Korn Ferry Tour Finals update: See who kept full status Sunday at Nationwide Children's

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Dan McCarthy described it as conquering demons. Jacob Solomon was nearly in tears as he assessed the significance. Cole Hammer projected a sense that he had turned a corner.

Sunday in central Ohio presented a seminal touchpoint in professional golf. The top 75 on the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-long standings after the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, the third leg of the four-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals, secured fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour status for 2025 and qualified for the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, after which 30 PGA TOUR cards will be awarded.

Players outside the top 75 might never play a full Korn Ferry Tour season again, forced to try their hand at the crapshoot of Q-School to regain starts. Players inside the top 75 have a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream early next month in southern Indiana. The tension was palpable Sunday at the Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course, with any one shot potentially serving as a swing between keeping and losing a job.

In professional golf’s ultimate performance review, the aforementioned three players – McCarthy, Solomon and Hammer – each jumped inside the top 75 at the Nationwide. They were three of five players to achieve that feat in golf’s ultimate pressure cooker, keeping their season alive in nail-biting, gut-wrenching fashion.

For several players inside the number into the week, but too close for comfort, the final round meant just hanging on. Jack Maguire and Cooper Dossey, projected Nos. 75 and 76 respectively into Sunday, were paired together in what amounted to an 18-hole playoff for a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Maguire shot 3-under 68 to Dossey’s 72, and although Maguire left the Scarlet Course with an uncertain fate regarding his top-75 position, it was ultimately enough to qualify for his first Korn Ferry Tour Championship since 2016. Before embarking on a nearly 9-hour drive back to his home in Birmingham, Alabama, where his 4-month-old pup Murphy eagerly awaited, Maguire reflected on the last time he played a tournament with full status guaranteed for the following year – the 2016 WinCo Foods Portland Open, then the Korn Ferry Tour’s Regular Season finale, where he nearly won (finishing T4) and nearly earned a TOUR card. Eight years later, he’s excited to channel those vibes at the season finale in two weeks’ time.

Maguire advanced at No. 74 on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List, with Dossey the first man out at No. 76. Florida State alum Hank Lebioda – who admitted to a restless Saturday night, practicing putting in his hotel room after the Seminoles’ football victory over Cal – hung onto No. 75 for the final spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Dossey, who finished the week T67 at 3 over, ended up two strokes shy of the season finale.

It’s a razor-thin margin across the season, and these strokes can be shaved anywhere – not only at the final event before the top-75 cutoff. The players realize it, but that doesn’t make it any easier. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship hits different because of its finality.

Here’s a look at the players who moved inside and outside the top 75 this week in central Ohio.

Moving in

Cole Hammer (moved from No. 79 to No. 66). The University of Texas alum embraced the nerves throughout the week at the Scarlet Course, and he delivered with a T13 finish to jump 13 spots on the season-long standings and qualify for his first Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Hammer capped off his final-round, 2-under 69 with an 11-foot birdie at the par-4 18th, followed by a hearty fist pump. The Houston native rarely fist-pumps, he laughed afterward, but the reaction met the moment. After missing the first two cuts of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, Hammer came up clutch when it mattered most and kept his card for 2025 – and now he’ll have a chance for a TOUR card at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

Dan McCarthy (moved from No. 87 to No. 68). The upstate New York native admittedly hadn’t felt this type of pressure in a while, and he rose to the occasion with a final-round 69 at the Scarlet Course for a T7 finish, ascending 21 spots on the Points List to keep his season alive. Had he stayed outside the top 85 after the Nationwide, he would have needed to return to Q-School’s First Stage – now he’ll begin Q-School at Second Stage at minimum, with a chance at a TOUR card, and he’s fully exempt at minimum on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour. McCarthy, 39, joked afterward that he was getting too old for this type of pressure, but based on how he handled the Columbus cauldron, his game has remained quite youthful.

