Pebble Blues: Even Korn Ferry Players Passing Up Clambake For Panama's Level 4 Status

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With Level 4 State Department status (“Do Not Travel”) you’d think going to Club de Golf de Panama might be low on the list of Korn Ferry Tour members. But every dollar counts when you’re trying to secure a PGA Tour card and money made at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am doesn’t mean a thing toward your season long effort so, not surprisingly, players are opting to take on the double whammy of crime and COVID over the Monterey Peninsula.

In that sense, this is a win for the KFT structure and speaks to the player determination to get their card. But passing up what was once a signature Tour event where the prominent and powerful gather is also quite surreal to see. Some good news: the worst crime areas cited by the Department of State are a decent distance from the KFT’s Panama Championship. They’ve got that going for them.

The AT&T has seen its field depleted by all the waivers granted to play the Saudi’s PIFSIPSIA stop on the Asian Tour. So with three courses and pro-am slots needing a pro, the opportunity exists to play Pebble Beach, Spyglass and MPCC like never before. Yet it appears the AT&T is headed toward a Charlie Beljan late-add at this pace. And some lucky big spender is guaranteed to get Grayson Murray for three rounds. Enjoy that!

Who Needs A Pro Jock? Bhatia Wins Korn Ferry Event With Girlfriend On The Bag

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The 19-year-old prodigy who skipped college and turned pro has only shown glimpses of greatness. But facing uncertain Korn Ferry Tour status Akshay Bhatia, pulled off a win that will change his year, notes GolfChannel.com’s Brentley Romine:

Bhatia got into this week’s field courtesy of the category reserved for Nos. 151-200 in FedExCup points, and his original goal, one that remained as he began his final round, was to finish inside the top 10 and automatically qualify for another week. Such is the life of a tour pro without full status. Only Bhatia, who played his final nine in 5 under with birdies on three of his last four holes, no longer has that problem.

He finished the win off in style, hitting the 18th hole flagstick:

The week started off with Bhatia and girlfriend Presleigh Schultz explaining the partnership that all started with an Instagam DM and without her knowing anything about golf. (But she is a content creator and business manager!).

Who needs a pro jock?

Here was the social content posted by the Tour and lambasted by some respondents before Bhatia went on to win:

Korn Ferry Kerfuffle Follow-Up: Is "Uncle" A Safe Word?

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ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach follows up with a bizarre detail on the Korn Ferry Tour qualifier gone bad.

Regarding the fight that broke out and led to a college golfer’s arrest…

According to police in Newton, Kansas, Luke Smith of Covington, Tennessee, punched the victim in the face and tackled him to the ground during the qualifier at Sand Creek Station golf course.

"He held the victim down until he said 'uncle,' and then released him," Newton Police said in a statement.

Well ok then.

Korn Ferry Kerfuffle! Golfer Arrested For Assaulting Qualifying Partner While Daddy Stands Guard With A Putter!

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There are some days more than others when you wish His Ownself could see satire playing out on the links. I’m not sure I’ve read a more bizarre account on multiple levels than this must click-on doozy from Firepit Collective’s Ryan French.

The short version: Wichita Open Monday qualifying featured an 8:10 am tee time with Austen Dailey, Derek Fribbs and Luke Smith. On the bag for Luke, a University of Tennessee-Martin golfer, is dad Oliver, President of Capital Prime. The group struggled and fell behind. Luke and Oliver Smith were reportedly not keen on helping the others look for a few lost balls and even did not like having to put the pin in the hole after putting out.

Well okay then.

The situation came to a boil on the Par-3 seventh hole. Dailey hit his tee shot left of the green. Fribbs, ever the sportsmen, went to help Dailey look for his ball. Allegedly, the Smiths did not help in the search for Dailey’s ball. In an effort to speed up play, Fribbs holed out first and headed for the eighth tee to play his next shot and try and get the group back in position. After Dailey completed the hole he said something to Smiths about how helping to look for shots might help speed the group up. This was apparently a bridge too far for the Smiths.  According to Fribbs Luke and Oliver Smith started yelling at Dailey about his quality of play and how it was affecting the group. Oliver went on to make it clear that his son Luke, “wasn’t here to look for balls.” 

