Georgia alum Davis Thompson earns first Korn Ferry Tour title at REX Hospital Open

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Chalk up another victory for PGA TOUR University. Davis Thompson, the No. 2-ranked player from the inaugural PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global Class of 2021, became the fifth rookie winner and 11th first-time winner of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season with a victory at the REX Hospital Open Sunday evening.

Thompson, who led by two strokes after the second and third round, closed with a 2-under 69 and reached 17-under par for a one-stroke win over runner-up finishers Andrew Yun and final-pairing playing partner Vincent Norrman.

Oh, and it just so happened it was Thompson’s 23rd birthday Sunday.

“It’s a pretty good dream,” Thompson said. “It’s my best birthday yet.”

Thompson shared the 54-hole lead at last week’s NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank, but stalled on the final seven holes as other contenders posted birdie after birdie. This time around, pars were good enough, as Thompson negated a bogey at the par-4 13th with a birdie at the par-5 15th and parred the final three holes. As he successfully converted an up-and-down par from the back of the par-4 18th and secured the win, the often stoic Thompson let out some long-built-up emotions.

How long, precisely?

“Probably my whole life,” said Thompson, a former No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. “It was built up all day because I just tried to be calm, just be chill. Once that putt went in, I knew it was time to release some of that.”

As a host of contenders chased Thompson, none of them actually took the lead. Thompson made sure of that with a 3-under 33 on the front nine which featured birdies on both par 5s (Nos. 4 and 9) as well as the par-4 third and seventh. The only bogey came at the par-4 sixth. On the back nine, however, Thompson gave the field an opening after bogeys at the par-4 10th and 13th.

“I felt it after Nos. 13 and 14. That’s when (the nerves) really heightened,” Thompson said. “Put myself out of position on Nos. 10 and 13, which led to bogeys. But I knew I was playing well. Just tried to put one foot in front of the other, and I was able to birdie No. 15 and that calmed the nerves a little bit. Then made three great pars coming in.”

The St. Simons Island, Georgia resident finished the day 6-for-9 scrambling, including par saves at Nos. 16 an 18. Thompson ended the week 14-for-20 scrambling.

“I just tried to stay patient all day,” Thompson said. “I felt like I played fine last week, it was just Harry [Hall] and Nick [Hardy] made more putts than I did. It’s not like I was hitting bad shots. I knew if I kept preparing the right way and just keep giving myself looks that I was going to have a shot, because I knew I was playing well.”

Thompson became the second-youngest winner on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, between Akshay Bhatia (19 years, 11 months, 19 days) and fellow PGA TOUR University alum Trevor Werbylo (23 years, 9 months, 24 days). Thompson, a University of Georgia product and a two-time All-America First Team honoree, followed Werbylo as the second PGA TOUR University alum with a Korn Ferry Tour win.

The mission of PGA TOUR University is to elevate the path to the PGA TOUR for college golf’s top seniors. It also incentivizes players to stay in school longer and continue to work toward a degree. The top-five players from the Velocity Global Ranking earn Korn Ferry Tour status and an exemption into Final Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, while Nos. 6-15 earn PGA TOUR Canada status and an exemption into Second Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.

By virtue of his PGA TOUR University finish last year, Thompson had Korn Ferry Tour status for the final eight events of the 2020-21 regular season. Given the fact the pandemic created a two-year season, Thompson’s chances of finishing 75th or higher on the 2020-21 Regular Season Points List and earning a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where 25 more PGA TOUR cards are available, were greatly diminished given the number of points accrued by players across more than 30 events. Thompson made one Korn Ferry Tour start as he played six PGA TOUR events via sponsor exemptions last summer. Thompson posted four made cuts in those six starts, with his best finish being T31.

“Learned a lot, gained a lot of great experiences, but I didn’t play as well as I thought I could,” Thompson said of his TOUR starts. “I was just thankful the PGA TOUR U ranking got me into Final Stage (of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament).”

At Final Stage last November, the top-40 and ties earned guaranteed starts for the first eight events of the 2022 season, and Thompson finished on the number (T39) for those starts.

“I made like a 7-footer for par to even have the first eight starts,” Thompson said. “I go back and think about that putt a lot. I’m just very grateful to be here, and I knew what I was capable of. I believe in myself. One of the biggest things out here is you’ve got to believe in yourself. You can’t shy away from being great. I’m not saying I’m great by any means, but you have to have this confidence about yourself that you can do it and believe in your preparation, the work that you put in.”

The victory moved Thompson from No. 38 to No. 9 on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List, moving him within 46 points (equivalent to a two-way T19 finish) of the #TOURBound mark of 875 points, the current fail-safe threshold the Korn Ferry Tour is using to declare players PGA TOUR-bound for the 2022-23 season.

Erik Barnes became the fifth player across the #TOURBound threshold Sunday with a T19 finish. After 11 years as a professional, Barnes will be a PGA TOUR rookie next season. Barnes joined China’s Carl Yuan, South Korea’s Byeong Hun An and Seonghyeon Kim, and South Africa’s MJ Daffue as player across the #TOURBound threshold.

The 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season continues Thursday with the first round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX, hosted by Thornblade Club in Greer, South Carolina.