The PGA Tour announced that the Korn Ferry Tour schedule this season will roll into the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
There will be no graduation to the PGA Tour in 2020.
The PGA Tour announced on Wednesday the Korn Ferry Tour schedule this season will roll into the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, which already has canceled nine tournaments on the developmental circuit.
The Korn Ferry Tour last played March 1 and is scheduled to resume with a new, yet-to-be-named tournament June 11 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. If there are no more cancellations, the Korn Ferry Tour would play just 17 events in 2020. There also 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.
As well, players on the PGA Tour who fall outside the top 125 in the FedEx Cup points race after this season’s conclusion would have had the opportunity to regain their cards in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. This season, however, those who fall outside the top 125 in the FedEx Cup points race won’t lose their cards; they now will have another year of eligibility.
Currently, the PGA Tour is scheduled to return June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. If the schedule holds, a FedEx Cup champion will be crowned at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in September. If the PGA Tour does resume in June, FedEx Cup points will be awarded.
The PGA Tour has canceled or postponed 13 events this season.
The PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council and Policy Board approved a hybrid eligibility system for the 2020-2021 season.
“This eligibility update, contingent upon the planned restart of the season at the Charles Schwab Challenge, was deemed the best and most equitable solution for the membership at large after research by our competitions department and significant conversations with the Policy Board and Player Advisory Council,” the PGA Tour said in a statement.
Further cancellations might force the PGA Tour to look at the possibility of a hybrid season covering 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Imagine being in Jared Wolfe’s golf shoes.
Since turning pro in 2010, he’s journeyed throughout the game’s lesser circuits in pursuit of his ultimate dream – earning membership on the PGA Tour. It was a struggle at times but Wolfe remained resolute in his quest and in January he captured his first title on the Korn Ferry Tour at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.
Graduation to the PGA Tour was well in hand. Now it’s on hold.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has stalled the world and halted play on every major golf tour. This week’s announcement of a new schedule beginning in mid-June for the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour offers hope. But the restart is far from certain and it remains undecided how playing status for players on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour will be determined for next season if the restart is delayed due to the coronavirus.
Normally, the top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list after the final regular-season event – Wolfe is No. 6 – earn PGA Tour cards for the next season. The top 75 players also qualify for the three-tournament Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where they would be joined by 75 PGA Tour members who finished Nos. 126-200 on the FedExCup points list. From that postseason, the top 25 players also earn PGA Tour cards.
A view of the tee marker on the 16th hole during the first round of the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Newburgh, Indiana. Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
But the truncated season could force PGA Tour officials to adjust allocation of PGA Tour cards. Graduation could even be annulled.
Wolfe said he’s gone down a “rabbit hole” thinking about potential scenarios but his wife pulls him out of the proverbial abyss.
“I’m at peace with whatever happens,” Wolfe said.
A hybrid season for ’19, ’20, ’21?
The PGA Tour is set to return June 11-14 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas. The PGA Tour would play 36 events – down from 49 last year. In a conference call this week, Andy Pazder, chief tournaments and competitions officer for the PGA Tour, said if 36 events are played, Tour officials and player directors on the policy board feel it would constitute a credible season.
But if there are further cancellations and/or postponements, a credible season would be in jeopardy and force the PGA Tour to make major status adjustments, including the possibility of a hybrid season covering 2019, 2020 and 2021.
“If there is a scenario where we carry eligibility from the PGA Tour over to the following season, that will likely have a profound impact on the Korn Ferry Tour eligibility system and could go as far as preventing promotions from the Korn Ferry Tour and their eligibility would then have to merge into their following season in 2021,” Pazder said. “We’ve had extensive conversations, and at this stage I can tell you that if we are able to resume at the Charles Schwab Challenge, playing nearly three-fourths of our season does give us great comfort in considering it a credible season. But we have not defined that threshold if we fall below X number of tournaments, then Y will happen.”
Six events have been played on the Korn Ferry Tour this season. The first event back for the tour is a new tournament set to begin June 11 on the Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass near the PGA Tour’s headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Ten events would follow. Without further interruptions of play, the Korn Ferry Tour would have a 17-tournament schedule, down from 28 on the original schedule. Would that be enough to hand out promotions?
