Ryan Gerard locks up 2025 PGA TOUR card at Korn Ferry Tour Finals opener

Ryan Gerard had a taste of the PGA TOUR a season ago. He liked it so much, he earned a return trip.

Gerard finished tied for seventh at last week's Albertsons Boise Open, his 10th top-25 finish of the season, to solidify his top-30 spot on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List for a PGA TOUR card. Gerard, 25, earned his first Korn Ferry Tour title at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX in June, which vaulted him from No. 69 to No. 10 on the season-long standings, and he hasn't fallen outside the top 15 since.

The University of North Carolina alum ranks No. 13 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List with three events remaining; the top 30 after the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance will earn 2025 PGA TOUR status. Gerard cannot fall outside the top 30 and is hence #TOURBound.

"It has really just been a dream as long as I could possibly remember, to play on the PGA TOUR, and just to have that opportunity again, it's really special and it means a lot," Gerard said. "There are hundreds of really good players that aren't on the PGA TOUR, and a lot of them are on the Korn Ferry (Tour), and guys are really, really, really good at golf ... It's an achievement, because it's that hard to do, and it's really special when you get it done."

Gerard has taken a circuitous route to this point. The 2022 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate competed on PGA TOUR Canada that summer and finished No. 5 on the season-long standings to earn Korn Ferry Tour membership. After just four early-season Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2023, he Monday qualified into the TOUR's Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches and finished fourth, then placed 11th at the next week's Puerto Rico Open en route to securing TOUR Special Temporary Membership at the Valero Texas Open. Roughly nine months after completing his college education, he suddenly had a full slate of TOUR starts.

Gerard couldn't quite retain that form, notching just one further TOUR top-25 in 2023 (he made 22 starts overall), and he failed to match the top-125 on the FedExCup (after the FedExCup Fall) required to earn 2024 TOUR membership. He tied for 71st at Q-School's Final Stage and returned to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024, but he did so with a spark and determination to return to the game's highest level.

The North Carolina native remembers putting out on his final hole of the 2023 PGA TOUR season, missing the cut at The RSM Classic, and thinking to himself that he hoped it wasn't his final moment on TOUR. He can now refrain from such worries.

About Ryan Gerard

Age: 25
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Alma mater: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
PGA TOUR starts: 23
Cuts made: 12
Best PGA TOUR finish: Fourth, 2023 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches

Notes: Finished No. 20 on 2022 PGA TOUR University Ranking ... Was a college teammate of TOUR pro Ben Griffin at UNC-Chapel Hill ... His dad Robert played collegiate golf at Florida Atlantic ... First broke par at a 2006 U.S. Kids World Championship qualifier, when he didn't realize he was even playing a competitive round ... One of his family dogs is named Stevie, after Steve Stricker, one of his mom Judy's favorite golfers ... Avid fan of Carolina Panthers.