Salinda started the final round tied for the lead.
Isaiah Salinda entered the final round of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Panama Championship tied for the lead at 7 under with Wil Bateman.
By Sunday afternoon, Salinda was hoisting the trophy after winning by a staggering eight shots. It’s the largest margin of victory on the circuit in seven years.
Salinda bogeyed the third hole but then birdied Nos. 4, 6 and 11 before an eagle on 12. He then punctuated his win with a birdie on the closing hole to get to 12 under and post a 65 to seal first professional victory.
Golf is supposed to be difficult. But it’s seemingly not for these kids.
Golf is supposed to be difficult. But it’s seemingly not for these kids.
Three days after 20-year-old Alabama sophomore Nick Dunlap won the PGA Tour’s American Express, 19-year-old Aldrich Potgieter became the youngest winner on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Potgieter won the 2024 Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club at 10 under, two shots better than Quade Cummins and Kyle Westmoreland.
At 19 years, four months and 11 days, Potgieter slides Jason Day into the No. 2 spot on the list. Day was 19 years, seven months and 26 days old when he won the 2007 Legend Financial Group Classic.
Potgieter, the 2022 Amateur champ, is the fourth golfer still in his teens to win on the Korn Ferry Tour. Sungjae Im, Akshay Bhatia and Day are the others.
“I was just trying to make the cut⊠improve on the status. I didnât expect this today,” Potgieter said. “I was looking at the leaderboard a couple times and just trying to move up, move up slowly and give myself some chances on the putting green. I felt really comfortable, gave myself those opportunities and holed some of them.”
Aldrich Potgieter hits a tee shot on the 18th hole during the final round of the 2024 Bahamas Great Abaco Classic in the Bahamas. (Photo: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
Potgieter, who turned professional last summer, started the final round five shots back of Westmoreland but birdied three of his first four holes to get started. A bogey on seven was followed by an eagle on eight. He then birdied four of his last six holes to shoot a 65.
“We saw Nick Dunlap won last week, and that was a reminder that it can be done,” he said.
From finishing high school in 2022 to his first professional win in 2024 đ
This was the second event on the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2024 schedule. Each of the first two tournaments had a Sunday-to-Wednesday format. The circuit continues next week in Panama before heading to Colombia, Argentina and Chile.
The first U.S. event is April 4-7 in Savannah, Georgia.
Two rookies separated by a decade in age and several thousand miles from each other grew up with the same dream.
HONOLULU â Reigning British Open champion Brian Harman made his PGA Tour debut at the 2012 Sony Open in Hawaii. Now 36 and entering his 13th year as a Tour member, he was asked Tuesday how he realized when he reached veteran status.
âI think when you start showing up to this tournament and you don’t recognize anyone that’s here,â he said during a pre-tournament press conference. âThat’s when you know you’ve been out here a while. You’re looking and you’re like, âMan, someone letting their kid out there putting?â No, that guy is a rookie. âOK, here we go.ââ
This week, that fresh face for Harman could be that of Belgian Adrien Dumont de Chassart, who Wednesday was voted 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Rookie of the Year by his peers. The 23-year-old Dumont de Chassart enjoyed a fifth year at University of Illinois, where he was a three-time Big Ten Player of the Year, and graduated with a degree in business management. Belgium isn’t exactly a golfing hotbed and yet his path into golf had as much to do with geography as anything.
âI lived a mile away from a golf course, so my dad and my brother always brought me with them when I was very young, and that’s how I get started,â he said.
After finishing third in the 2023 PGA Tour University ranking, Dumont de Chassart won in his pro debut on the Korn Ferry Tour. He finished second the following week and hardly slowed down, recording six consecutive top-10s and assured a rapid rise to the PGA Tour this season.
âI think that’s a dream that every kid back home wants to accomplish one day,â said Dumont de Chassart, who joins fellow Belgian and Illini grad Thomas Detry in the big leagues.
Thatâs something the young Belgian and Chan Kim, who took a more circuitous route to the Tour, share in common. Kim is a 33-year-old rookie who said his body’s aches and pains make him feel more like a 43-year-old.