“We’ve looked at one option where there would be a hybrid model, I’d call it, where we would reward all of the players on the PGA Tour this year based on their play but find a way to also, for those who didn’t make the top 125, retain some type of access into the next season,” Tyler Dennis, chief of operations for the PGA Tour, said in a conference call. “And then that would flow down to the Korn Ferry Tour and how the graduates would morph between their seasons in a hybrid way, as well. We’re still in the process of analyzing that and evaluating options with our PAC and player directors.”
The PGA Tour on Thursday announced schedule changes for its developmental leagues, the Korn Ferry Tour and the Mackenzie Tour - PGA Tour Canada. The changes to the developmental leagues were announced along with changes to the PGA Tour schedule, …
The PGA Tour on Thursday announced schedule changes for its developmental leagues, the Korn Ferry Tour and the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada.
The changes to the developmental leagues were announced along with changes to the PGA Tour schedule, which is set to resume June 11-14 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas.
The Korn Ferry Tour played six events over the winter before COVID-19 shut it down.
The tour will resume without fans in attendance June 11-14 at a new, as-yet-untitled $600,000 event at Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
The Evans Scholars Invitational, originally scheduled for May 21-24, has been postponed. Three more events were canceled: the REX Hospital Open, BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation and Live and Work in Maine Open. That raises to 12 the total events that were postponed or canceled on the Korn Ferry Tour.
The Mackenzie Tour canceled the first six events of its season through early July and expects to make more announcements about events in the coming weeks. The canceled tournaments are the Canada Life Open (May 28-31), the DCBank Open (June 4-7), the GolfBC Championship (June 11-14), the Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open (June 25-28), the Prince Edward Island Pro-Am (July 2-5), and the Osprey Valley Open (July 9-12).
The coronavirus has delayed much of the 2020 professional golf season. Here’s when the top professional tours get back in action.
Since mid-March, sports events around the United States began to get canceled or postponed due to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.
As the weeks have rolled on and numbers of confirmed cases and deaths increased, professional golf tours have had to adjust, pushing tournaments back or knocking them off the schedule altogether, all in an attempt to salvage the rest of the 2020 season.
The British Open has been canceled, while new dates for the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open are scheduled for later in the fall in hopes the coronavirus pandemic has subsided by then. Details on the PGA Tour’s new major dates can be found here.
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Here’s what’s next as of April 13 on the major professional golf tour schedules.
PGA Tour
The next scheduled stops are the Charles Schwab Challenge (May 21-24), Rocket Mortgage Classic (May 28-31) and The Memorial Tournament (June 4-7).
The next events on the LPGA calendar are the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give (June 11-14), the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship (June 19-21) and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (June 25-28).
The next stop on the European Tour is scheduled for June 25-28 at the BMW International Open in Munich, Germany, followed by the French Open July 2-5 at Le Golf National in Paris.
The next tournament on the PGA Tour Champions schedule is the American Family Insurance Championship on June 5-7 at University Ridge Golf Club in Madison, Wisconsin. The next two events after that, including the U.S. Senior Open Championship, have been canceled. The July 9-12 Bridgestone Senior Players Championship is the next listed event on the docket.
The next stop on the Korn Ferry Tour is May 21-24 at the Evans Scholars Invitational at the Glen Club in Glenview, Illinois. In all, six KFT tournaments have been canceled and two others postponed so far in 2020.
With most professional golf, and competitive golf on all levels, on hiatus, we’re all wondering when we might see the sport return.
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The sports world as we know it has changed completely, with major leagues – golf included – grinding to a halt in an effort to help slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. A month ago, cancellation notices for major golf tournaments began rolling in, leaving professional golf quiet for the next several weeks.
At some point, professional golf – and competitive golf on every other level, from state associations to junior to college and amateur – will return.
Below is a running list of the current status of the major tours, and various other organizations, with updates on when each might resume play.
PGA Tour
The last completed tournament on the PGA Tour’s wrap-around 2019-20 schedule was the Arnold Palmer Invitational, played in Orlando, Florida on March 5-8. The last actual round, however, was the first round of the Players Championship, which went off March 12 before the remainder of the tournament was canceled the next day. The Tour has now been dark five weeks. Next week’s Masters has been postponed with the next four events – through the (already postponed) PGA Championship – outright canceled.
With events still jostling around on the schedule, our Eamon Lynch presented a picture of how the rest of the season might unfold. As Lynch reports, “While any refreshed schedule would obviously be subject to change — and complete cancellation, given the rapidly expanding coronavirus crisis — the timeframe targeted to resume the PGA Tour season is mid-June.”
