Sandy Scott locked up a PGA Tour card on Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.
A few years ago, he figured such an achievement no longer possible.
Before the 28-year-old Scott captured his maiden Korn Ferry Tour title at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship to move to second in points with two events left, he went 17 months in 2020-22 without picking up a club. Scott, a two-time All-American at Texas Tech and Walker Cupper in 2019, tore ligaments in his right wrist, requiring two surgeries.
“I was in some really low times and didn’t know if I’d ever play golf again,” Scott said.
When he returned as a sixth-year senior for the Red Raiders, he wasn’t the same player, not finishing better than T-37 in five starts. He turned pro after missing the cut at the 2022 U.S. Amateur and toiled around developmental tours in Latin America and Europe for a couple years before finally earning Korn Ferry Tour status last season.
His debut year on the KFT nearly ended in graduation, as Scott, needing to win the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Championship to earn promotion, entered the final round of the playoff finale in a share of second. He’d slip to T-8 but kept his full KFT status.
Then this season, he used a solo third at the Tulum Championship in April to vault inside the top 20 in points, the cutoff for a PGA Tour card. But two months later, he withdrew from the BMW Charity Pro-Am after his surgically repaired wrist flared up.
“It was just getting progressively worse, every day it was harder to warm up, and I was getting a bit more sharp pain,” said Scott, who missed nearly two months to rest his wrist and then slowly ramp back up.
He tied for 15th in Utah upon his return and sat 36th in points entering the regular-season finale in Kansas City. Starting that week, Scott has rattled off finishes of T-4, runner-up and now a victory to become the seventh player this season to clinch his place in the top 20.
Ross Steelman, Doc Redman, Ian Holt, Alvaro Ortiz, Cole Sherwood and Alistair Docherty have already locked up their 2027 PGA Tour cards, while Tommy Morrison, Hunter Eichhorn and Dylan Menante are next in line to cross the threshold at the penultimate playoff event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which begins a week from Thursday.
“With having a history of having a wrist injury, I’ve kind of gone through the waves of being unsure about what golf’s going to look like for me in the future,” said Scott, who still keeps the wrist heavily wrapped – half reminder, half because he still needs it. “When I did come back from it in college, I had this overwhelming sense of perspective that I’m just happy to be out here competing, fulfilling this dream that I’ve always had of playing golf professionally. … To be able to play well has been a bonus.”
On Sunday, Scott birdied two of his last three holes to shoot 6-under 65 and edge J.M. Butler by a shot. Not only was Scott emotional afterward as a KFT winner for the first time, but to have it come with a PGA Tour card, too?
“It’s been a weird journey,” Scott said, “and I’m just so happy.”