See whose lives changed at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship

NEWBURGH, Ind. – Skyler Whitney operated a camcorder on the ninth green at Victoria National Golf Club, watching his dad Tom complete his final hole of the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season and thus cement a lifelong dream.

In the age of cell phones and 15-second attention spans, the elementary school-aged Skyler captured the moment in a way that might be considered old-fashioned but is timeless. It’s a moment the entire family will remember – Tom Whitney, a former Air Force nuclear missile operator, is headed to the PGA TOUR.

“You’re #TOURBound!” Skyler informed his dad as he scampered onto the green, joined by his siblings Zoey, Owen and Charlotte Bobbie. Their mom Jess beamed with pride.

Whitney is one of 30 players who earned 2024 PGA TOUR membership via the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List, with the final spots determined in the final moments of the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance on a serene Sunday afternoon in southern Indiana.

Whitney concluded the week in a tie for 61st (of 71 finishers) at the no-cut event, but he walked off the final green to a celebration as if he had won the title. That’s the beauty of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship – with 30 players, their families and friends celebrating the achievement of a season-long goal and lifetime pursuit. Whitney, 34, finished No. 21 on the season-long Points List to comfortably earn his first TOUR card.

The root of the satisfaction, for Whitney and his peers in the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour graduating class? A PGA TOUR card is fully and truly earned.

“Golf doesn’t play any favorites,” Whitney said on Sunday afternoon. “Everybody knows that.”

Whitney would’ve happily spent a career in the Air Force, he has said frequently throughout his near decade in professional golf, but he couldn’t have lived with himself if he didn’t give the pro game a try. This moment, his #TOURBound moment, was the payoff.

“Separated (from the Air Force) in 2014 and here we are, 2023, I could be well over halfway to retirement in the Air Force and still be pulling a pretty good paycheck with guaranteed promotions,” Whitney said. “So it was a very difficult decision to separate early and chase this dream. The fact that I have this validation of keeping faith in my life and where I feel like God’s leading me, and the journey’s still going on the golf course, I’m pretty excited about that.”

Prior to the season finale, the top 16 players on the Points List had mathematically clinched their TOUR cards, leaving 14 spots to be determined at Victoria National. Whitney entered the week at No. 17 on the Points List, with essentially a one-in-a-million chance of being passed, so the vibes were optimistic throughout the week across the Whitney family – his parents drove from Arizona and his in-laws flew in, in addition to a few dozen friends and supporters from the journey. Whitney joked afterward that his kids were frustrated with the TOUR’s content team for not yet declaring him #TOURBound before the week.

After nine-plus years in professional golf, though – including ample time on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and mini-tours before ascending to the Korn Ferry Tour, and a missed a 3-footer during the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in 2021 that essentially cost him a TOUR card – what’s four more days? It made the moment all the sweeter.

Whitney was mathematically safe as he completed the final round at Victoria National, but the same couldn’t be said for those closer to the bubble. Far from it. Rafael Campos, who entered the week at No. 23 on the Points List, signed for a 5-over 293 total (ultimately T52 on the leaderboard) and oscillated between projected No. 30 and No. 31 throughout Sunday afternoon as the subsequent groups finished their rounds.

Campos looked to be No. 31 until a shocking development from the third-to-last pairing, as Shad Tuten was assessed a two-stroke penalty after his round that changed his score from a 74 to a 76. Tuten failed to replace his ball properly in the fairway on the par-5 15th hole (preferred lies were in effect Sunday), as the ball rolled slightly upon placement, deviating from its original position. Tuten moved from T19 to T28 on the leaderboard, which moved him from projected No. 30 on the Points List (one spot ahead of Campos) to a final position of No. 32.

Campos experienced a whirlwind of emotions as he processed these developments afterward. He was visibly shaken in meeting with the media, excited for another season on TOUR while also feeling for those on the wrong side of the bubble.

“What a tough year. What a tough year,” Campos said afterward through tears. “The last hour-and-a-half has been a lot of emotions, coming in and out, a lot of thoughts, positive, negative, just kept on thinking of the amount of work I put into this year. God, I put in so much work. I’m really happy it paid off.

“It’s hard to be 30th. I feel bad for 31st; I was there 20 minutes ago. It’s been a really tough year; I’m just happy I have another chance to go back to the PGA TOUR and try to do as well as possible … It’s just nice to be #TOURBound again.”

Five spots in the top 30 were ultimately exchanged this week. Campos was grateful the number didn’t reach six.

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The five players to move inside the top 30 this week: Paul Barjon, Mac Meissner, Wilson Furr, Josh Teater and Roger Sloan. (Those to fall outside were Jorge Fernandez Valdes, Tuten, Chase Seiffert, Carter Jenkins and Jackson Suber.)