Korn Ferry Tour
The developmental tour has been dark since March 1, the final round of the El Bosque Mexico Championship. The next eight weeks of events have come off the calendar with only two being postponed as opposed to canceled: the Visit Knoxville Open and Savannah Golf Championship. The earliest play could resume would be May 21, which would be the first round of the Evans Scholars Invitational.
Champions Tour
The Champions Tour is in a very similar position, having been dark since March 8. Two of the tour’s seven disrupted events – the Regions Tradition slotted for May 7-10 and the Principal Charity Classic scheduled for May 29-31 – have been rescheduled for September. The Champions Tour could return as early as June 5, which would be the American Family Insurance Championship. The next event after that? The U.S. Senior Open Championship.
LPGA
An April 3 announcement from the LPGA moved a season re-start back to at least mid-June. The tour continues to be heavily impacted by the coronavirus, especially considering that it lost three Asia Swing events in February and early March before most tours felt the impact in their domestic events. A revised schedule shows the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship as a possible returning point June 19-21 with the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major, slotted for the next week.
Symetra Tour
As it stands now, the developmental tour could return in a similar time-frame to the LPGA. Play is on hold through the end of May, with the Island Resort Championship on June 19-21 being the first possible return date.
European Tour
The European Tour schedule is on hiatus at least through the end of May. The Trophee Hassan II, which would be played June 4-7 in Rabat, Morocco, is the next standing event on the calendar. Like the PGA Tour, the last completed tournament on the European circuit was the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on March 5-8.
The scoreboard at the 2019 NCAA Women’s Championship. (Photo by Julie Williams)
NCAA
When it comes to sanctioned NCAA college events, the 2019-20 season was officially kaput on March 12 when the NCAA announced it was canceling all spring sports. Many conferences had already made such declarations.
While we’re on hold until September and the start of the 2020-21 college golf season, some collegians may see some action at the Arnold Palmer Cup at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland, scheduled for July 3-5. When the teams were revealed for the annual event, the GCAA also announced that “in these unprecedented times we do not know if the matches will be held as scheduled, postponed, or canceled.”
AJGA
As the largest junior golf organization in the country, the American Junior Golf Association is a leader in the up-and-coming sector of golf. The AJGA runs events year-round, but is on hiatus until at least Memorial Day weekend. The organization announced March 16 that it would suspend all events until that date, and then would run seven events per week “to maximize playing opportunities” through the end of the year.
USGA
A decision will likely be made soon regarding the U.S. Open, which is still scheduled for June 18-21 at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York (the U.S. Women’s Open has already been moved from June to December). The U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open would be the next events after that, scheduled for late June and early July, respectively.
The big question here surrounds the USGA’s amateur events. The organization has canceled the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, and moved the Curtis Cup, scheduled for June, to 2021. Registration has been delayed for four major amateur events: U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior. Those four events account for most of the USGA’s July and August lineup.
Tyson Alexander had missed six consecutive cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour when the coronavirus brought a break in competition.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – This hasn’t been the year Tyson Alexander expected.
In more ways than one.
On his hopeful journey to the PGA Tour, Alexander, 31, missed the cut in all six starts on the Korn Ferry Tour as his game deserted him and left him looking for answers. His finances took a hit, as well, considering the expenses accrued playing professional golf. He’s won exactly zero dollars in 2020.
“The ball wasn’t going in the hole, I wasn’t putting well, I wasn’t hitting it well. It was always something,” Alexander said. “It’s kind of disappointing to have that taste in your mouth. But it’s motivating.
“I wouldn’t say we pro golfers all have been there and missed six straight cuts, but we’ve all been in tough times. I’ve had tougher times than this in golf. Six straight missed cuts isn’t going to ruin my world. You have to look at the big picture.
“Eventually it will turn and I’ll start playing good again.”
While his confidence was bruised, his optimism remained intact and he was excited to return to the Korn Ferry Tour in mid-March for a long stretch of tournaments throughout the southern states. Then the coronavirus turned into a global pandemic and shut down most every professional golf tour.
“I’m not freaking out. But this is something I haven’t experienced in my lifetime. But me as a golfer, that’s kind of like in the small picture. Other people are dealing with the virus, trying to figure out how to live,” said Alexander, who for now isn’t stressing out looking at his bank account. “As far as my golf, it’s definitely disappointing to have this stretch of no golf in the middle of your season, but golf will come back, sports will come back. And I just have to be ready when that day comes.”
