Kyle Jones leads by two at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open

Things to Know

Korn Ferry Tour winner Kyle Jones cards career-low 8-under 62 for two-stroke lead over 12 players at 6-under par

The last 18-hole leader/co-leader to win on the Korn Ferry Tour was David Lingmerth/2022 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship (15 events ago)

There are 25 players within three strokes of the lead, and 40 players within four strokes of the lead

Adrien Dumont de Chassart, who won his professional and Korn Ferry Tour debut last week following a No. 3 finish in the 2023 PGA TOUR University Ranking, opens with bogey-free 6-under 64 to stand T2; he has made four bogeys in his first five Korn Ferry Tour rounds

Coming off his first career top-10 on the Korn Ferry Tour last week, Chan Kim, an eight-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, posts bogey-free 6-under 64 to stand T2 and two strokes off the lead

Open qualifier Dodge Kemmer, who attended The Independent School in Wichita prior to his collegiate career at Stanford University, cards 6-under 64 to stand T2 in his third career Korn Ferry Tour start and first since 2011

Reigning champion Norman Xiong opens in 3-under 67 to stand T41

Second-round tee times will run from 6:55 a.m. through 2:16 p.m. local time off the first and 10th tees

First-Round Lead Notes

7: First-round leaders/co-leaders to win the Blue Cross & Blue Shield Wichita Open Benefitting KU Wichita Pediatrics (most recent: Jared Wolfe/2020)

0: First-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour in 2023 (last: David Lingmerth/2022 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship)

Kyle Jones (1st/-8)

Making 95th career start in fourth season on the Korn Ferry Tour, opens with career-low 8-under 62, topping previous career-low round of 63, which he carded five times (all in four consecutive starts in July and August 2018)

Eagles the par-5 14th and tallies seven birdies (Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12) against one bogey at the par-4 seventh

Holds third career 18-hole lead/co-lead on Tour (T1/2018 AdventHealth Championship/finished 2nd; T1/2018 Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club/finished T11)

Making fifth start at this event, with previous finishes of T39/2016, T65/2018, T26/2020, MC/2021

In 14 previous rounds at Crestview Country Club, lowest score was 4-under 66 (2016/Round 2)

Has seven missed cuts and a top-25 in 10 starts this season; he did not make a start in 2022 and returned to competition earlier this season via a medical extension at The Panama Championship

Won the 2020 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank but finished No. 68 on the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour Points List after eight missed cuts and a withdrawal in 12 starts in 2021; he sustained a shoulder injury and his final start of the 2020-21 season was the 2021 Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open (missed cut)

Recorded two runner-up finishes and another trio of top-10s en route to finishing No. 11 on the 2018 Korn Ferry Tour money list and earning his first PGA TOUR card; he finished 187th in the 2018-19 FedExCup standings as a TOUR rookie

Earned Korn Ferry Tour membership for the first time ahead of 2016 season via a T21 at Final Stage of the 2015 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament; he finished outside the top 100 on the 2016 money list and went without membership in 2017, though he regained Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2018 with a T42 at Final Stage of the 2017 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament

Turned professional out of Baylor University in 2015

Played four seasons at Baylor (2011-15), winning three individual titles and garnering All-Big 12 Conference Team selections in 2014 and 2015

Adrien Dumont de Chassart (T2/-6)

Follows a victory in his professional debut last week with a bogey-free 6-under 64 in Thursday’s first round

Cards fifth consecutive round of 67 or better and his lowest round in five career rounds (66-67-66-65 last week) · Won last week’s 2023 BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX in his professional and Korn Ferry Tour debut, becoming the 18th player in Tour history and first since Tom Lewis (2019 Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance) to win his first Korn Ferry Tour start

Won last week’s 2023 BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX in his professional and Korn Ferry Tour debut, becoming the 18th player in Tour history and first since Tom Lewis (2019 Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance) to win his first Korn Ferry Tour start

Bidding to join Ben Kohles (2012 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship; 2012 Cox Classic) as the only other player in Korn Ferry Tour history to win his first two starts on Tour

Bidding to become fifth player to win his Korn Ferry Tour debut and record top-10 in second career start on Tour

- Buddy Garner – Win/1990 Panama City Beach Classic; 2nd/1991 Panama City Beach Classic

- Bobby Gates – Win/2010 Michael Hill New Zealand Classic; 3rd/2010 Moonah Classic

- Ben Kohles – Win/2012 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship; Win/2012 Cox Classic

- Sungjae Im – Win/2018 The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay; 2nd/2018 The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club

Bidding to become 13th player in Korn Ferry Tour history to win back-to-back events, and to be first to accomplish the feat since 2021 (Cameron Young and Mito Pereira each won back-to-back events in a stretch of four consecutive events)

