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.

Viktor Hovland caddies for former college teammate at U.S. Open Final Qualifying less than 15 hours after 2023 Memorial Tournament win

What would you do the day after your biggest win banked a $3.6 million payday?

What would you do the next day if you won the biggest tournament of your career and a whopping $3.6 million paycheck?

For Viktor Hovland, who won the PGA Tour’s 2023 Memorial Tournament in a playoff at Muirfield Village Golf Club on Sunday, it was rise and shine early and get to work. No, he didn’t go tee it up; rather he is caddying for former Oklahoma State University teammate and roommate Zach Bauchou of Forest, Virginia, at a U.S. Open Final Qualifier in Columbus, Ohio.

No rest for the weary or the wealthy. Hovland took care of the first requirement of any caddie – he showed up – and was on the bag bright and early dressed in shorts and wearing his Ping cap.

Hovland, of course, is fully exempt from qualifying and already in the U.S. Open field at Los Angeles Country Club (June 15-18). Bauchou, a second-team All-American at Oklahoma State, played in the Mexico Open in April and missed the cut. He’s got the No. 5 golfer in the world by his side on Monday for 36 holes at The Lakes Golf & Country Club in the morning and Brookside Golf Club (2 p.m., 10th tee). As Dionne Warwick used to sing, that’s what friends are for.

After banking $3.6 million on Sunday, Hovland will be put to work. How about a little something for the effort?

[pickup_prop id=”33699″]

[lawrence-auto-related count=4 category=1375]