Jacob Solomon (moved from No. 78 to No. 69). The Auburn alum stuffed a wedge for birdie at the par-4 18th Sunday, punctuating a 5-under 66 that led to a T17 finish and a spot inside the top 75, and the soft-spoken California native allowed himself to appreciate the moment’s significance. It had been a tough summer on the course, including a skid of five straight missed cuts into the Nationwide, but he turned the tides just in time – making the cut by one stroke at the Scarlet Course and finishing strong with weekend rounds of 70-66. After finishing No. 66 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List as a rookie in 2023, he has kept full status once again.

Davis Shore (moved from No. 81 to No. 71). The University of Alabama alum is no stranger to adversity in this world – he was sidelined for the large part of two-and-a-half college seasons, from the spring of sophomore year through his senior year, due to injuries that included a torn hip labrum, which required surgery, and a serious fracture in his L3 vertebrae. He’s tough, and he proved it at the Nationwide, where the Tennessee native finished T17 to keep his season alive. Shore, 26, spent the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons across PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamerica before earning his first Korn Ferry Tour card for 2024, and he proved across the season that he belongs.

Rick Lamb (moved from No. 84 to No. 73). The mustache-rocking University of Tennessee alum delivered a clutch performance Sunday with a 4-under 67 that moved him up 10 spots on the leaderboard, into a tie for 13th at the Scarlet Course, and crucially lifted him 11 spots on the Points List to earn a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Lamb has previously held TOUR membership (in 2017 and 2018) and has long held a belief that he has the game to compete against the world’s best. His sterling Sunday in central Ohio validated that belief, and now he’ll have a full Korn Ferry Tour season (at minimum) in 2025, on the strength of five straight top-30s to vault from No. 129 to No. 73 on the Points List.

Moving out

Cooper Dossey (moved from No. 71 to No. 76). It was a heartbreak hotel for Dossey in Sunday’s final round at the Scarlet Course, where the Baylor alum closed in 1-over 72 – with six bogeys, including one at the par-3 17th – to finish two strokes shy of what he needed to hold his spot inside the top 75. Dossey finished the week T67 at 3 over.

Matthew Riedel (moved from No. 72 to No. 77). The recent Vanderbilt graduate qualified to compete on the Korn Ferry Tour this summer via PGA TOUR University, and he nearly qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in just 13 starts. The silver lining is that he’ll have direct access to Q-School’s Final Stage via his No. 4 position on PGA TOUR University.

Shad Tuten (moved from No. 73 to No. 78). The Nationwide marked Tuten’s 13th Korn Ferry Tour start of the season, finishing T44. He will be exempt to PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry's Final Stage, since he didn't compete at Q-School last year due to injury (he would have been exempt to Final Stage due to finishing No. 32 on the season-long standings).

Fabian Gomez (moved from No. 74 to No. 79). The two-time TOUR winner, 45, closed in 2-under 69 for a T35 finish at the Nationwide, but it wasn’t enough to hold his place in the top 75.

Ryan Blaum (moved from No. 75 to No. 80). The Duke alum, 40, missed the cut by two strokes at the Nationwide and ultimately fell outside the line for a spot at the season finale.

The top 30 players on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List after the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance will earn 2025 PGA TOUR membership. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship marked the penultimate event of the season; the top 75 on the Points List after the Nationwide have qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour Championship and have secured fully exempt status on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour.

Nos. 76-100 on the Points List after the Nationwide will retain conditional status on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour, with the chance to improve their position at PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry.

Here’s a look at who’s projected to move inside/outside the top 30 after the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.

Moving in

Noah Goodwin (moved from No. 31 to No. 26).The Southern Methodist alum produced four strong rounds at the Scarlet Course, going 66-67-71-71 for a T7 finish in his first event after he and his dad/caddie Jeff “mutually fired each other.” Jeff Goodwin was still in attendance for mental support, and it was a win-win situation, as the younger Goodwin is now on the verge of his first PGA TOUR card into the season finale at French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course.

Moving out

Trent Phillips (moved from No. 30 to No. 31). The University of Georgia alum was the only player to fall outside the top 30 in central Ohio. Phillips missed the cut at the Nationwide with rounds of 74-71, two strokes outside the number, and he was surpassed by Goodwin on the Points List into the season’s final event.