Kristoffer Ventura on cusp of PGA TOUR card after slow start to season

It’s pretty much a guarantee that the end of 2019 is going to be much better than the end of 2018 for Kristoffer Ventura.

In November Ventura had major surgery after a bought of appendicitis. He wasn’t able to swing at 100 percent but gave it a try at Final Stage of last year’s Korn Ferry Tour Q-School none-the-less. He finished near the bottom of the pack and came into 2019 with minimal status. He didn’t get into a tournament until April, and he missed the cut.

Fast forward from November to now, late summer. Ventura is on the cusp of earning a PGA TOUR card after winning twice this season in a span of four weeks. The Oklahoma State product has had the weirdest of seasons – he’s only played seven times – but boy, has he taken advantage of his opportunities.

“It’s been not bad,” Ventura says with a laugh about his last 10 months or so.

At the beginning of the Korn Ferry Tour season, Ventura – a celebrated collegiate star at Oklahoma State – was just trying to Monday Qualify into events. He played two PGA TOUR tournaments early in the year, which, he says, were a lot of fun. But to go from that stage to trying to Monday Qualify again was tough.

“Just seeing what the PGA TOUR guys get to do week-in and week-out and then going back to Monday (Qualifiers), things just seemed really far away at the time,” he says.

He received a sponsor’s invite to the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation and it was then that his whole season, and, his life, got turned around – in the best of ways.

The event was shortened to 54 holes and Ventura finished tied for third. He was now able to pick a schedule for the rest of the year.

“I knew that might be my only opportunity (on the Korn Ferry Tour) so I took advantage of it,” he says. “It was a huge turning point this year for sure. If I didn’t play good that week, like if I had missed the cut or finished tied for 30th … I’d be back to trying Monday Qualifiers for the rest of the year.”

Ventura says he was free rolling after that result. He started the year with the goal of just trying to have status for 2020, and then it changed quickly. He wanted to finish in the top 75. Then the last seven weeks it’s changed again to trying to get a PGA TOUR card.

Mission accomplished.

“After BMW, to be able to set a schedule and deal with the pressure of that … after that I was playing with house money,” he says. “I was just happy to have a schedule and have a chance to chase that PGA TOUR card.

“Everyone was just talking to me about points and PGA TOUR cards and to put that aside when it matters the most … I’m the most proud and impressed with that.”

Ventura won the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank and then won again at the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Chevrolet. He admits the second win was more surprising than the first because he felt like, that week in Omaha, he didn’t have his best golf.

“I was surprised,” he says. “It obviously wasn’t easy but for how my game was that week … to win by two shots that was the most impressive.”

Funny enough, Ventura says his big motivation to play well that week in Omaha wasn’t necessarily to win, but to earn some well-deserved time off. His incentive going into the week was to be able some summer downtime before a busy stretch through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and the start of the PGA TOUR’s 2019-2020 schedule.

“I’d been playing for a while, it could have been up to 11 weeks in a row. My motivation was to be able to take some time off and get close to that PGA TOUR card. Winning took care of it,” he says with a laugh as he prepares to be back in action next week in Portland.

Ventura isn’t one to shy away from a long time away from home, however. In fact, his two homes couldn’t be further apart to begin with.

Born in to a Mexican father and a Norwegian mother, Ventura spent the first 12 years of his life in Mexico, playing golf and soccer. He then spent five years in Norway, playing golf and slightly embarrassed to take up skiing (“In Norway they all ski when they walk. It was pretty embarrassing to be a beginner at 13-14,” he says, chuckling) before heading to the U.S. for college – where he’s been for the last five-and-a-half years.

He’s got the flags of both Mexico and Norway on his bag and his mixed identity is something he’s most proud of.

“I know I can’t represent both, but I don’t want to hid the fact that I’m half Mexican and half Norwegian,” he says. “Honestly with all the travel I’ve done, to be able to meet some of the South American players or Mexican players, every time I’m with them or talk to them, I’m Mexican. Whenever I talk to Norwegian players or even Swedish players, I’m Scandinavian. I’m both.”

Although he spent his youth in Mexico, it was an event in Europe that made him truly realize that golf was going to be the path he’d take for his professional career.

He played a junior Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, and was in a practice round behind some of the biggest stars of European golf. Playing in front of nearly 30,000 people made him realize how cool being a professional golfer would be, and how all his hard work and sacrifice was going to be worth it one day.

That ‘one-day,’ after his second win of 2019, is coming sooner rather than later. He says he still feels like he’s playing with house money right now because to be able to play golf for a living, the thing he enjoys the most, is already a big win. Not many people can do that, he says, and the wins were bonuses.

There is still some golf left to be played in 2019, however, and Ventura knows what could come out on the other side if he keeps winning at the same clip that he’s been on so far this year.

A lot has changed in the past year for Ventura – but all for the better.

“I’ve only played seven events and I’ve won two of them,” he says. “Now I’ve got four events in a row coming up … so I like my chances.”