Finals update: Morgan Hoffmann extends career with tie for third at Simmons Bank Open

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – As he navigated Sunday’s final round of the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation, Morgan Hoffmann played his young daughter Rai’s voice in his head. He was playing for his career on a mostly sunny afternoon in Music City, but the inherent pressure was mitigated by her message – “This is cool” – a phrase she has recently adopted as she approaches her second birthday.

“She can’t quite say the ‘L’ yet,” Hoffmann laughed Sunday. “So it’s like, ‘This is coo.’”

Hoffmann’s week at the Simmons Bank Open was pretty coo’ as well. Hoffmann, 35, closed with three consecutive birdies at Vanderbilt Legends Club’s North Course for a final-round 64 and a tie for third at 18-under 262, his first top-10 finish in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event since February 2017. Hoffmann finished two strokes back of winner Paul Peterson – for whom he waited to congratulate in the parking lot afterward.

For Hoffmann, the significance is twofold. It’s a validation of his abilities in his first full competitive season since 2017; he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in the fall of 2016 and has spent ample time pursuing various alternative treatments, launching the Morgan Hoffmann Foundation in the process. It also radically changes his competitive fortunes, as he moves from No. 136 to No. 90 on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List with two events remaining in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. The top 100 after next week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship will retain conditional status at minimum for the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour season; the top 75 will be fully exempt on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour.

Hoffmann has moved inside the eligibility cutoff line at each of the first two Korn Ferry Tour Finals events, one of just three players to move inside the top-144 cutoff at the Finals-opening Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron, and one of two players alongside Bryson Nimmer to move inside the top-120 cutoff at the Simmons Bank Open. (Nimmer achieved the feat in Boise as well.)

Hoffmann notched just one top-25 finish in his first 17 starts of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, but he found a new gear into the Finals, starting with a tie for 24th in Boise. During the two-week break between the first two Finals events, he returned to Costa Rica (where he has adopted a residence while pursuing alternative treatments) and then spent time in South Florida, where he also resides. He admitted after Saturday’s third round in Music City that it had taken him a while to accept that this season could mark the end of his TOUR-sanctioned status timeline (he finished short of fulfilling a TOUR medical extension in 2022, and he played the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour on a category for players who had completed five prior TOUR seasons). Hoffmann has plenty of good in his world as a husband and father, and he’s motivated to make a difference in others’ lives through his Morgan Hoffmann Foundation, which strives “to empower individuals on their healing journey by providing holistic support through natural healing modalities.”

He has found peace in that possibility, but his professional golf career has further days ahead, starting at next week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at the Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio – a venue with which he has familiarity.

After a statement performance in Music City, he’s not done yet.

Big movers

Paul Peterson (No. 51 to No. 15 on Points List). With his first Korn Ferry Tour title at the Simmons Bank Open, finishing at 20-under 260 for a one-stroke victory over Matt Atkins, the Oregon State alum moved to the verge of his first PGA TOUR card. Peterson’s professional golf journey has spanned the globe – working through five passports, hundreds of thousands of airline miles, and earning victories in the Czech Republic and Myanmar, to name a couple. Now he’s two events away from receiving a PGA TOUR card and the chance to compete against the world’s best in 2025.

Matt Atkins (No. 103 to No. 44). The 33-year-old Kentucky native was staring Q-School’s First Stage directly in the face. Now he has realistic hopes of a PGA TOUR return in 2025. Atkins finished solo second at the Simmons Bank Open, carding rounds of 70-63-61-67 at Vanderbilt Legends Club’s North Course, to ascend 59 spots on the Points List and clinch fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour status for 2025 – while also moving to the precipice of a top-30 spot (finalized after the Korn Ferry Tour Championship) that would bring his first TOUR card since 2018. If he stays inside the top 60 on the Points List after the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, he’ll receive an exemption directly to Q-School’s Final Stage as well.

Bryson Nimmer (No. 128 to No. 113). After a whirlwind weekend that included his wedding the previous Friday, Nimmer finished T26 at the Simmons Bank Open to survive and advance another week. The Clemson alum had qualified to compete in Music City via a T12 at the Albertsons Boise Open, which moved him from No. 154 to No. 128 on the Points List (inside the top-144 cutoff), and he jumped into the requisite standings position (top 120 to next week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship) for the second straight week.

Nimmer also has a place to stay next week, as his good buddy Ryan Gerard texted him Sunday morning to offer an extra bed in central Ohio if he were to move inside the top 120 on the Points List after the final round. Mission accomplished, and Nimmer is happy to oblige.

#TOURBound

Frankie Capan III. With a tie for 12th at the Simmons Bank Open, the Minnesota native moved to No. 14 on the season-long standings and clinched his first PGA TOUR card for 2025. Capan, a second-year Korn Ferry Tour pro, becomes the 14th player to clinch 2025 PGA TOUR membership via the top 30 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List.