After TOUR promotion, Matt McCarty returns to Korn Ferry Tour to preserve No. 1 spot

Matt McCarty walked out of scoring at the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron to collect his hardware – made from a variety of materials, depending on the prize.

A trophy, of course, as the champion of the tournament. A metal PGA TOUR card – provided by Seamus Golf in Portland, Oregon. And a firetruck-red plastic PGA TOUR credential. It was a big Sunday, as McCarty earned a Three-Victory Promotion on the Korn Ferry Tour, the first completed in a single year since 2016.

But the triumph left him twisted. Would he take advantage of the instant jump to the PGA TOUR? Or would he stay on the Korn Ferry Tour and see through the 2024 campaign as he initially had planned at the start of the year?

Despite McCarty’s rapid rise – his trophy trio came in a matter of just six events on the Korn Ferry Tour’s summertime schedule – the No. 1 spot on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List was too big of a reward to (potentially) leave behind.

The top finisher on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour standings will earn fully exempt status on the 2025 PGA TOUR and qualify for THE PLAYERS Championship and the U.S. Open at Oakmont. McCarty currently stands 687 points ahead of No. 2 Max McGreevy; a Korn Ferry Tour Finals victory is worth 600 points, meaning McGreevy would need a win and more to supplant McCarty.

Given his Three-Victory Promotion, McCarty will have the opportunity to tee it up in a handful of FedExCup Fall events – after the Korn Ferry Tour schedule is complete.

So, the decision was made. He’s here to stay.

“I was bouncing back and forth the last couple weeks if I wanted to play the PGA TOUR,” McCarty admitted Tuesday on “Golf Today” from the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation. “But with how important that No. 1 spot is, I wanted to finish this year strong and get a few (TOUR) starts and get my feet wet so then it’s an easier transition.

“It all happened so fast for me.”

That part is absolutely accurate, as McCarty has made a significant jump in the standings between only the Fourth of July and Labor Day. McCarty finished 35th on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List last year. Close, of course, but that counts for little in terms of a promotion at work.

Instead, McCarty got back to work, and he’s seen improvements across the board in key parts of his game.

McCarty has jumped from No. 50 to No. 29 in Total Driving year-over-year, leapt to No. 38 in Greens in Regulation, and sits fourth on the Korn Ferry Tour in Putting Average.

Combine his tee-to-green effort with a winning attitude, and you’ve got a season like this.

“I think last year was a little bit more of like a dream for me throughout the year,” McCarty said after his third win of the season. “This year I kind of had a little bit more of an expectation. I think after being close (to a PGA TOUR card) last year, that really pushed me this offseason, early this year and throughout this summer honestly.

“It's just been a lot of grinding and a lot of hard work, but it's nice to pay off, for sure. Kind of just the start of hopefully a lot of good things to come.”

McCarty, who recently appeared on Ping’s “Proving Grounds” podcast, said although the last few weeks on the Korn Ferry Tour have felt like a blur, things have – alongside caddie Devrath Das, a college teammate at Santa Clara University – been bordering on dream-come-true.

It’s not easy winning once on the Korn Ferry Tour, of course, let alone three times. It’s only happened 12 times prior in the Tour’s 34-year history. But McCarty said on the popular podcast that a lot of the things he’s been working on the last three years have led to this point.

“The journey has all been going towards this point (and) it wasn’t one or two weeks, it was six or seven weeks all in a row,” McCarty said, “and that’s been really cool.”

With just a few weeks left in the Korn Ferry Tour season, McCarty has been clear about his next goal. It’s a big one, of course, with big rewards. When it comes time to tee it up on the PGA TOUR, he said he’s already excited about the potential to play the WM Phoenix Open – having grown up in Scottsdale – and all of the west-coast events.

“I’ve been (on the Korn Ferry Tour) for three years, so I’m eager and excited to get out there (on the PGA TOUR) and play,” McCarty said.

The TOUR card is pocketed. The credential is hung. There’s still work to do, but a lot of work has led to this very special moment – with material rewards for everything.