The PGA Tour isn’t the only circuit with a regular-season finale this week.
The Korn Ferry Tour’s super-season is also coming to an end with the Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha, Nebraska. There has been no promotion or relegation since fall 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After this week, the top 25 players on the season-long points list will earn their PGA Tour cards for the 2021-22 season. Those inside the top 75 will also be exempt for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where another 25 Tour cards will be up for grabs, and at least be guaranteed full status on the Korn Ferry Tour for next season.
Entering the regular-season finale, the standings are excruciatingly close.
According to the Tour’s calculations, it appears as though the top 19 in the standings are safe to earn Tour cards. That’d mean the cutoff falls at Jared Wolfe, and it would take a wild sequence of events for No. 20 Nick Hardy to fall out, too.
After that, it gets interesting: Ben Kohles, Brett Drewitt, Curtis Thompson, Taylor Montgomery and Peter Uihlein occupy spots No. 21-25, respectively. Uihlein has only a seven-point lead over No. 26 Austin Smotherman, while 27th-ranked Roberto Diaz is eight points behind.
In all, spots No. 24-27 are separated by just 18 points.
The Tour said that any player at No. 59 (Charlie Saxon) or better has a mathematical chance to crack the top 25 based on their play this week.
For Tour hopefuls, the top 75 is just as important. Taylor Dickson is currently the bubble boy, only 16 points ahead of No. 76 Jose de Jesus Rodriguez.
Those who finish outside the top 75 are not exempt for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and will need to make plans to enter the second stage of Q-School.
The three-tournament Korn Ferry Tour Finals – featuring both the top 75 in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and No. 126-200 on the FedExCup standings – begin next week with the Albertson Boise Open in Idaho. It continues with the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Ohio and concludes with the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, Sept. 2-5, in Indiana.
Here are the players who have already secured a graduation date to the PGA Tour:
Stephan Jaeger
Mito Pereira (already competing on Tour after three-win promotion)
Chad Ramey
Taylor Moore
Taylor Pendrith
Greyson Sigg
Davis Riley
Will Zalatoris
Lee Hodges
Adam Svensson
David Lipsky
Brandon Wu
Paul Barjon
Max McGreevy
Andrew Novak
Dylan Wu
Seth Reeves
Cameron Young
Jared Wolfe