That’s always been his mindset – look forward instead of behind. He likely learned that from his father, Buddy, who won the 1986 U.S. Amateur and coached the Florida Gators golf team for 27 years, winning the NCAA Division I titles in 1993 and 2001. And Alexander’s grandfather, Skip, played on the 1949 and 1951 Ryder Cup teams and also won three times on the PGA Tour.
Alexander was an amateur standout – a four-time Academic All-American at Florida where he earned a degree in sports management. He was a member of the victorious 2010 Palmer Cup team; and a 20-year-old qualifier for the 2009 U.S. Open.
But his professional career hasn’t been as fruitful. In the past four years, he has set up shop on the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour in Canada. Last year, he earned just under $100,000 in 20 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. In 2018, he won the Costa Rica Classic on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and made just under $80,000 that year.
But he’s confident better days are ahead. For now, his routine mirrors an off week from the Korn Ferry Tour – work out, go to the golf course, cook at home. He regularly meets up with many of the 35-40 professionals in the area at TPC Sawgrass for competitive matches. Now, if Florida orders a shelter-at-home decree, that will be a different story. A PlayStation might be in order and putting on the carpet a daily drill.
Whatever happens, Alexander said he’ll have a new game plan when golf does return.
“At the end of that stretch where I missed all the cuts, I was getting too technical,” Alexander said. “So I’ve just been playing a lot, not videotaping my golf swing. Just getting back to playing like a kid again sort of and I’ve actually been playing really good lately. It stinks that we don’t have a tournament to play in. But it’s nice to see some lower scores being shot.”
Without tournaments for income, the Korn Ferry Tour’s Conrad Shindler is offering $20 video golf lessons.
On a normal Wednesday in March, Conrad Shindler would be preparing for a Korn Ferry Tour event.
These days, normal seems like a foreign concept.
The coronavirus outbreak has forced the cancellation and postponement of professional tournaments and major championships around the world. Six of the next eight Korn Ferry Tour events have been canceled, with two postponed to a later date.
So what was Shindler doing awake at 6 a.m. on an off day? He was working.
Without the tour, Shindler needs an income. So the 31-year-old hopped on Twitter on Tuesday night and threw out an offer: $20 golf lessons via video.
I’ll be offering golf lessons via phone video for $20 if anyone is interested. I’ll give you a 5 minute video on what I think you could improve on and some helpful tips and drills. DM me if you’re interested!
“I’ve probably had about 20-25 people go through and send a Venmo in,” said Shindler on Wednesday morning, 12 hours after the tweet. “I’ve got them lined up and I’ve written them all down. I’m going to start watching some swings here later this afternoon and get the videos cranking.”
Shindler’s first lesson was just 10 hours after his initial tweet. He helped his first client with his hands and alignment, and gave a few tips on how to make more consistent contact.
“I watched the video and then I set my iPad on the kitchen counter, and I’m there telling them what I want to see them do and feel in the different drills,” explained Shindler. “I’m showing them how to do the drill and I’ll send it back. I want them to visually see what I’m trying to get them to do.”
After the lesson, Shindler jumped on a workout bike for 45 minutes “so my wife won’t get mad at me,” and then it was off to the golf course. The winner of the 2017 Rex Hospital Open has three courses near his home in Dallas where he’s still able to play: Vaquero Club, the Lakes at Castle Hills and Colonial.
While on his way to play with some fellow members at Vaquero, the member of Texas A&M’s 2009 national title team reflected on what has been a wild few weeks for the golf world.
“It’s definitely a lot to wrap your head around,” he said. “You go from moving into the main stretch of the Korn Ferry Tour season, planning everything out, getting ready to hit the road, getting your final preparations underway and then you see the coronavirus move into the United States.”
“I personally overlooked it. I didn’t think it was going to be a huge impact,” admitted Shindler. “When we first made the decision to play tournaments without fans you kind of felt like something else was still coming. When they actually do start postponing and canceling events its just a experience you’ve never been apart of.”
In various group chats, texts and calls with other players, Shindler explained the mood among professionals as more eerie than somber.
“This is nothing we’ve ever experienced before,” said Shindler. “All we know is tournament golf, playing with each other and spending time together on the road. It’s an ever-evolving golf world we’re in, and it’s not just our world, it’s everybody’s. We’re adapting on the fly.”
