John Pak earns first Korn Ferry Tour title at Compliance Solutions Championship

John Pak’s path hasn’t been linear, but that’s OK. He’s better for it.

Pak earned his first Korn Ferry Tour title Sunday at the Compliance Solutions Championship, carding 23-under 265 at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club for a three-stroke victory over hard-charging Jackson Suber.

Pak, 25, built a seven-stroke lead through 54 holes in Oklahoma, and he cruised home with a final-round, 2-under 70. Suber pulled within two strokes after a final-round 63, playing from nine pairings ahead, but Pak drained a pivotal 9-foot par at the tricky par-4 16th to keep his closest pursuer at arm’s length. Pak made a 7-foot birdie at the par-5 17th to push the margin to three strokes, and a comfortable two-putt par at the short par-4 18th allowed him to fully embrace the winning moment.

“It feels amazing,” said Pak, who moves from No. 51 to No. 9 on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List. “I don’t really have words to describe it. I worked really hard for this and it's nice to see the results are finally paying off … I want to have a long career in this game, and this is just one of the steps to it.”

The top 30 on the season-long standings, finalized after the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance in October, will earn 2025 PGA TOUR membership. Pak is now positioned to earn his first TOUR card at season’s end, a testament to his resilience when things got tough.

In 2021, Pak finished atop the inaugural PGA TOUR University Ranking to earn automatic Korn Ferry Tour membership. Rather than competing on the Korn Ferry Tour that summer to pursue a TOUR card, though, he competed in six TOUR events on sponsor exemptions; the goal was earning enough non-member FedExCup points to secure a card. The plan didn’t pan out, as he missed five cuts and finished 39th at the Barracuda Championship. Pak played a full Korn Ferry Tour slate in 2022 but notched just one top-25 showing, losing status at No. 145 on the Points List.

“I've definitely doubted myself when I first turned pro and I really struggled,” Pak said. “A year-and-a-half ago, I had no status anywhere, but I have a lot of people that love me and support me, and I couldn't do it without them.”

Pak had envisioned being a PGA TOUR member by 2023, but rather he was competing on PGA TOUR Canada, two rungs below the game’s highest level. It meant reshaping his definition of success and returning to the game’s inherent grind. He did just that, winning the Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open presented by Brandt and finishing No. 8 on the season-long Fortinet Cup standings. That meant a direct ticket to Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, where despite a tie for 113th he was assured some Korn Ferry Tour status for 2024. It meant low-level conditional status, though, with a direct mandate for the season: take advantage of opportunities when they come. Pak followed the blueprint at the Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club, where he Monday qualified, made the cut and fired a final-round 63 to finish tied for third.

It's hard to say one round can change someone’s life, but the final round in Savannah might hold that meaning for Pak. Not only did it infuse confidence, but it bolstered his position in subsequent reshuffles of conditional members – meaning he’d have a full slate of Korn Ferry Tour starts to test his game, compete and chase his first PGA TOUR card.

One such start: the Compliance Solutions Championship, where Pak rode a blend of talent and confidence to a signature moment, one that he’ll remember for years to come.

“I started working with a sport psychologist (Gio Valiante) about three months ago and he's really helped me kind of redefine my whole psychological point of view on the game of golf and it's helped a lot,” Pak said Sunday afternoon. “I think back then when I first started, it was really tough for me because I had some high expectations. I kind of put too much pressure on myself and I didn't have the success I wanted.

“It was really tough, but I've really kind of flipped the switch there and … the results are showing now, and I think he's helped quite a bit.”

The results prove it.

Notes

• Harry Higgs (T4/16 under), who is currently No. 2 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, became the second player to be declared #TOURBound this season, securing his return to the PGA TOUR after a T4 finish this week
  • Carded a final-round bogey-free 5-under 67; played the last 36 holes bogey-free
  • Higgs’s return to the PGA TOUR was powered by back-to-back victories at the AdeventHealth Championship and the Visit Knoxville open
• Pak’s 23-under 265 surpasses Jimmy Stanger for the low 72-hole score at the Compliance Solutions Championship
  • Stanger won the 2023 Compliance Solutions Championship with a 22-under 266
• Jackson Suber (second/20 under) posts a 29 on his back nine en route to a bogey-free 9-under 63, tying the best finish of his career with a solo second place (2023 Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS)
  • The Tampa, Florida, native records his third top-10 finish of the season in his 13th start on the Korn Ferry Tour this season
• Steven Fisk (third/17 under) moves up to No. 3 on the Points List after his Tour-leading fourth top-5 finish of the season with a final round 5-under 67
  • In 23 starts, Fisk recorded one top-10 finish all of last season (Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank)
  • Fisk earned his first career Korn Ferry Tour victory earlier this season at the Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club
• Korn Ferry Tour rookie Davis Shore (T4/16 under) records his first top-10 finish and lowest round of his Korn Ferry Tour career with a 9-under 63, making eight birdies (Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 18) and one eagle (No. 17) against one bogey (No. 16)
  • Previous best career finish was a T11 at the 2024 Astara Chile Classic presented by Scotiabank
• Paul Peterson (T4/16 under) records his second top-25 finish in a row and first top-10 of the season with a bogey-free 3-under 69 to finish T4; Peterson’s best career finish in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event
  • Previous best finish was a T6 at the 2023 Panama Championship
• Second-year member William Mouw (T8/15 under) turns in a second consecutive top-10 performance with a final round 3-under 69
  • Mouw didn’t record one top-10 finish in 12 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour last season
• With this week’s T8 finish, Trevor Cone (T8/15 under) moves back into the top 30 on the Points List (No. 30)
  • Cone turned in a 4-under 68, highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 17th
• Current BYU Cougar Cooper Jones (T16/13 under) and former Cougar Peter Kuest (T16/13 under) played their way into next week’s Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS with top-25 finishes