Barjon won the tournament, three strokes clear of Fabian Gomez, to move from No. 45 to No. 8 on the Points List and cement a TOUR return. It’s part of the uniqueness of the Korn Ferry Tour season finale – the leaderboard proper is an undercard of sorts to the drama around the No. 30 spot on the Points List. Barjon moved into a share of the 54-hole lead with a third-round, 8-under 64 at Victoria National, and he kept the field at arm’s length with a closing 68. The New Caledonia native needed a two-way T3 at minimum to move inside the top 30, as the numbers bore out; even with that lofty requirement, he was able to play the final few holes relatively pressure-free.

Meissner finished T3 at Victoria National, moving from No. 35 to No. 20 on the Points List and cementing his first TOUR card. The SMU alum was one of three players to break 60 on the Korn Ferry Tour this season – he carded a second-round 59 at the LECOM Suncoast Classic in April – but the only one of the three to earn a TOUR card via the season-long standings. How much did Meissner want this card? After three-putting for par on the par-5 third hole Friday, his 12th hole of the day, he was visibly tearing up as he crossed the bridge to the fourth hole. He played the next six holes in 1-over but then shot weekend rounds of 68-68 to clinch his card.

Sloan and Teater will each return to the TOUR after previously spending multiple seasons at the game’s highest level, and they did it in dramatic fashion Sunday.

Sloan, a proud Canadian who went nine years between Korn Ferry Tour victories in 2014 and 2023, drained a 10-foot par putt at the final hole Sunday to cement a T10 finish at Victoria National and move from No. 31 to No. 29 in the season-long standings. If he had bogeyed the hole, he would have finished No. 31 on the Points List (Fernandez Valdes would have earned the No. 30 spot by a single point.)

Teater shared the 54-hole lead at Victoria National but played his first 11 holes Sunday in 2-over and was hovering around the top-30 bubble, having entered the week at No. 34 on the Points List. The Kentucky native looked at a leaderboard on the 12th tee Sunday and saw he was projected No. 31. Rather than shy away from the moment, he took it as an opportunity, a downstream effect of recent mental-game work with University of Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione. Teater has carried a “Good Chain” recently, which must be earned daily through a positive frame of mind. He played the last seven holes Sunday in even par, including a 15-footer to save par at No. 17, to finish solo fifth for the tournament and finish No. 26 on the season-long Points List. The Good Chain was earned, and he’s headed back to the PGA TOUR.

“You get in some positions out there and you can get down real quick, and I just told myself, ‘Hey, I’m not gonna do it,’” Teater said afterward. “I haven’t been the best at that at times through my career, and sometimes it makes a huge difference, and I was enjoying whatever was going to happen. I think I looked at the board when I was teeing off at 12, and I think I saw I was 31st, and I said, ‘Good, let’s go earn it.’”

Furr is headed to the PGA TOUR for the first time, and he stamped his card with a lifetime shot at the par-4 18th hole Sunday, after missing the fairway so far left off the tee that it caught the adjacent 10th fairway. Furr and his caddie procured a number and played the approach from 209 yards, adjusted 5 yards downhill, striking a crisp long iron to the back of the green. It required a hard draw that started over the water, and he pulled it off. Hours later, he was still pumping his fist. That’s the joy of the week.

“That’s probably one of the best shots I’ve ever hit in my life,” Furr said afterward. “There’s water right, I’m starting it in the water, the wind’s down off the left. It’s a nightmare, and we did it. It’s really cool.

“It’s surreal,” he continued. “I thought about it this morning, like, ’12 years old on the range, here we are.’ … It’s cool.”

Furr’s secret weapon at Victoria National? The White Stripes’ 2001 hit song “Fell in Love with a Girl.” On the six-hour drive to southern Indiana, he played the song and realized that it struck the right tone for the week, syncing with his emotions. Anytime he’d feel a little out of sorts on the course, he sang the song and returned to equilibrium. Case in point: after three-putting the second hole Sunday for bogey, he sang as he strolled down the third fairway.

“I was feeling a little, whatever you want to call it, and just started rocking out in my brain,” Furr said. “I hit the fairway and started rocking out. So that’s what I told myself is keep rocking out, keep playing and don’t worry about it … and I hit a good shot on 3.

“You’re just rocking out, and you don’t worry about it … there are some dull moments, and that’s just a random tee shot here and there, you’re just rocking out, and that’s what I felt like we were trying to do the best of … and dang it, we did it.”

Furr’s emotion was palpable, and for good reason, as he stamped his first TOUR card after an emotional season that included a heartbreaking missed cut by two strokes at the LECOM Suncoast Classic – he was assessed a two-stroke penalty for taking an unauthorized shuttle ride during the second round. Having made just three cuts in eight starts at that point, his best finish being a T54, he was at risk of losing starts upon the next reshuffle.

At the following week’s HomeTown Lenders Championship, with his back against the wall, Furr finished T7 to cement a spot at the AdventHealth Championship, where he placed T2. Suddenly he didn’t need to worry about the reshuffle and he could take aim at a TOUR card. He arrived at the season finale at No. 32 on the Points List, his bubble scenario as pressure-packed as it gets. He carded four rounds of par or better at Victoria National, finishing T6 to move to No. 24 on the Points List and earn his first TOUR card with one stroke to spare.

