Tag: PGA Tour cards

Braden Thornberry wins Korn Ferry Tour Championship to snag 2025 PGA Tour card

The tournament within the tournament was the race to a promotion.

The tournament within the tournament at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship was the race to a PGA Tour card for the 2025 season.

There are 30 being doled out in all this season and before they teed it up at the season finale, 17 cards were already claimed. Another five, while not officially locked up, were a virtual certainty. That left eight cards truly up for grabs.

On Sunday, Braden Thornberry grabbed himself one of those cards.

Thornberry started the week in 51st, well outside the top 30, but he secured his playing privileges for 2025 with an outright win at The French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course. His final-round 66 got him to 9 under and vaulted him to 16th in the points. This is the first Tour card for the 2017 Haskins Award winner, who won the award after his sophomore season at Ole Miss when he won the NCAA individual championship.

“It’s crazy. This is my I guess fifth year since I turned pro and I’ve played a lot of good golf. I had such a good college career and I was excited to get out in the pro ranks,” he said of his journey to the PGA Tour. “Like really, it’s not that I struggled with my golf game, it’s like it never quite clicked for some reason at the pro level. It’s just amazing to finally get a win out here. To get a win and to be Tour Bound in the same day is just crazy. I’m sure it hasn’t all hit me yet, but it’s just a crazy day.”

He added that he got a little inspiration from his dad before the final round.

“My dad texted me this morning and kind of put it in my head, ‘You know, one good round, you could be on the Tour,'” he said. “So it’s crazy to actually go out there and have that one-in-a-hundred round that you needed at the exact right time. It’s just amazing.”

He was the only player in the 74-man field to climb inside the top 30. And that meant someone else had to fall out. Bubble Boy Sam Bennett was that golfer. He started the week 30th in points but a final-round 78, a day that included two double-bogeys, dropped him to 31st, the first man out.

Korn Ferry Tour Championship: Zach Bauchou moves into top 30, Sam Bennett falls out with 36 holes left

Bauchou started the week 35th but he’s now well inside the safe zone for a coveted tour card.

There’s just 36 holes left for some to lock up their 2025 PGA Tour cards.

Through two rounds of the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship, 29 of the 30 golfers on the good side of the line have held on.

“Bubble Boy” Sam Bennett, who started the week in the 30th and final spot, is the one golfer who has fallen out, for now.

Bennett opened with a 72 but his second-round 3-over 75 has put him in a precarious position.

Meanwhile, Zach Bauchou is taking full advantage of this week’s 72-hole, no-cut event at French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course in Indiana. Bauchou has posted scores of 68 and 66 and is at 10 under, the only golfer at double-digits under par, and he leads the field by four shots.

Bauchou started the week in the 35th spot, on the outside looking in, but he’s now in the 13th spot, well inside the safe zone for that coveted tour card.

When the week started, 17 of the 30 cards were claimed and the next five were virtually assured of staying in the top 30. That left eight spots up for grabs.

After 15 seasons of 25 players getting a promotion, this year it’s 30 getting their cards. When the Korn Ferry Tour started in 1990, only the top five players earned their cards.

The French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course is a par-72 measuring 7,667 yards. It’s hosted the KFT finale for the first time.

13 PGA Tour cards for 2025 to be decided at Korn Ferry Tour Championship

Thirty golfers will earn status in the big leagues next year.

The Korn Ferry Tour season-long race has 30 PGA Tour cards for next season waiting at the finish line.

Of the 30, 17 have already been earned, leaving 13 up for grabs at the final tournament of the year, the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

The season-finale will be played at French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course in Indiana for the first time, where 75 players will be teeing it up. Matt McCarty, who earned his 2025 PGA Tour card via the three-victory promotion in 2024, is the lone player in the top 30 not there. Instead, he’ll be in the field at the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship.

All 75 players who qualified this week have earned 2025 Korn Ferry Tour status no matter what happens this week. It’s the quest for a promotion that will have added inspiration.

Who’s has clinched a 2025 PGA Tour card?

There are 17 players already making their plans for next season on the PGA Tour, led by McCarty, who will be playing in just his second PGA Tour event this week in Jackson, Mississippi. The 2022 U.S. Open was his only other start.

Who are the top 10 in the KFT points?

  • 1. Matt McCarty
  • 2. Max McGreevy
  • 3. Tim Widing
  • 4. Steven Fisk
  • 5. Frankie Capan III
  • 6. Taylor Dickson
  • 7. Harry Higgs
  • 8. William Mouw
  • 9. Brian Campbell
  • 10. Thomas Rosenmueller

Who’s inside the top 30 still without a 2025 PGA Tour card?

These players are currently inside the top 30 and would earn their cards by staying in the top 30 after Sunday’s final round.