As for what’s next, Shindler knows as much as we all do. Instead of worrying and fretting about a contingency plan if he can’t play or practice, he’s taking it day-by-day, hoping for the best and having fun with his lessons.
“It’s a joy for me,” Shindler said of his lessons and the positive response he’s received on social media. “I figured let’s give it a whirl. It’s exciting for me because I like to make anybody better at golf. I like to help people in this game. It’s done so much for me so to be able to help other players, and they’re helping me, it’s a nice tradeoff.”
The Golf Channel has reported the PGA Tour policy board approved a new measure this week to help top college players to reach various tours.
In many ways, college golf is a training ground for professional golf. Many of the top collegians have an eye on someday getting to the PGA Tour, and now the Tour will begin to streamline that process. According to a Golf Channel report, the PGA Tour policy board approved a new measure this week to help the top college players to reach various tours.
The Golf Channel referenced a “source familiar with the policy board’s meeting Tuesday at Bay Hill” in introducing PGA Tour University. It’s a program that will grant players Korn Ferry Tour status based on a college ranking system, but only have after they have finished their college eligibility.
The program is expected to begin in the Summer of 2021.
Changes to the PGA Tour’s qualifying structure in 2013 made it much more difficult for a player to come straight out of college and onto the PGA Tour. Matthew Wolff, who won a Tour event 41 days after claiming the NCAA individual title, is the exception. The vast majority of players are funneled up through the Korn Ferry Tour.
The ranking established through the PGA Tour University system, according to the Golf Channel report, will be used to determine the top 5 individuals who will earn Korn Ferry Tour status at the conclusion of the NCAA season in early June.
Even if a player doesn’t finish in the top 5 in that ranking he will have an opportunity to earn varying degrees of status on the Mackenzie Tour, PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamérica and PGA Tour Series-China based on his ranking.
Andrew Novak birdied the 17th and 18th holes on Sunday to earn his first professional victory on Sunday on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Andrew Novak birdied the 17th and 18th holes on Sunday to snag his first professional victory at the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.
Novak started the final round at 17 under, tied with Jack Maguire, both a shot back of leader Peter Uihlein.
But Novak’s second 66 of the weekend was enough to hold off the final-round 64s posted by John Chin and Taylor Montgomery.
Novak had a 64 of his own in Friday’s second round but it was his birdie on the 215-yard, par-3 17th and 473-yard, par-4 18th on Sunday that clinched the victory, as he was able to catch and then pass Chin at the finish line.
Novak finished at 22 under to earn his first professional win, one week after he finished T-9 at the Bogota Championship. Prior to that, he had missed the cut in two of the three KFT events this season.
The Korn Ferry Tour takes next week off before heading to Mexico for the El Bosque Mexico Championship.
Davis Riley managed to hold on for his first Korn Ferry Tour victory on Sunday at the Panama Championship.
This time last year, Davis Riley was just getting his professional career started. The Hattiesburg, Mississippi native left the University of Alabama early to start his pro journey. How his path has changed in a year.
Riley managed to hold on for his first Korn Ferry Tour victory on Sunday at the Panama Championship. It was a fairly uneventful day at Club de Golf de Panamá in Panama City until he reached the par-5 12th hole. When Riley jarred a 70-footer for eagle there, he knew he could close out a win if he just kept it together coming in.
He did, and he did.
Riley had a final-round 69 that left him at 10 under, one shot ahead of Roberto Diaz.
Playing on the developmental tour can offer many lessons for a young professional like Riley. Among the latest ones was how to close.
“I actually took a big learning lesson from last week. I three-putted my last three holes to miss the cut by one,” he told Korn Ferry Tour media. “I told myself to just keep hitting good shots and good putts and that’s all I could do. I hit a bunch of good shots coming in and hit some good putts and it was enough to get it done.”
In 2019, Riley had no status on the Korn Ferry Tour. He was relying on Monday qualifying for playing opportunities. He was able to secure status in June and set up a year that has some level of consistency and routine.
This is Riley’s third Korn Ferry start this year. He opened the season with a top-10 at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic two weeks ago.
Last season, Riley made the cut in all but five of his 18 Korn Ferry starts, but only logged one top-10 finish. Interestingly, he missed the cut at the Panama Championship.