âWell, would’ve loved to be a rookie at 23. Sometimes that doesn’t work out,â he said. âJust to be here, to have this experience, know that this is â it’s been a lifelong goal.â
Kim grew up not far from Waialae Country Club, host of the tournament since 1965, from age 3 to 16 and attended the Sony Open as a kid every year. He would wake up at 4:30 a.m. and wait for a tee time at Ala Wai Golf Course, one of the nationâs busiest municipal courses, and use his junior pass, which gave him 20 nine-hole rounds for $20.
âSo, a dollar per nine holes,â he said. âJust can’t get that anywhere else.â
After turning pro, he spent eight years playing on the Japan Golf Tour, winning eight times. He still remembers trying to figure out how much his first check amounted to in U.S. dollars.
âI was running around telling people I’m a millionaire in Japanese yen,â he said.
With the top 30 on last seasonâs Korn Ferry Tour points list graduating to the PGA Tour for this season â up from 25 â Kim called it âa no-brainerâ to try his luck on the developmental circuit, and he won twice and finished second in the season-long points list.
Two rookies separated by a decade in age and several thousand miles from each other grew up with the same dream. Thatâs not all they share in common. Asked to write three words on a sheet of paper to describe himself, Dumont de Chassart chose “Never Give Up,” his motto ever since he rallied to win a match from five down with five holes to go in the quarterfinals of the French Boysâ under 18, and went on to win the title. Itâs a motto that could just as easily describe Kimâs long and winding road to his rookie debut just 10 minutes from his where his dream to be a pro golfer was born.
“To be a PGA Tour member and come back here, to kick everything off pretty much in my hometown,” he said, “yeah, it’s a treat.”
Kohles will make his 2024 PGA Tour debut at this weekâs Sony Open in Hawaii.
Ben Kohles was named the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, it was announced Wednesday.
The 33-year-old finished No. 1 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List behind his two victories: the astara Chile Classic and HomeTown Lenders Championship. Kohles also recorded eight top-10s, including four in the final five events of the season. Kohles made 23 starts throughout the 26-event season, posting the fourth-lowest scoring average on tour (68.80).
By virtue of his No. 1 finish on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, Kohles earned fully exempt status for the 2024 PGA Tour season, as well as exemptions for the 2024 U.S. Open and 2024 Players Championship. It marked Kohlesâ third time earning PGA Tour membership, as he previously earned a Tour card following the 2012 and 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour seasons.
Both of Kohlesâ wins came in April. Kohlesâ victory at the astara Chile Classic marked his first PGA Tour-sanctioned title in over 10 years, dating to his rookie season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2012. Four weeks after his win in Chile, Kohles won the HomeTown Lenders Championship following a two-hole sudden death playoff, earning his fourth career Korn Ferry Tour victory.
Kohles turned professional in 2012 after a highly decorated collegiate career at Virginia, where he was a two-time All-American and back-to-back winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year award in 2010 and 2011. He became the first (and remains the only) player in Korn Ferry Tour history to win each of his first two starts, as he won at the 2012 Nationwide Childrenâs Hospital Championship and Cox Classic.
Kohles will make his 2024 PGA Tour debut at this weekâs Sony Open in Hawaii.
According to the PGA Tour’s meteorologist, 4.3 inches of rain fell since 3 p.m. ET on Saturday.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. â The final round of PGA Tour Q-School has been postponed to Monday.
More than four inches of rain pounded the area on Saturday night into Sunday morning and left Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass Country Club, the two host courses, unplayable.
“Unfortunately, both golf courses are currently unplayable and require extensive maintenance work due to overnight rainfall,” PGA Tour chief referee Harold Geyer said. “Due to expected playing conditions and the anticipation of further delays, the decision to postpone the final round was made within the rules and regulations, which allow us to finish on Monday.”
In fact, it will be the third straight year that Q-School concludes on a Monday (although last year it was scheduled to do so). All starting times are officially delayed until Monday at their original posted times (between 8:45-11 a.m. ET) in their original groupings as announced for the final round.
Ponte Vedra received nearly 5 inches of rain overnight đłđ§ïž
The agronomy team was out as early as 5 a.m. to help get the courses ready for a Monday finish at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry. pic.twitter.com/M9l6UuTjK3
Mother Nature has played a big role all week, first serving up high winds and cool temperatures. On Saturday, the game plan to move tee times up one hour worked to perfection as the last group finished as the rain started to fall. Preferred lies were utilized in the third round at both courses so that all players would play one round on each course under the same conditions of play.