The first five here have a strong enough points lead that, while none of them are guaranteed anything just yet, probably have done enough to earn their 2025 PGA Tour cards.

  • 18. Karl Vilips
  • 19. John Pak
  • 20. Jackson Suber
  • 21. Mason Andersen
  • 22. Jeremy Paul

This next group of golfers are currently inside the top 30 but they have others close enough to overtake them. Consider these guys “on the bubble.”

  • 23. Kris Ventura
  • 24. Ricky Castillo
  • 26. Noah Goodwin
  • 27. Aldrich Potgieter
  • 28. Kaito Onishi
  • 29. Trevor Cone
  • 30. Sam Bennett

About the Pete Dye golf course

The French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course will be a par-72 this week measuring 7,667 yards. The finishing stretch includes the 220-yard par-3 16th, 465-yard par-4 17th, and 626-yard par-5 18th.

The venue hosted the 2015 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and the 2019 Senior LPGA Championship.

Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort
The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort in French Lick, Indiana, site of the 2019 Senior LPGA Championship (above) and 2015 KitchenAide Senior PGA Championship. (Beth Ann Nichols/Golfweek)

Which players can earn PGA Tour status for the rest of 2024?

Max McGreevy, Tim Widing, Taylor Dickson and Harry Higgs all have two wins in 2024 on the Korn Ferry Tour. A third would mean a Three-Victory Promotion, which is immediate access to the PGA Tour’s 2024 FedExCup Fall as well as fully exempt status on the PGA Tour in 2025.

There is no cut this week for the 75 players in the field, so everyone will have four rounds to accrue points for next season.

After 15 seasons of 25 players getting a promotion, this year it’s 30 getting their cards. When the Korn Ferry Tour started in 1990, only the top five players earned their cards.

FedEx Cup Fall update: Who’s up, who’s down with one PGA Tour event to go

The RSM Classic is the final event of the season and the last chance for players to make their move for 2024.

Time is running out for players to secure status on the PGA Tour for next season.

The FedEx Cup Fall consists of seven Tour events – last week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship was the sixth – which provide players an opportunity to lock up or improve their positions in priority ranking and secure additional playing opportunities for the 2024 PGA Tour season, which returns to a calendar-year format from January to August.

The top 125 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings through this week’s RSM Classic will be exempt into all full-field events and the Players Championship in 2024.

Nos. 51-60 in the standings at the conclusion of the RSM Classic will qualify for two Signature Events in 2024 via The Next 10 (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational).

Here’s a closer look at who was up and who was down after the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Who’s up and who’s down in the FedEx Cup Fall standings after the World Wide Technology Championship

Here’s who moved up and down the point standings south of the border.

LOS CABOS, Mexico — Erik van Rooyen’s victory at the World Wide Technology Championship on Sunday took care of his concerns about keeping his job on the PGA Tour for not only next year but the one after that as Tour wins equate to a two-year exemption.

But for others, it’s getting late in the game to make a big splash and take care of business. One golfer who can rest easy over the final two weeks is Justin Lower, who has been a perennial bubble boy both on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour. But after a T-23 this week, Lower improved three spots to No. 107 in the standings.

“I thought about it a little bit. I did the math, I think I had a 75-point lead over the 125 spot, and I haven’t looked at projections at all this week,” he said. “It’s nice to just kind of relax a little bit, but it’s hard for me to relax out here.”

Asked what he will miss most about being on the bubble, he answered, “Absolutely nothing.”

Here’s who moved up and down the point standings south of the border.

Meet the 30 Korn Ferry Tour golfers who earned PGA Tour cards for 2024 season

These 30 players are being promoted to the big leagues.

The Korn Ferry Tour Championship was the 26th and final event of the 2023 season, and the top 30 players on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List upon conclusion of Sunday’s final round earned their PGA Tour cards for the 2024 season.

The action at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana, was intense as 16 cards had already been finalized heading into the week, leaving just 14 cards still up for grabs.

Paul Barjon won the season-ending event and that vaulted him into the top 30. He was among the five players who were not in the top 30 when the week started who played their way in. Shad Tuten was dinged with a two-shot penalty Sunday and that cost him a card, dropping from 29th to 32nd. Jorge Fernandez Valdes finished in the 31st spot, a third-round 77 likely the biggest culprit for him.

The top KFT finisher was Ben Kohles, who had two wins this season.

For those who fell short, all is not lost. Players who finished Nos. 31-60 on the KFT points list have earned exemptions to the Final Stage of PGA Tour Q-School, where the top five finishers and ties will earn their 2024 PGA Tour cards.

The final stage is Dec. 14-17 at TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course as well as Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

The 2024 PGA Tour season starts at The Sentry, Jan. 4-7 at the Plantation Course at Kapalua but that event is reserved for PGA Tour winners and the top 30 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings from last season, so for these KFT grads, their 2024 PGA Tour season will start the next week at the Sony Open of Hawaii.