Furr needed bogey or better at the 72nd hole to cement his TOUR card; he took a risk at a critical moment and delivered.

Thank you, The White Stripes.

“The first round, it was raining and I was so wet and I was so miserable, but I was just singing,” Furr said afterward. “I was like, ‘This seems sick; if this band was playing in the background in the rain, it would be cool’ … and that’s what I just kept doing. I struggled staying present, but that’s my way to do it, is just singing.”

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For those who entered the week inside the top 30, but close to the bubble, the tension could be cut with a knife. New Jersey native Ryan McCormick, who entered the week No. 22 on the Points List – in a good spot, but not secure – described Sunday at Victoria National as “the most terrifying round of my life.”

After beginning on No. 10 tee, McCormick arrived at the par-4 18th hole – with water flanking the entire right side of the hole – and backed off his tee shot as a flock of birds flew across the sky. In that split second, he thought back to an appearance at Second Stage of DP World Tour Q-School, nearly a decade ago, when a shot deflected off a flock of birds and fell into the water. That week, he said, he fell one stroke short of advancing.

“That was a moment,” McCormick said afterward, “where I was like, ‘Not today, man.’”

He hit a good tee shot and even though he chunked his approach into the water, leading to a double bogey, it was enough to ultimately cement his first TOUR card. McCormick, 31, finished T41 for the week and ultimately No. 27 on the Points List.

“So many years of hard work, so many people that have helped me, so many things that have gone my way,” McCormick said afterward. “A lot of luck … after a couple years of coming up just short at the end of the year, this is so worth it. To celebrate with my family and friends that are here today, and the people back in New Jersey and all over who have been watching on the app all year, it’s just so awesome. So relieved.

“One of the best days of my life.”

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Others weren’t as fortunate on Victoria National’s finishing gauntlet. Matt McCarty arrived at the par-4 18th hole Saturday in a share of the lead, but he found the water twice en route to a quadruple-bogey 8. The Santa Clara alum couldn’t fully recover, closing in 1-over 73 for a T14 showing. McCarty began the week at No. 37 on the Points List and finished at No. 35. He ultimately finished three strokes shy of a TOUR card.

Mason Andersen opened the week in 8-under 64 and followed with a 71 to hold a share of the 36-hole lead alongside Ben Kohles, the 33-year-old veteran who ultimately finished atop the season-long points list to earn fully exempt PGA TOUR status in 2024. Andersen arrived at the par-4 14th hole Saturday with a two-shot lead, but he was derailed by a triple-bogey 7 on the hole. He ended the day in fourth place and followed with a closing 1-over 73 for a T10 finish. He moved from No. 42 to No. 36 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, ultimately four strokes shy of a TOUR card.

Tuten’s anguish, though, was unparalleled. The 31-year-old Georgia native has seen a steady progression in his golf career, which was kick-started as a high school senior after he contracted the swine flu and was sidelined for the basketball season (he was an accomplished point guard and had intended to play college basketball).

Tuten turned pro in 2015 and first earned Korn Ferry Tour status via the 2019 PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, finishing No. 69 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List as a rookie in 2020-21. He progressed to No. 59 on the 2022 Points List, keeping full status, and he looked poised to take the next step in 2023. Propelled by three top-four finishes in his first five starts of the season, he held a spot inside the top 30 for the season’s entirety leading into the finale. He arrived at Victoria National at No. 29 on the Points List, and he was projected No. 30 after completing Sunday’s final round.

The two-stroke penalty, though, kept him from earning his first TOUR card. It was justifiably heartbreaking, with the emotion compounded by the recent illness of his young son Mikey – who spent time in the hospital over the weekend. (Mikey has since recovered and is feeling better, Tuten shared Tuesday in a video released on social media.)

In the video, Tuten reflected on the near-miss at Victoria National and expressed appreciation for those who reached out in support. The small solace (if there is one): for the first time since 2012, there will be PGA TOUR cards available at Q-School this fall. The top five finishers (and ties) at Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry will earn 2024 PGA TOUR membership, and Tuten has earned direct access to Final Stage as a top-60 finisher on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List.

Safe to say, he’ll be a sentimental favorite at Final Stage in December.

“Golf has been my life ever since I started playing professionally in 2016, and there’s nothing I’d rather be doing,” Tuten said. “I intend on competing for a very long time, because I love the game. I also want to say that everything I did during the Korn Ferry Tour Championship was the right thing to do in my eyes. I played some incredible golf, and I’m extremely happy with the way I performed under the most intense pressure of my professional career.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. It is what it is; we’re going to grow from it and be a better player in the end. Looking forward to my next step, which is Q-School in December, and trying to earn a PGA TOUR card that way.”

The cruel reality of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship – for the 30 players who celebrated on the 18th green Sunday afternoon in southern Indiana, there were 41 others who left empty-handed. They’ll rack their brains this fall for that one shot or moment that could have been the difference in a season-long points competition.

The silver lining, though, of this game? The next opportunity will be here soon enough.