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How it works: Three-Victory Promotion to PGA TOUR

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How It Works

How it works: Three-Victory Promotion to PGA TOUR


    Written by Staff @PGATOUR

    Each season on the Korn Ferry Tour, the top finishers earn PGA TOUR membership for the subsequent campaign. This has been established and defined across time.

    There’s a way to accelerate that path, however.

    Winning three Korn Ferry Tour events in one season provides automatic TOUR membership, effective for the next Full-Field Event. Perhaps the most famous example came in 2005, when Jason Gore won three times on the Korn Ferry Tour within a month – then won on the PGA TOUR that fall. His Korn Ferry Tour torrent came shortly after he played in the final group of the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

    The Three-Victory Promotion program was established before the 1997 Korn Ferry Tour season, ensuring the game’s highest-form players would be able to compete against the world’s best, without needing to wait until the following season.

    Only 13 times has a Three-Victory Promotion been accomplished, and only four times since 2009. As professional golf gets deeper and deeper, so does the Korn Ferry Tour, and the difficulty of winning a single event – let alone three – only stiffens.

    Matt McCarty earned a Three-Victory Promotion at the 2024 Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron, becoming the first player to secure a Three-Victory Promotion within a single-year season since Wesley Bryan in 2016. (Mito Pereira won three times in the 2020-21 combined season.)

    Only one season has seen multiple Three-Victory Promotions, and uniquely there were three. Heath Slocum, Chad Campbell and Pat Bates each earned a Three-Victory Promotion via the 2001 Korn Ferry Tour.

    Here's a look at all Three-Victory Promotions from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA TOUR:

    SeasonPlayerEvents won
    2024Matt McCartyPrice Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper, Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Woodhouse, Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron
    2020-21Mito PereiraAstara Golf Championship, UNC Health Championship, BMW Charity Pro-Am
    2016Wesley BryanChitimacha Louisiana Open, El Bosque Mexico Championship, AdventHealth Championship
    2014Carlos OrtizThe Panama Championship, El Bosque Mexico Championship, WinCo Foods Portland Open
    2009Michael SimEllie Mae Classic, BMW Charity Pro-Am, AdventHealth Championship
    2007Nick FlanaganHenrico County Open, BMW Charity Pro-Am, Xerox Classic
    2005Jason GorePete Dye Classic, Scholarship America Showdown, Cox Classic
    2003Tom CarterCanadian PGA Championship, Price Cutter Charity Championship, Alberta Classic
    2002Patrick MooreHenrico County Open, Peek'n Peak Classic, Korn Ferry Tour Championship
    2001Heath SlocumGreater Cleveland Open, Visit Knoxville Open, Cox Classic
    2001Chad CampbellHenrico County Open, WNB Golf Classic, Monterey Peninsula Classic
    2001Pat BatesSiouxland Open, Shreveport Open, Korn Ferry Tour Championship
    1997Chris SmithBMW Charity Pro-Am, Dakota Dunes Open, Cox Classic