Here’s the complete list of 30 Korn Ferry Tour golfers who earned their 2024 PGA Tour cards.

30 golfers will earn 2024 PGA Tour cards after this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship

Here’s some of the key things to know about this week’s 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

Changes are a comin’ to the PGA Tour but one thing that’s not new is that a new crop of golfers will earn promotion to the big stage following the conclusion of this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

There are 16 who have already clinched their cards for next season with another 14 to be handed out come Sunday night at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana.

But between now and then is 72 holes of intensity, future status of playing privileges hanging in the balance.

The 2024 PGA Tour schedule features a return of the calendar-based schedule. The season starts in Maui at The Sentry in January.

Here’s some of the key things to know about this week’s 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

Kyle Westmoreland becomes first Air Force Academy graduate to earn a PGA Tour card

He was the first Air Force grad to play in one of the four men’s majors. Now he’s the first to earn a PGA Tour card.

Old rivalries die hard. Just ask Kyle Westmoreland, the first Air Force Academy graduate to earn his PGA Tour card.

“Go Air Force. Beat Army. Sink Navy. And we’re Tour bound, baby,” he said with the sun setting behind him and 24 others who made their dreams come true Sunday at Victoria National in Newburgh, Indiana.

Westmoreland, who saw his score inch up in the wrong direction each day this week, posted scores of 69-70-71-72 and finished 6 under, 15 shots back of Korn Ferry Tour Championship winner Justin Suh. But it was good enough for Westmoreland, the first Air Force grad to play in a U.S. Open, to earn his place on Tour for the 2022-23 season.

He was a senior in college at Air Force in 2014 and then served out his five-year commitment, reaching the rank of captain serving in the financial management division. But he never wavered on his goal of playing professional golf.

Westmoreland, 30, finished in the 25th and final spot in the points standings.

He was 13th in driving distance on the Korn Ferry Tour at 319 yards. He had three top-10s and made 14 cuts in 26 events during the season. He earned $122,575 in on-course winnings during the 2022 campaign.

The next PGA Tour season starts in Napa, California, at the Fortinet Championship, Sept. 15-18. Defending tournament champ Max Homa has committed to play. Others in the field include Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland, Brandt Snedeker and past winner Cameron Champ.

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Robby Shelton wins Korn Ferry Tour regular-season finale; these 25 players have earned PGA Tour cards for next season

Twenty-five golfers earned their PGA Tour cards on Sunday.

The Korn Ferry Tour regular-season finale in Omaha wrapped up Sunday, and with that came a life-changing opportunity for 25 golfers who earned their PGA Tour cards for the 2021-22 season.

Robby Shelton won the Pinnacle Bank Championship, moving to second in the KFT standings. Shelton finished with a 6-under 65 for a 17-under 267 total, one shot better than Ben Taylor, who also secured his card. Kevin Dougherty finished in a tie for third, but a win would’ve clinched a PGA Tour card for him. It’s the second win of the year for Shelton, the only player on the KFT to win twice this season, earning $153,000.

Carl Yuan, the 2021-22 points leader, finished tied for fifth at The Club at Indian Creek. He won only once on the season but finished runner-up an astounding six times. He shot 9 under during his third round.

The list of 25 who earned their Tour cards

1. Carl Yuan, 1,819
2. Robby Shelton, 1,603
3. Paul Haley II, 1,341
4. Zecheng Dou, 1,321
5. Taylor Montgomery, 1,216
6. Augusto Núñez, 1,157
7. Justin Suh, 1,145
8. Ben Griffin, 1,102
9. Ben Taylor, 1,095
10. Brandon Matthews, 1,094
11. MJ Daffue, 1,090
12. Seonghyeon Kim, 981
13. Byeong Hun An, 941
14. Davis Thompson, 926
15. Erik Barnes, 908
16. Trevor Werbylo, 878
17. Harry Hall, 877
18. Tyson Alexander, 857
19. Michael Kim, 857
20. Kevin Yu, 846
21. Harrison Endycott, 830
22. Trevor Cone, 825
23. Vincent Norrman, 785
24. Kevin Roy, 784
25. Anders Albertson, 783

Tyson Alexander got his card for the first time since going pro 12 years ago. Paul Haley is back on the PGA Tour after losing his card nine years ago. 16 of the 25 will be PGA Tour rookies, and there are nine countries represented in the group.

Next up for those whom missed the top 25? An additional 25 Tour cards will be awarded following the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Playoffs. Those finishing Nos. 26-75 in the KFT standings as well as non-member qualifiers and medical extensions can still earn their cards through the Korn Ferry Tour Playoffs. 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. 18-21
  • Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 25-28
  • Korn Ferry Tour Championship, Newburgh, Indiana, Sept. 1-4

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