorable final round and champion, as Will Zalatoris took home the 2020 title with a 15-under-par 273 total that barely held off Chase Johnson, who fired a final-round, course-record 63 to finish one shot back at minus-14.

That came on the heels of Nelson Ledesma’s one-shot win in 2019, as he sank a birdie putt on the final hole to hold off five players who finished within two strokes.

The tournament has quickly become a springboard to the PGA Tour. Ledesma has since earned PGA Tour status alongside Zalatoris, who finished in the top 10 at three major championships since his 2020 TPC Colorado Championship victory, including a runner-up finish at the 2021 Masters.

With a track record like that, you can expect fireworks, even after the Fourth of July weekend.

Here are some things fans should know about the 2021 TPC Colorado Championship:

Tournament schedule, format

The tournament features four 18-hole rounds, one per day Thursday through Sunday. The field of 156 will be cut to the low 65 scores, including ties, for the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday. The Korn Ferry Tour was off last week for the holiday weekend, meaning this week’s field will be packed with pros.

The prize purse for the tournament this year is $600,000, with the winner earning $108,000.

The TPC Colorado Championship field

There are six players in this week’s field who have combined for 22 career victories on the PGA Tour and four others with multiple wins this season on the Korn Ferry Tour.

The most famous participant is David Duval, the former World No. 1 and major championship winner (2001 British Open) who now lives in Cherry Creek Village just south of Denver. Robert Allenby, Jonathan Kaye, Derek Ernst and Tommy Gainey are among the other former PGA Tour champions in the field.

How to watch, follow the TPC Colorado Championship

An updated leaderboard will be available online throughout the tournament at PGAtour.com/korn-ferry-tour/leaderboard.html. For the first time, there will also be live-streaming on the weekend from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and you can watch at PGA Tour Live and GolfChannel.com.

The first few hours each day will be featured-hole coverage before moving to featured-group coverage as the leaders tee off. The featured hole on Saturday is the par-3 16th, while Sunday it will shift to the aforementioned 13th hole.

About the Korn Ferry Tour

The Korn Ferry Tour is just below the PGA Tour and one of the main paths professional golfers follow in hopes of reaching the PGA Tour.

At the end of this 2020-21 season, the top 25 Korn Ferry Tour players will receive their PGA Tour cards for the 2021-22 season.

Chris Abshire is the sports and stats content coach at the Coloradoan. Contact him at ChrisAbshire@coloradoan.com.

Player reportedly arrested after fight during Korn Ferry Tour Monday qualifier

The fight was about one player not helping another search for a lost ball.

You don’t see this every day.

A fight broke out during the middle of a qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour’s Wichita Open on Monday at Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton, Kansas.

The players involved have not yet been identified.

The tour released the following statement to Golfweek: “The Korn Ferry Tour is aware of the incident that occurred at today’s qualifier in Newton, Kansas. The individuals involved are not current Korn Ferry Tour members. We are in the process of gathering more details and have no further comment at this time.”

The Firepit Collective’s Ryan French – you know him on Twitter as @acaseofthegolf1 – was first to report on the altercation and arrest early Monday afternoon. According to French, the fight stemmed from one player confronting another in the group about not helping to tend the pin or search for potentially lost golf balls. The player who was confronted for not helping got mad, punched the other player who confronted him and then was arrested after police were called.

A source who played in the qualifier spoke on the condition of anonymity and confirmed the reason for the fight to Golfweek.

Four players did not finish the qualifier: Todd Shomler (WD), Luke Smith (DQ), Rio Hovel (NC) and Zander Winston (WD).

Derek Fribbs, the third player in the group who was not involved in the fight, finished the day at 7-over 79.

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How the top-five PGA Tour University graduates fared in their PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour debuts

Three of the five players made the cut in their professional debuts, with one top-10 finish.

PGA Tour University was designed to streamline the process for college players to advance to the professional level, and two weeks ago the inaugural class was announced.

This week the five players who earned Korn Ferry Tour membership through the end of the regular season made their professional debuts, with three players competing in the Korn Ferry Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am and two at the PGA Tour’s Palmetto Championship. Next week the 10 players who earned Forme Tour membership will begin their pro careers at the L&J Golf Championship.

Here’s how each of the five players fared in their professional debuts.