According to the Tour’s meteorologist, 4.3 inches of rain fell since 3 p.m. ET on Saturday with levels closer to 4 inches at Sawgrass, which is known for its good drainage, and closer to 5 inches in some areas of the Dye Course, where the drainage at the former swampland isn’t as good.
After a decade of solely awarding varying levels of Korn Ferry Tour membership, final stage of PGA Tour Q-School marks the first time since 2012 there are PGA Tour cards on the line. Upon conclusion of the 72-hole tournament, which will see the field play two 18-hole rounds â at both Valley and Sawgrass  â the top five finishers and ties will earn PGA Tour membership for 2024.
The next 40 finishers and ties are exempt for multiple reshuffles of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, guaranteeing them between eight to 12 starts depending on their finish. The next 20 finishers and ties earn exempt status for the Latin America Swing of the 2024 PGA Tour Americas season in addition to conditional Korn Ferry Tour status. All remaining finishers outside the aforementioned categories earn conditional Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas membership for 2024. Several players who already have secured some level of status for next season and realized their hopes of improving it were doubtful withdrew. There were 16 withdrawals as of Sunday morning out of a 165-man field that started on Thursday. Now, the waiting game begins for players whose future hangs in the balance â at least for next year.
“You have a full year to look back on what couldâve been,” said Ryan Gerard on what’s at stake. “Someoneâs going to miss their card by a shot and have to live with it forever and someone is going to make it because they did something ridiculous coming down the stretch and they could make a ton of money next year and change their life forever because of 72 holes in December.”
But the field will have to wait until Monday to find out who is headed to the PGA Tour and who will have to spend another year on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Harrison Endycott of Australia leads at 12-under 198. Blaine Hale Jr. is solo second at 10 under and PGA Tour veteran Spencer Levin and Trace Crowe are tied for third at 8 under. Hayden Springer and Raul Pereda are tied for fifth. Here are 5 Things to Know from the third round of Q-School.
In 2021, he âtook a breakâ from alcohol. One week turned into two, and two weeks turned into more than two years.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. â Spencer Levin planned on sleeping on a college buddyâs couch for one night ahead of the Monday qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tourâs Veritex Bank Championship in April, and if he didnât make it, heâd fly home. He ended up sleeping on the couch all week, not only qualifying by sinking a decisive birdie putt on the final hole but winning the tournament six days later for his first victory in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event after 17 years and 10 months of trying.
It might be the most under-appreciated victory of 2023 â his first since 2008 on the Canadian Tour, not long after Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on one leg and back when Katy Perryâs âI Kissed a Girlâ was the No. 1 song on the charts and Swede sensation Ludvig Aberg was all of eight years old.
Levin, 39, began the final round in Dallas trailing leader Brett Drewitt by six shots. He caught the Aussie on the 71st hole, then birdied the last for a 63 at Texas Rangers Golf Club â and a four-round total of 20-under par.
âI didnât think I was going to win the tournament until I did,â Levin said.
Spencer Levin had a decorated amateur career and finally won a PGA Tour-sanctioned event on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 after nearly 18 years of trying.
What a long, strange trip it had been to the winnerâs circle. Levin already was the definition of cocky growing up in Sacramento and his confidence grew during the summer of 2004, when he finished second in the Pacific Coast Amateur (losing in a playoff); tied for 13th place at the U.S. Open (the best finish by an amateur in 33 years) at Shinnecock Hills; reached the third round of the U.S. Amateur at Winged Foot; and won the California Amateur, Scratch Players Amateur, and Porter Cup. Greatness was predicted for him.
While his pro career never reached those lofty heights, heâs earned close to $10 million over 17 seasons and climbed to 60th in the Official World Golf Ranking in early 2012. He came close to winning a handful of times, most notably losing a playoff against Johnson Wagner at the 2011 Mayakoba Golf Classic. Levin averaged 28 starts a year, making 139 cuts, but when he lost his card after the 2016-17 season, he took the demotion hard. He made only five cuts in 22 starts and lost his exempt status. His playing opportunities were few and far between over the ensuing four seasons, dwindling to zero Korn Ferry starts in 2021 and â22.
By his own count, Levin fell one shot short in at least five KFT Monday qualifiers in 2022, as well as a spot in the U.S. Open by a single stroke. A bogey on the 72nd hole at Final Stage of the KFT Qualifying Tournament deprived him of guaranteed starts in the first eight events this year.