Fathers and sons. From there son Luke jumped on Dailey while dad did this…

The elder Smith allegedly waved a putter at Fribbs- and anyone else with an eye on jumping into the fracas. (Oliver Smith’s putter-waving was was later confirmed by another PGA Section official on site.)

Anyway it goes on from there with an arrest for Smith but no word on dad for his role. Check out the full account here.

**Oh more fun imagery for the Dateline reenactment…

Strange Mix Of WD's: DJ, Romo And Beef

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Three tours, three famous golfers, all teed off and each stopped mid-round for reasons both normal and abnormal.

Most alarming with a major championship looming and having recently recorded a win at the Travelers was Dustin Johnson, who posted 78, talked about his round at the 3M and never mentioned a bad back that was cited for his WD.

From Brian Wacker at GolfDigest.com:

Johnson made no reference to his back in the post-round interview before pulling out of the tournament 30 minutes later.

What it means for him moving forward remains to be seen. Johnson has twice won at TPC Southwind, site of next week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, and the 2019-’20 season’s first and only major, the PGA Championship, is the following week. Though it’s unlikely he will miss any time.

“He absolutely plans to play,” Johnson’s agent, David Winkle, told Golf Digest in a text message. “He was experiencing some tightness in his back, which requires rest and treatment, both of which he’ll get the next few days."

Johnson missed the cut at last week’s Memorial Tournament with rounds of 80-80.

Former NFL quarterback Tony Romo was playing in this week’s Price Cutter Charity Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour and played just four holes before withdrawing with more wrist issues. He recently injured his wrist during the American Century Championship July 4th weekend. From Joel Beall’s GolfDigest.com report:

“If I could hold the golf club, I’d still be out there playing,” Romo said. “I just can’t.”

Romo dropped out of the celebrity-driven American Century Championship two weeks ago with the same injury. Getting a field invite through sponsor exemption, Romo said he was still able to hit his driver “80 to 90 percent” early in the week with the ailment.

The most surprising came in Europe where Andrew “Beef” Johnston played nine holes of the Betfred British Masters that started Wednesday before his WD. According to Ewan Murray’s report, Johnston was struggling with hotel “lockdown” life and after nine around Close House, before deciding he wasn’t ready to be playing golf.

Johnston explained he considered not entering the British Masters . “I’ve been on-off saying I’m going to play, I’m not going to play, for months,” the 31-year-old said. “I kept changing my mind. But being here and being confined to the hotel, confined to the course and not being able to bring my family is ultimately not what I want and not how I want to live my life.

“We like to travel as a family and it’s just been very difficult to get my head around being stuck in those two places and then coming out and trying to compete. It just doesn’t feel right. I tried to come up here but I was leaving it later and later. I came up Tuesday morning to try to be away as small a time as possible, but it’s not good prep for a tournament and it shows I don’t really want to be here.

Summerhays Almost Has The Ultimate Walk-Off Win, Reconsiders Retirement Decision

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With limited on site at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship, PGATour.com’s Stewart Moore did a nice job capturing Sunday evening’s incredible saga of Daniel Summerhays. The 36-year-old announced his retirement to start the week in his hometown event, then fired a final round 62 to be leader in the clubhouse for a few hours. He was eventually tied by two others and lost on the first hole of a three-way playoff, ultimately won by Kyle Jones.

Now he’s going to assess if it’s really time to walk away for the teaching and high school golf coaching job he’s taking.

From Moore’s story:

For the 36-year-old Summerhays, in his post-loss press conference, there was a bit of reflection. Was it time to turn away from a life in golf? He won the Korn Ferry Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship as an amateur in 2007; lost in a playoff at the PGA TOUR’s Sanderson Farms Championship in 2013; in 2016, gained entry into the U.S. Open as the fourth alternate and wound up T8 for the week; that same year, finished solo-third at the PGA Championship with six birdies in his final 10 holes to earn his lone career trip to the Masters Tournament.

