The PGA Tour unveiled Wednesday the competition schedule for the 2027 Korn Ferry Tour season, also known as the greatest Korn Ferry Tour season ever.
The tournament lineup – 25 events, including four Finals tournaments, in seven different countries and 15 states – is relatively unchanged from this year. The Federal Club in Glen Allen, Virginia, will return as the host of the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship, while the first three postseason starts are still Franklin, Tennessee; Columbus, Ohio; and Owasso, Oklahoma.
Ten tournaments will be broadcast on Golf Channel, including the first two events in the Bahamas, the first of which begins Jan. 17.
New to the schedule is the Chile Open, called the 97 Scotiabank Abierto de Chile, which will be contested March 4-7 at Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago, Chile.
The purses for regular-season events remain $1 million while the Finals events each boast $1.5 million purses. However, there is more reward this season than just cash.
Why is this the greatest Korn Ferry Tour season ever? A year after only the top 20 points finishers graduated to the PGA Tour – and without initial signature-event status – the top 40 finishers in 2027 will receive some sort of promotion.
The top 10 will graduate to the Championship Series, the PGA Tour’s top tier, in 2028, while the next 30 finishers will earn full Challenger status.
KFT president Alex Baldwin dubbed the 2027 season the “most competitive” in the tour’s history.
“This reinforces our mission to identify, prepare, and transition the game’s next generation of stars as these players emerge on the PGA Tour,” Baldwin added.
Such potential perks helped soften the blow for KFT members who kept full KFT status in 2026 but missed out on the top 20.
“Even if you’re not on the PGA Tour next year, it’s a great opportunity,” said James Nicholas, who finished 30th in points this season.
Other players note that they’d like to see more opportunities given to KFT members in 2027. The Challenger membership will also include Nos. 91-175 from the PGA Tour, while KFT players who don’t earn one of 40 PGA Tour cards will, in their eyes, essentially be demoted.
It’s unclear how many players will keep full KFT status in 2028, though those that do will find themselves playing on the tour’s third tier, not the second tier that the KFT currently occupies.
“To be honest, I’m pretty disappointed with the decisions that they made for the qualifications for entry into 2028,” said veteran Matt Atkins, who ended up No. 68 in KFT points. “I think it’s borderline absurd to think that No. 41 out here is worse than No. 175 on the PGA Tour. That’s really diminishing the talent out here and who should be on PGA Tour Challenger. … It feels like they’re not sending enough guys up.”
Currently, Vince Whaley is No. 175 in FedExCup points. Drew Nesbitt finished No. 41 in KFT points this year. Whaley is ranked No. 243 in the Official World Golf Ranking, 23 spots worse than Nesbitt, who by in large played in weaker fields this year.
Atkins added that he doesn’t believe No. 175 on the PGA Tour is unworthy of Challenger status: “The Korn Ferry is the PGA Tour overflow, not a developmental tour. There’s plenty of talent, just not enough space.”
There will, however, be other opportunities for those outside the top 40 on the KFT next year to earn PGA Tour status for 2028. While full eligibility will be finalized next month, the top 10 finishers at final stage of 2027 PGA Tour Q-School will get Challenger cards. One of the final-stage exemptions is finishing in the top 75 on KFT points.