Checking in from the final event of the Korn Ferry Tour regular season, the WinCo Foods Portland Open. This week is always special on the Korn Ferry Tour because 25 PGA Tour Cards are handed out during the “graduation” ceremony at the end of the week. I entered the week in 20th place on the points list, in a great position but with an outside chance of being passed by six players.
I was understandably a bit drained from the high-pressure, 45-hole weekend the week previous at TPC Stonebrae, but wanted to make sure my PGA Tour fate was in my hands, not someone else’s. Long story short, I birdied my last two holes on Friday to make the cut on the number, which I found out walking off the 18th green officially secured a spot in “The 25” to graduate to the PGA Tour the next season!
The rest of the weekend followed with an adrenaline crash like I had never experienced- 8 months of pressure, travel, and grinding ending with achieving my ultimate goal was an incredible feeling. While my body did not quite cooperate with what I wanted it to do, I managed to birdie the 17th and 18th holes in each of my last three rounds and shot all rounds under par. My tie for 48th place finished my season in 23rd on the points list, sending me to the PGA Tour!!
I attached some photos here of the graduation ceremony. I won’t be forgetting this one for a while!
Now I’m heading to Columbus for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where the regular season graduates are competing to improve their priority ranking, and all those that just missed earning their card (on the KFT) or retaining their card (on the PGA Tour) are competing for 25 more PGA Tour Cards.
This week I made 18 birdies and holed a bunker shot for an eagle (which jump-started my Friday afternoon to make the cut)! This brings our total to __ for the year… I’m looking forward to a strong final two events to close out an amazing year for Birdies for Education!!
Thank you all for your support!!
Maverick