Yet he never wavered in his belief that he could still compete with the best in the world even if his reality had become âJust trying to find a place to play and get into tournaments,â he said.
âHe never, ever thought it (pro golf career) was done,â Don Levin, Spencerâs father, swing coach, and confidante told NCGA Golf Magazine in its fall 2023 issue. âHe never entertained the thought of that.â
Levinâs victory in April secured him a KFT card for 2024. However, he was unable to remain in the top 30 on the season-long money list and earn an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour, so heâs back at the final stage of Q-School this week chasing a top-5 finish (and ties), which is what it will take to be awarded a Tour card.
âOnce youâve had a taste of it, you want to keep doing it,â he said of playing on the PGA Tour again.
But Levin isnât the same cocky kid with the visor, popped collar and dangling cigarette who first took the golf world by storm. He crushed out his last cigarette in 2017, the day after his paternal grandfather died of emphysema. In February of 2021, he âtook a breakâ from alcohol. One week turned into two, and two weeks has turned into more than two years.
Spencer Levin watches his drive on the second hole during the final round of the 2017 Quicken Loans National at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. (Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports)
âIt was just something I did to improve my life,â he said. âI was at home, I didnât really have a tour to play on, and I thought, well, how can I just try to at least improve myself.â
He’s filled the void by hitting the gym regularly, which he had never done before. Heâs also prioritized family â heâs the father of three. Heâd like to earn his card this week â heâll play two rounds each at TPC Sawgrass Dyeâs Valley and Sawgrass Country Club â and have another shot at the big time and some unfinished business trying to win. Heâs planning to putt conventionally at Q-School with an old Odyssey putter, a grip he began practicing with last month after his wacky Happy Gilmore style of holding the putter much like one would grip a hockey stick cooled off.
Levinâs got nothing to lose and everything to gain and the perspective of a grizzled veteran.
âWhen I was 23-24, my whole career and life hinged on this week,â Levin said. âI still want to make it, donât get me wrong, but itâs no longer life or death.”
A handful of rising amateurs will be at Abu Dhabi Golf Club Dec. 8-10, as will a pair of former Ryder Cup players and a major champion. The best of the four amateurs â Chinaâs Sampson-Yunhe Zheng â is ranked No. 27 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The Ryder Cuppers were one-time members of Team Europe (Victor Dubuisson in 2014) and Team USA (Jeff Overton in 2010) at least a decade ago. The major champion? Thatâd be 46-year-old Jason Dufner, who claimed the 2013 PGA Championship but went on to win just two more Tour events over his professional career, the last coming at the 2017 Memorial.
LIV officials and fans alike had to be expecting a better turnout, especially after the PGA Tour confirmed last month that it didnât view LIV Golf Promotions as an “unauthorized tournament” due to its status as a qualifying event. That, however, doesnât mean players could just automatically tee it up, no questions asked.
So why arenât more PGA Tour players featured in the LIV Golf Promotions event? For a player to be able to play the promotions tournament, they still needed to apply for and be granted media releases by the proper deadlines: 15 days in advance for Korn Ferry Tour players and 45 days in advance for PGA Tour players. While LIV Golf Promotions has been discussed since February, it wasn’t officially announced until Oct. 26, less than 45 days before the first round on Dec. 8.
Players who compete without a release from the Tour will most likely face the same punishments as those who initially left for LIV, but don’t expect the Tour to publicize which players received releases and which did not. It’s also not customary for the Tour to publicize disciplinary measures, but similar to past situations, a player wouldn’t be subject to punishment until they actually compete in an event without a proper release from the Tour.
While the names in the promotions field may leave something to be desired, the event in the Middle East isn’t the only avenue to join the upstart circuit. LIV still has the ultimate flexibility to sign new players at their discretion, meaning if Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm wanted to leave the Tour, they could be signed to lucrative deals just like other notable players before them. There are only a handful of open positions on the 12 current teams, but officials hinted throughout 2023 that the league could operate its shotgun start format with as many as 15 teams.
If you’re unfamiliar with the LIV Golf Promotions setup, four rounds will be played over the three days, with 36 holes on the final day. The purse is $1.5 million and players must pay a ânominalâ entry fee (when LIV opened entries for its first event in London in 2022, âTiger Woodsâ entered 216 times). A total of 73 players will compete for three spots in the 2024 LIV Golf League. The promotions event is the same week as the PGA Tour/LPGA mixed team event, the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. Itâs also the same week as the DP World Tourâs Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club in South Africa.
