Second Monday of 2024 and first of the classic qualifiers for PGA Tour tournaments. This time it comes with some controversy that affects both the 30 players who secured their place for the elite from the Korn Ferry Tour (KFT) and the five who achieved it at the PGA School. They are not very happy with the alliance with the DP World Tour (DPWT) these players, as not all those coming from the second division of the American tour will compete this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii, the first event of the season with a full field. And the thing has its crumb.
In parts. The Sony Open this year welcomes more relevant players than on other occasions, as many will try from the beginning of the course to secure their card after finishing outside the top 70 of the FedEx and, therefore, of the playoffs, so they have also enjoyed a long rest this autumn. This has been one of the reasons why there have been fewer free places for the Hawaiian event, but it has also been that the alliance between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour to distribute 10 cards to the best of the European Circuit has snatched five more slots in this event, as Alexander Bjork, Ryo Hisatsune, Robert MacIntyre, Matthieu Pavon and Sami Valimaki will compete from this Thursday at the Sony. And several golfers from the KFT promotion have expressed their frustrations, as the category of the top 10 from the DP World Tour is ahead of the top 30 graduates from the KFT and the top five from the School.
“The Korn Ferry Tour is the feeder circuit of the PGA Tour,” says a graduate of the second Yankee division. “But are we behind the guys from Europe and we can’t beat them? It doesn’t make sense to me,” he concludes in statements to the MondayQ website. Some golfers returning from medical exemptions to the 144-player field must be added, and it is more evident how the second half of the KFT graduates are on the alternate list for the first tournament of the season. Why the DP World Tour should receive priority over KFT graduates is a question many players, especially those not in the field, are grappling with.
This is likely to be one of the main concerns of many players during the first half of the campaign and some golfers who are behind on the alternate list are already considering how many KFT tournaments they will go to and how to divide their schedule between tours.
Returning to the Sony Open, according to several players’ version to MondayQ, the Tour did not foresee this happening. When the KFT season ended last year and PGA Tour cards were awarded to the top 30 on the points list, Tour officials told the players that everyone would be at the Sony. Several organized trips with their families and friends, but they will not compete unless they qualify in the preliminary that takes place this Monday.
The last player qualified for the Sony is Jimmy Stanger, who finished sixteenth in the KFT points race. This leaves 14 of the top 30 players from the second division behind him, as well as the five School qualifiers, on the alternate list. Harrison Endycott, who won the School by four strokes just three weeks ago, is the fifteenth alternate. Of these players, 11 of the 14 KFT graduates are registered in today’s preliminary (Roger Sloan and Rafael Campos are not registered, and Josh Teater received a sponsor exemption). Four of the five School graduates will also play it. Endycott, a rookie on the PGA Tour last year, decided not to make the long trip for a qualifier. Hayden Springer, who won his PGA Tour card at the School after losing his 3-year-old daughter, Sage, captivated the golf world in December. His only way to the Sony Open now is a low score this Monday.
Everywhere they cook beans, as in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the first Rolex Series of the DP World Tour to be held next week, only seven of the 20 qualifiers from the Challenge Tour last season have entered the field…
