Five players with most at stake in Korn Ferry Tour Finals

It’s time for the penultimate event of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, with the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and – per usual – plenty of storylines reaching a fever pitch at a critical point of the season.

Critical, could, of course, mean lots of different things for different players on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Golf is the ultimate numbers game, so it should come as no surprise that at this time of year, players are checking their status on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List as closely as they’re checking their scorecards. The top 30 players on the Points List at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals earn PGA TOUR status for 2025.

While some have already locked up #TOURBound status for 2025, some are fighting for their careers – whether it’s the opportunity to take the next step, a first step, or a step everyone thought they’d already have made.

Here are five golfers with the most at stake over the balance of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

1. Max McGreevy

While Max McGreevy has already locked up a return to the PGA TOUR, the soon-to-be new dad still has a more-than-fair shot at locking up the Korn Ferry Tour’s top prize – the No. 1 spot on the Points List. Along with full status on the PGA TOUR in 2025, the top finisher on the Points List also earns a spot in THE PLAYERS Championship and the U.S. Open next year.

McGreevy sits 570 points behind Matt McCarty in the Points List. McCarty has made hay through the summertime, with three victories in a six-event stretch – earning a Three-Victory Promotion in the process. McCarty is hoping to ride that trio of titles to the No. 1 spot, but firmly in his rearview mirror sits McGreevy, who finished tied for third at last week’s Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation (on the back of a third-round 61). McGreevy can catch McCarty with a victory (wins are worth 600 points in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals).

“Playoffs are just fun. It’s elevated. There’s just more up for grabs,” McGreevy said after his win at the Magnit Championship, his second title of the season. “Going to give it everything I’ve got to take that No. 1 spot.”

2. Sam Bennett

A celebrated amateur and collegiate star while at Texas A&M, Sam Bennett has been destined for the PGA TOUR for a while – breaking out for the first time at the Masters in 2023 when he earned low amateur honors after finishing tied for 16th.

Bennett has played a full slate of Korn Ferry Tour events this season and has notched five top-10 results, highlighted by back-to-back T3s at the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper and the NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank.

He shot a final-round 64 last week at the Simmons Bank Open en route to finishing tied for 30th and will head to Ohio at No. 28 in the Points List. He’s only 40 points ahead of the No. 30 spot.

3. Aldrich Potgieter

Just ahead of Bennett on the Points List is South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter, at No. 25. Another celebrated young star – having won the The Amateur Championship at 17, the second youngest winner in the history of the championship – Potgieter broke through in a big way early in 2024. He captured The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club (the second event of the year) and in the process became the youngest winner in Tour history. Two weeks later he shot 59 at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard.

Potgieter has, however, added just two more top-10s through the balance of the year.

His commitment to constant improvement has not waned though. He was on the driving range through Saturday in Nashville last week – on his 20th birthday, no less – after a missed cut.

Now he’s got two more events to go to re-find his form from the beginning of the year and stamp his name on a PGA TOUR card for the first time.

4. Cole Hammer

It feels like Cole Hammer has been around for a very (very) long time, which is what happens when you tee it up at the U.S. Open at just 15 (at the time he was the third-youngest competitor in U.S. Open history). Now, however, Hammer is 25 and is still gunning for some solid footing in professional golf.

He heads into the final two events of the Korn Ferry Tour at No. 79 on the Points List and in need of a big finish to make a big jump. Finishing outside the top 75 will only earn him conditional membership on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2025, while Nos. 31-75 will be fully exempt.

This year was Hammer’s first full campaign on the Korn Ferry Tour and while he’s notched two top-10s, he’s certainly eager to answer the question about whether or not it’s his time to take a big step towards the PGA TOUR.

5. Morgan Hoffmann

Morgan Hoffmann’s playing for his career.

Last week at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation, Hoffmann fired a final-round 64 after three straight birdies to end his Sunday en route to finishing tied for third – his first top-10 finish at a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event since 2017. This is Hoffmann’s first full competitive season since being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in 2016.

With his finish Sunday, Hoffmann – who won three events as a freshman at Oklahoma State and became the world’s top-ranked amateur – moved from No. 136 to No. 90 on the Points List, with the top 100 after this week earning conditional status for 2025.

Hoffmann continues to show up when he needs to, having moved inside the magic cutoff number at each of the first two Korn Ferry Tour Finals events. He admitted it had taken him some time to accept this may be the end of his playing road – but Hoffmann is not done yet.