Korn Ferry Tour Finals update: See how top-30 bubble for TOUR cards unfolded Sunday

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Alistair Docherty had a vision at the Korn Ferry Tour season finale: a putt on the 72nd hole for a PGA TOUR card. It wasn’t his putt, but the final two players to hole out Sunday at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance had those putts for him. If either Brian Campbell or Doc Redman made a mid-range putt at the par-5 18th hole, Docherty would be #TOURBound.

Cruelly in a way, Docherty’s dream felt so real but so clearly out of his hands.

The final day of the Korn Ferry Tour season never lacks for drama, but the stakes were particularly heightened on a windy Sunday at mountainous French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course in southern Indiana, after which the top 30 on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List earned 2025 PGA TOUR membership. It was a first-time Korn Ferry Tour Championship host venue that delivered in memorable fashion.

Braden Thornberry won the tournament proper, carding a final-round 66 – which he called the best round of his life under the circumstances, by far – to finish at 9-under total, rallying from a six-stroke deficit into Sunday for a one-stroke victory. Thornberry finished six groups ahead of the final threesome and watched as nobody could match his 9-under total, while two players who were projected to move inside the top 30 for most of the weekend – Zach Bauchou and Doc Redman – faltered down the stretch and failed to earn their cards.

That set the stage for one last scenario on a day that featured dozens of potential combinations for the final cards. Docherty, who had posted an 8-under total from four groups ahead of the final threesome, needed a two-way tie for second to move inside the top 30. If he finished in a three-way T2 or worse, the final spot would go to Noah Goodwin, who entered the week at No. 26 on the season-long standings but had been passed by Thornberry, Kaito Onishi, Trevor Cone and Aldrich Potgieter via their finishes this week. That meant he had surrendered his margin for error.

Playing in Sunday’s final grouping, Brian Campbell reached the final hole at 8 under (tied with Docherty), with Campbell’s playing partner Doc Redman at 7 under. (Redman needed to win the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to earn a TOUR card; he led with four holes to play but made a double bogey at No. 15 and a bogey at No. 17, thereby needing an eagle at the par-5 18th to enter a playoff with Thornberry). Campbell laid up in two at No. 18 and wedged to 55 feet, then raced his birdie putt (to force a playoff) 5 feet past the hole.

Redman had a 77-foot eagle chip, which he needed to hole for a playoff, that he raced 10 feet past the hole.

As the final group played the final hole, Docherty stood in a two-way T2 with Campbell, with Redman a shot further back. As the final group reached the green, the scenario was defined: If Campbell made his par (to finish at 8 under) and Redman made his birdie (to finish at 8 under), Docherty would finish in a three-way T2 and fail to surpass Goodwin for the final card. If one player missed, Docherty would finish in a two-way T2 and earn the card.

Redman’s birdie putt was center-cut, Campbell’s par putt was center-cut, and the 24-year-old Goodwin is headed to the PGA TOUR for the first time.

Afterward, Goodwin still appeared a bit shell-shocked by the afternoon’s events. He admitted that he didn’t have high hopes for his #TOURBound chances after completing the final round, despite a gritty 12-foot birdie on his final hole of the season, the par-4 ninth hole Sunday. He was proud of giving it his all, battling back from a 4-over start through seven holes Sunday to shoot 3 under on his final nine for a 1-over 73. He shared 44th place in the 74-player field, and as it turned out, he would have held onto the final spot regardless of what he shot Sunday (he earned 11.4 points for his showing, and he finished 16 points clear of No. 31 Sam Bennett). Goodwin didn’t know that at the time, of course. He ground out an uncertain final day, on which he was projected inside and outside the top 30 at various points, and the reward was more than worth it: a shiny new PGA TOUR card.

“Every emotion under the sun right now,” Goodwin said afterward. “Grateful for everybody I’ve got around me. It’s been a wild year. It’s just been a wild journey ever since I decided I wanted to play this game for a living. Just really proud.”

Among the first to congratulate Goodwin was his fellow SMU alum Harry Higgs, who sees Goodwin frequently back home in Dallas and is impressed by his commitment and unwavering work ethic. Higgs, who won back-to-back Korn Ferry Tour events in playoffs earlier this year, was among the 29 players to earn TOUR cards Sunday afternoon amidst the serene Indiana backdrop. (Season-long No. 1 Matt McCarty earned a Three-Victory Promotion to the PGA TOUR earlier this year, receiving his card after his third win at the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron, and competed on TOUR at this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship, where he finished T63.

Ultimately, Thornberry was the only player to move inside the top 30 at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship, needing a solo-second finish or better to become #TOURBound and delivering a signature performance on the day he needed it most. Bennett was the odd man out, falling from No. 30 to No. 31 on the season-long standings after a T65 finish at French Lick. Bennett closed in 6-over 78 for a 10-over total – as it turns out, he would’ve needed to shoot 3-under 69 in the final round to gain the points needed to surpass Goodwin. The Texas A&M alum made a double bogey on the par-5 14th hole Sunday, his fifth of the day, a harbinger of the day ahead.

The twists and turns never cease to amaze at the Korn Ferry Tour season finale. South Africa native Aldrich Potgieter, 20, became the second youngest player to earn a PGA TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour (behind Jason Day in 2007) after a nervy final day where he was also projected inside and outside the top 30 at various junctures. There was a scenario at one point where it looked like Goodwin and Potgieter would be battling for the final card, as they started the week separated by a single point on the season-long standings (Goodwin had the edge into the week and would have finished ahead on the Points List if they tied at French Lick). Potgieter got up-and-down from the greenside bunker for par on his final hole Sunday, the par-4 ninth, to post a 3-over total for the week, one stroke clear of Goodwin. At the time, it looked like it may have been an all-world sand save for a card. Had Campbell and Redman not buried their mid-range putts on the season’s final hole, it would have been. It turned out, that Potgieter and Goodwin are both #TOURBound after all.

As this year’s Korn Ferry Tour graduates threw their hats in the air Sunday afternoon, with family and friends documenting the moment amidst a steady stream of well-deserved libations, the dust had settled on one of the most volatile bubbles in recent memory. A picture is worth a thousand words, and Goodwin’s face said it all – but he added some words for good measure.

“There are a lot of guys out here that deserve to be at the next level,” he said. “This year, it fell my way. So just grateful for the opportunity next year.”

He spoke for the entire Korn Ferry Tour Class of 2024.