John Pak

The 2021 Haskins Award winner from Florida State missed the cut at the Palmetto Championship, firing rounds of 79-71 to finish at 8 over.

Davis Thompson

Thompson had the performance of the week in South Carolina. The SEC Player of the Year from Georgia finished T-35 at the Palmetto after a strong week of 71-69-71-70.

Austin Eckroat 

Eckroat disagrees with the above statement. The Oklahoma State product earned a top-10 finish at the BMW Charity Pro-Am at 18 under thanks to just seven bogeys over the four sub-70 rounds.

Chun An Yu 

Yu, a three-time winner at Arizona State, also made the cut at the BMW, finishing T-20 after a consistent week of 66-66-69-69 to finish at 15 under.

Garett Reband 

Reband wasn’t as successful, missing the BMW cut by six strokes. That said, the Oklahoma Sooner improved on his first-round 73 with a Friday 70 to get back to even par.

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PGA Tour University’s inaugural class sends 15 college players to Korn Ferry Tour, Forme Tour

Fifteen college golfers earned membership to the Korn Ferry and Forme tours as part of the inaugural PGA Tour University class.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ladies and gentlemen, meet the inaugural PGA Tour University class.

On Monday evening after the completion of stroke play at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club, 15 men’s collegiate golfers punched their tickets to professional golf.

The top-five players in the PGA Tour University standings – John Pak (Florida State), Davis Thompson (Georgia), Austin Eckroat (Oklahoma State), Chun An Yu (Arizona State) and Garett Reband (Oklahoma) – receive Korn Ferry Tour membership and will be exempt into all open, full-field events beginning with the BMW Charity Pro-Am, June 10-13, through the conclusion of the regular season.

The following players who finished 6-15 in the standings receive Forme Tour membership beginning with the L&J Golf Championship, June 23-26 through the end of the regular season: Quade Cummins (Oklahoma), McClure Meissner (SMU), Michael Feagles (Illinois), Trevor Werbylo (Arizona), Jonathan Brightwell (Oklahoma), Puwit Anupansuebsai (San Diego State), Angus Flanagan (Minnesota), Alex Schaake (Iowa), Benjamin Shipp (NC State), Jovan Rebula (Auburn).

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual

The program is designed to streamline the process for college players to advance to the professional level while also rewarding those who honor their college commitments. Players must play on the NCAA Division I level and complete a minimum of four years in college to be eligible for the PGA Tour University Ranking List.

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Greyson Sigg earns first win at Visit Knoxville Open on Korn Ferry Tour

Greyson Sigg, who opened with a 61 on Thursday, fired a final-round 66 to earn his first professional win.

Stephan Jaeger will have to wait at least another week to try to earn that PGA Tour promotion as Greyson Sigg had other plans.

On Sunday, at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Visit Knoxville Open, Jaeger opened the final round with a three-shot lead over Sigg and then birdied his first hole. A win would’ve been Jaeger’s third on the circuit, and that would’ve earned him his Tour card. The last player to earn his PGA Tour card via the three-win promotion was Wesley Bryan in 2016. In all, 11 players have done so.

If Jaeger is to be the 12th, it will come at a later date.

Sigg, who opened the week with a 61, fired a final-round 66 and snagged the victory at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tennessee, the first professional win for the 26-year-old University of Georgia product. His previous best finish was a solo second in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship last August.

Visit Knoxville Open: Leaderboard

Sigg is one of 12 players featured in the CBS show called “One Shot Away,” which is produced by PGA Tour Entertainment. It tracks players chasing after a PGA Tour card during the 2021 portion of the combined Korn Ferry Tour season. KFT players who finish in the top 25 at the end of the season also earn a promotion to the PGA Tour.

Greyson Sigg
Greyson Sigg plays his shot from the 10th tee during the Final Round of the Visit Knoxville Open at Holston Hills Country Club on May 16, 2021 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Jaeger was also looking to tie Jason Gore’s record for most wins—with seven—on the circuit but managed an even-par round of 70 as he closed with a bogey on the 17th hole and a par on the par-5 finishing hole.

Seth Reeves shot a 61, matching Sigg’s first-round fireworks. Reeves had 10 birdies and a bogey in his final round round to finish solo third at 17 under. Max Greyserman and Harrison Endycott finished tied for fourth a 16 under.

The Korn Ferry Tour next travels to Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City for the AdventHealth Championship.