Jake Staiano was suspended from PGA Tour-sanctioned competition for three months, and was the first player to discuss his violation on Ryan French’s Any Given Monday podcast earlier this week.
Vince India was the other pro who got suspended. He’s banned from competing in any PGA Tour-sanctioned event for six months, from Sept. 18 through March 17, 2024.
India, 34, has played in 176 events during his career on the Korn Ferry Tour. This season he made 22 starts, missed 11 cuts and withdrew from one event. His best result was a pair of T-21 finishes. His total career earnings are $662,823.
He posted an apology on social media on Tuesday, admitting he knowingly violated the Tour’s Integrity Program.
Staiano made four bets worth $116.20, three of which were on a made-for-TV exhibition match.
Back in May, Jake Staiano got a text from someone at the PGA Tour saying he was involved in an integrity violation, but he didnât think anything of it and figured his dad or caddie mightâve triggered a rogue warning.
During the week of the Korn Ferry Tourâs event at TPC Colorado in July, Staiano was approached by someone hired by the Tour to investigate the issue. A month later he spoke with the investigator for nearly an hour to confirm the four bets he placed, totaling $116.20.
After the first KFT playoff event in Boise, a rep from the Tour reached out to Staiano to let him know a decision was imminent. The penalties range from a slap on the wrist to losing your ability to compete in any Tour event, and Staiano thought heâd get the former. A week later he got an email from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan saying he was suspended for three months for violating the PGA Tourâs âIntegrity Program,â which clearly lays out that any golfer with professional status cannot bet on golf.
Wanting to get his side of the story out there, Staiano joined everyone’s favorite Monday qualifier Ryan French on his Any Given Monday podcast to discuss what happened and where he goes from here.
Jake Staiano was suspended for 3 months for gambling. He explains the 4 bets totaling $116.20, how the Tour found out, and why the appeal process is stacked against players like Jake.
Staiano admitted heâd taken the course for the integrity program three times but made no excuses when owning up to his error.
âI understand the principles, I understand you canât bet. They laid it out perfectly,â Staiano said. âI didn’t deny gambling.â
Staiano placed a $25 bet on Bryson DeChambeau to make a birdie on a par 5 in a PGA Tour event in 2021, then put three other bets on DeChambeauâs match against Brooks Koepka in November of 2021 because he didn’t view the made-for-TV exhibition as a professional golf event.
“I’ve accepted my punishment. It is what it is. Fair or not, people can argue that, but one of my biggest things is I want to make sure other guys understand exactly what happened so that they don’t make the same thing mistake,” Staiano said. “Because it could be career-altering. I’m treating it like it’s not, but you never know, I might never get a chance to get back to Q-School. I don’t want that to happen to other people because it sucks, it’s tough. It’s a tough situation, it’s something that I have to live with, but I feel like not only myself but other people can learn from what I did.”
For more on Staiano’s appeal, and how the Tour figured out he placed bets two years ago, listen to the full episode of Any Given Monday here.
Neither player placed a bet on tournaments in which they were participating.
The PGA Tour announced Friday two members of the Korn Ferry Tour were suspended for violating the PGA Tour’s Integrity Program.
Vince India and Jake Staiano were suspended for placing bets on PGA Tour competitions, the release stated. Neither player placed a bet on tournaments in which he was participating.
India is suspended from PGA Tour-sanctioned competition for six months, with the suspension beginning Sept. 18, 2023 and is through March 17, 2024.
Staiano is suspended from PGA Tour-sanctioned competition for three months. His suspension began Sept. 11, 2023 and is through Dec. 10, 2023.
The PGA Tour said it wouldn’t comment further on the suspensions.
India, 34, has played in 176 events during his career on the Korn Ferry Tour. This season, he made 22 starts and missed 11 cuts while withdrawing from one event. His best result was a pair of T-21 finishes.
Staiano, 26, has played in 17 events on the Korn Ferry Tour in his career. This season, he made eight starts, making three cuts with his best finish being T-19 at the BMW Charity Pro-Am.
India’s pgatour.com bio page states his total career earnings are $662,823, while Staiano’s page indicates he has earned $30,910.