This week a year ago, made his major championship debut as an amateur at the 2022 U.S. Open (missed cut)

Finished No. 3 in the 2023 PGA TOUR University Ranking, earning Korn Ferry Tour membership for the remainder of the 2023 season (win last week earned him fully exempt status for remainder of 2023 and 2024 should he not earn a PGA TOUR card at season’s end)

Played five seasons at University of Illinois (2018-23), earning three consecutive Big Ten Conference Player of the Year awards (2021-23), an All-America First Team selection in 2023 after consecutive All-America Second Team honors in 2021 and 2022

Earned four collegiate victories, with the crown jewel being co-medalist honors at the 2019 Big Ten Championship

One of three players in history to win three consecutive Big Ten Player of the Year awards, joining Luke Donald of Northwestern University (1999, 2000, 2001) and Randy Leen of Indiana University (1996, 1997, 1998)

Represented Belgium at numerous international amateur events, most notably three times at the Eisenhower Trophy (2016, 2018, 2022), and four times at the European Amateur Team Championship (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022)

Quotables

Kyle Jones on the highlights of his round… “Made a lot of putts. I didn't miss any that I should have made. When you do that, kind of keeps your day going. I hit it very nice today and hit some close, made a bunker shot on 14 and add it all up together, it's pretty good.”

Jones on his last three years since winning in 2020… “It's been a little crazy. I won in 2020 and in 2021 I noticed my shoulder was acting a little funky on me, and it got to the point where it definitely was affecting my golf game. Went to the doctor and he told me I had a torn labrum and rotator cuff and all that, so I had to get surgery last year, last April, so that kind of took me out for a year and a half. Then ever since then it's just been trying to get back.

“Then also during that time I got married, and now I have a stepdaughter, and we just had another daughter four months ago, so my life at home's changed a lot. It's been an adjustment for sure, but it's been all good.”

Jones on the recovery process… “It was frustrating, for sure, just because there was so much time that was needed just to rest. A month or so is fine, but once it's three, four months where you just can't do anything, it wears on you a little bit. I was definitely itching to get back out here and now that I am, I'm trying to get myself back in the tournament mind. That's been more of an adjustment than I thought it would be. You know, just been trying to stay patient, still work at it. Thankfully, it's starting to pay off.”

Notes

Coming off his first career top-10 on the Korn Ferry Tour last week, Chan Kim (T2/-6), an eight-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, posts bogey-free 6-under 64; he stands inside the top 10 through 18 holes of a Korn Ferry Tour event for the first time in his 20th career start

Spencer Levin (T2/-6), who earned his first Korn Ferry Tour win two months ago at the Veritex Bank Championship, opens with bogey-free 6-under 64

Clay Feagler (T2/-6), a conditional member who made his first cut in nine starts this season at last week’s BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX (finished T45), ties his career-low round in PGA TOUR-sanctioned play with 6-under 64 (previously 7-under 64/2021 Fuzzy Zoeller Classic at Covered Bridge Golf Club on PGA TOUR Canada/Round 3); his previous career-low round in 31 Korn Ferry Tour starts was a pair of final-round 65s (2022 Veritex Bank Championship; 2022 Visit Knoxville Open); he was the 149th player to gain entry to this week’s 156-player field via his priority ranking number

Making his ninth career start and fourth start of the season, sponsor exemption Hayden Springer (T2/-6), ties his career-low round on the Korn Ferry Tour with a 6-under 64 (2021 Price Cutter Charity Championship/Round 4; 2022 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank/Round 1)

Open qualifier Dodge Kemmer (T2/-6), who attended The Independent School in Wichita prior to his collegiate career at Stanford University, cards 6-under 64 in his third career Korn Ferry Tour start and first since 2011 (T33/Chitimacha Louisiana Open); he has one victory on an Official World Golf Ranking-recognized tour – a 2022 win at an event co-sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour and Professional Golf Tour of India

Christian Salzer (T14/-5), the first-to-last player who gained entry to this week’s 156-player field via his priority ranking number, breaks 68 in Korn Ferry Tour competition for the first time in his seventh career start with a bogey-free 5-under 65; he has missed cuts in both of his previous starts this season

Four past champions are in the field this week and each opened in 2-under 68 or better: 2015 winner Rob Oppenheim (T41/-3), reigning champion Norman Xiong (T41/-3), 2016 winner Ollie Schiederjans (T71/-2), and 2020 winner Jared Wolfe (T71/-2)

Ross Steelman (T14/-5) and Ricky Castillo (T41/-3), who finished No. 4 and No. 9 in the 2023 PGA TOUR University Ranking, respectively, are making their professional debuts