That torrid run in major championships was just four years ago.

“It would’ve been unbelievable to take the trophy home and to have one more,” Summerhays said. “We’ll have a little family meeting and we’ll evaluate how I want to see the rest of the summer go and what we’re doing.”

The Korn Ferry Tour’s post from Golf Channel’s coverage where Steve Burkowski and Craig Perks did a super job telling the Summerhays story.

Korn Ferry WD: Vijay Reads The Room

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Since there are far more pressing issues in the world, a special thank you to Vijay Singh for withdrawing from the Korn Ferry Tour’s return event set for June 11th at TPC Sawgrass.

Though it could also be that market forces pushing the 57-year-old out of the field, as Joel Beall notes for GolfDigest.com.

Though Singh did pull out voluntarily, there was a chance, according to the KFT priority rankings, he wouldn’t have ultimately qualified for the event, which begins on June 11 at Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Singh is fourth on the PGA Tour’s all time money list with $81.3 million in winnings (FedExCup included).

Player: Vijay Singh Has No Business Playing Korn Ferry Tour

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With so much going on in the world far more grave than whether Vijay Singh takes up a spot in a Korn Ferry Tour event, plenty have wondered why the story got so much attention.

Before I direct you to Mike Van Sickle’s guest piece for MorningRead.com, I’ll say its pretty simply a case of entitlement.

When Harvard and the Lakers were found to have accepted PPP funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, they returned the funds because no sane individual could make a case for either entity being entitled to funds meant to keep workers on payrolls.

While Phil Mickelson and others backed the 57-year-old Singh’s right to take a spot away from a player trying to build or rebuild their career on a developmental tour, it is the golf equivalent of the Lakers taking money they do not need.

From Van Sickle’s guest piece, and I do feel a channeling of another writer named Van Sickle with the closing zinger here:

The player who gets bumped from the field may be stocking grocery-store shelves to pay his mounting bills, such as what KFT player Erik Barnes has been doing at a Publix in southwest Florida during the coronavirus-imposed golf shutdown, just so Singh can get some “reps” to get ready when senior golf resumes.

Obviously, the rules say Singh can play. A PGA Tour player can dip into the KFT if he isn’t eligible to play in a PGA Tour event during the same week. Singh, a World Golf Hall of Fame member with a lifetime exemption, is not in the field at the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge on June 11-14 in Fort Worth, Texas. So, he can play his local KFT event, which is practically in his backyard. He lives in the Ponte Vedra Beach area and is a divot-making machine at the TPC Sawgrass range. Singh is within his rights to play, under tour rules, even if it’s like Phil Hellmuth showing up for the weekly $10 buy-in poker night at your neighbor’s house to “get some reps.”

That's Our Vijay: Enters First Korn Ferry Event When Others Could Use The Starts

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It’ll be tough enough just to get a Korn Ferry Tour event off the ground this June, even if it’s at TPC Sawgrass with close HQ supervision making things run more smoothly.

And then 57-year-old Vijay Singh entered and set off a Twitter ragefest. While I’ve been loudly on the record that he and other Champions who miss cuts are wasting spots, but that was in good times. Vijay, btw, has broken par twice in the last two years of PGA Tour play and has made one cut in nine appearancesw.

But during a pandemic when every start matters to a Korn Ferry player after sitting out for weeks? Even tone deaf by Vijay Singh. It’s as if he lost touch with reality after winning $70 million and probably that much more off course factoring in endorsements and lawsuit settlements

Christopher Powers with the Twitter rage started by Monday Q Info’s Ryan French spotting Singh on the entry list, and fueled by Brady Schnell, a 35-year-old KF Tour journeyman whose Tweets calling Singh “selfish” and “complete turd” have since disappeared.

