Alejandro Tosti wins Pinnacle Bank to clinch PGA TOUR card

OMAHA, Nebraska – Alejandro Tosti not only earned his first Korn Ferry Tour victory Sunday, the 27-year-old rookie from Rosario, Argentina also secured his first PGA TOUR card by virtue of his three-stroke win at the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna. Tosti became the fifth player declared #TOURBound, meaning he is assured of a place in the top 30 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List at season’s end, thus earning PGA TOUR membership for 2024.

With the threat of afternoon storms looming, final-round tee times were moved up. The rain held off, but the wind whipped throughout the day and Tosti navigated the conditions better than anyone in the field. Tosti carded a bogey-free 9-under 62, which tied the 18-hole tournament course record at The Club at Indian Creek and was four strokes lower than the next-best score posted Sunday.

“I still think I’m dreaming,” Tosti said. “It’s been an amazing day. When I saw it was blowing a little harder this morning, I was very happy because I love playing in the wind, and it showed today. I had a great start and finished up even better.

“The best golf in the world is played in the United States,” Tosti continued. “I had a couple chances to play on the PGA TOUR this year and I did good, but in Colorado I was leading going into the last round and I wasn’t able to close it out. It was not the time a couple weeks ago. But it all fell in place. It was a matter of time.”

Tosti birdied three of the first four holes Sunday (the par-4 second was the exception), followed by two more birdies at the par-5 seventh and par-3 eighth. After Tosti turned at 5-under par for the day and moved into contention, he all but ran away with the win after a hole-out eagle at the par-4 14th and two-putt birdie at the par-5 15th.

“The previous two holes, I had good looks for birdie and I was kind of starting to lose my patience, knowing if you don’t keep going, probably won’t be enough,” Tosti said. “It was a great time to have a nice break.”

A birdie at the par-3 17th and closing par made Tosti the fifth player to post a round of 62 or better at The Club at Indian Creek, joining Sam Ryder (2017), Ben Taylor (2022), Carl Yuan (2022), and Sam Stevens (2022). Only Tosti and Ryder won the tournament as well.

Additionally, Tosti’s 72-hole total of 19-under 265 marked the second-lowest winning score in tournament history, only trailing Ryder’s 21-under 263 from 2017.

The win was Tosti’s Tour-leading ninth top-10 of the season. There were only four players all of last season who recorded nine-plus top-10s, led by Justin Suh, who notched 10 top-10s en route to finish No. 1 on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Points List. Tosti also earned a top-10 on the PGA TOUR earlier this season, as he finished T10 at the Mexico Open at Vidanta – which he earned an exemption for by virtue of earning the most points across the three Korn Ferry Tour events played in Latin America earlier this year.

Tosti turned professional in 2018 after four seasons at University of Florida, where he won four times individually, including medalist honors at the 2017 Southeastern Conference Championship, and garnered a 2017 All-America First Team honor.

Perhaps Tosti’s most notable finish as an amateur came at the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy, as he and Australia’s Lucas Herbert and France’s Victor Perez finished T2 behind individual medalist Jon Rahm.

As a professional, Tosti played primarily on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica following his four seasons at Florida. Tosti won twice in 41 career starts on the circuit, with the second win coming last season en route to a No. 5 finish in the 2021-22 Totalplay Cup for Korn Ferry Tour membership this season.

And as it turns out, Tosti’s first Korn Ferry Tour season may very well be his last.

“The PGA TOUR for us is super far. It’s something that’s just a dream,” Tosti said of growing up in Argentina. “When I told my father at nine years old, it was just something really wild. But every step that I took from that moment on was towards my goal to get to the PGA TOUR, and it’s pretty amazing to achieve something that you dream and worked so hard for all your life

“You’re burned so many times, you sacrificed so many things, and to see it pay off is really special.”

Notes

Alejandro Tosti (1st/-19) joined Jorge Fernández Valdés as the second Argentinian to win on the Korn Ferry Tour this season

Tosti led the field with 26 total birdies (25 birdies, one eagle)

Outright 54-hole leader John VanDerLaan (T2/-16) records a career-high finish and rises from No. 44 to No. 28 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List; his previous career-high finish was T4/2021 Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS

Max Greyserman (T2/-16) posts his second runner-up finish in his last four starts (2nd/The Ascendant presented by Blue); his career-high finish in 82 career starts prior to his first runner-up finish was T4/2021 Visit Knoxville Open

Jacob Bridgeman (4th/-14) birdies three of his final four holes to card 1-under 70 and rise from a five-way T9 to solo-fourth, a difference of 34 points on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List; he rose from No. 29 to No. 17 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List with this week’s finish

Bridgeman also records a career-high finish in his 27th career start on Tour

Rookie Parker Coody (T5/-13) records third top-10 in his last four starts, as well as his fifth top-10 of the 2023 season – all of which have been top-five finishes; he stood No. 171 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List prior to his first top-10 (T5/AdventHealth Championship) and now stands No. 19

Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner David Kocher (T5/-13) cards bogey-free 4-under 67, one of four bogey-free rounds Sunday, en route to his first top-10 since winning the 2022 Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper last July

Zach Bauchou (T5/-13), who does not hold membership on a PGA TOUR-sanctioned circuit and played predominantly in Asia and on United States-based mini-tours since turning professional out of Oklahoma State University in 2019, posts a second consecutive top-25 (T20/Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank as a sponsor exemption) and records his second top-10 in four starts this year (T4/Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open Benefitting KU Wichita Pediatrics as a sponsor exemption)

Three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Nicholas Lindheim (T10/-12), who won his last Korn Ferry Tour start a month ago at The Ascendant presented by Blue, logs his fifth top-10 in his sixth start on Tour this year

Open qualifier and conditional member Chris Naegel (T16/-10) snaps streak of 10 consecutve missed cuts with his first top-25 since May 2021 (T24/2021 NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank), earns a spot in next week’s Magnit Championship and moves from No. 205 to No. 165 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List (top 156 following next week’s Magnit Championship gain entry to Korn Ferry Tour Finals)

Naegel also records highest finish on the Korn Ferry Tour since August 2019 (4th/2019 WinCo Foods Portland Open)