The common take is that Singh, a three-time major champion who has made north of $70 million in his career on the PGA Tour, should not take a potential paycheck from a player who may need it more, especially given the world's current situation. On the other hand, the 57-year-old Singh is one of the most competitive players the game has ever seen. One could argue he's simply looking to get those competitive juices flowing once again. And since he's not eligible for the Charles Schwab Challenge on the PGA Tour that same week, the inaugural Korn Ferry Challenge is his only alternative.

Or, staying at home one more week?

Coincidentally, The Guardian’s Ewan Murray this week tried to better understand Vijay and his unwillingness to relive the past. Or, talk to any writer.

Happy Ending: Two Gloves Tommy Gainey Back In The Winner's Circle

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The 44-year-old one-time PGA Tour winner best known for wearing two gloves and last month’s solicitation arrest during the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying tournament, has won that tour’s season opener. It was his first top 10 since 2015. The last time Gainey played in the Greater Xuma Classic, he shot 87-84.

From Joel Beall’s GolfDigest.com report on Tommy Gainey’s improbable return to a major tour winner’s circle:

Gainey played that week at the final stage of the Korn Ferry qualifying tournament. Though he was among the Round 1 leaders, a 74 and 71 on the weekend ultimately dropped him to T-75.

On the 72nd hole at Emerald Bay, Gainey dedicated the victory to his family.

"My wife, I love her to death," Gainey said. "Her and the boys mean everything."

The Golf Channel did not mention the December arrest through the final two days of the broadcast, and Gainey only alluded to "getting his life back on track" in a post-round interview, which could have been a reference to his health. The Korn Ferry Tour told Golf Digest that Gainey was not available for additional questions, and Gainey's team has not responded to a Golf Digest interview request.

He has a team? Sorry.

Hey, it’s not Hogan coming back from the bus accident but on the list of improbable wins, this is first team all-conference stuff.

Korn Ferry Ace Does Not Come With The Beemer Clearly Parked On The Tee To Look Like A Hole-In-One Prize

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Maybe if Chris Naegel had gone and hugged this lovely BMW, they would have given it to him. But as Brian Wacker reports, the car parked behind the tee just like at so many other events was NOT a hole-in-one prize.

So, so lame…

But the ace in the season-ending Portland Classic was fantastic:

From Ben Hogan To The Korn Ferry Tour...

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A 24-handicapper follow-through…but he’s got a white belt because that’s what the kids wear!

A 24-handicapper follow-through…but he’s got a white belt because that’s what the kids wear!

There is so much to marvel at in the mid-season naming of Korn Ferry Consulting as the title sponsor of the Web.com Tour.

The firm signed a ten-year deal as Web.com did in 2012, but a new buyer of Web, Siris Capital, clearly wanted out and got their wish. The transition mid-season is showing, as PGATour.com is still sporting the old sponsor’s name.

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Anyway, Web.com joins Ben Hogan, Nike, Nationwide and Buy.com as former tour sponsors since the inception in 1989.

The firm specializes in high-priced job searches, and besides widespread social media mocking of the peculiar name and timing, already got its name up-front in a news story by Golf World’s Joel Beall. Impressions!

The lede:

Evan H. Vollerthum, a caddie on the Korn Ferry Tour, was arrested Monday for human trafficking and attempting to sexually exploit a child.

Vollerthum was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations in Topeka, Kansas, according to an ICE news release. Topeka is about two hours away from this week's Wichita Open.

Jerry, I have Jay Monahan on line one, he’s saying something about a game of cornhole on a ferry. You want me to send it to voicemail?

For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR announces Korn Ferry as umbrella
sponsor of newly named Korn Ferry Tour

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry (NYSE: KFY) announced today a 10-year agreement making the Los Angeles-based, global organizational consulting firm the Umbrella Sponsor of the newly named Korn Ferry Tour. 

In replacing Web.com, Korn Ferry’s sponsorship takes effect June 19 and extends through the 2028 season. The Korn Ferry Tour will continue to award PGA TOUR membership to the Tour’s 50 leading players, including the top 25 from the Regular Season points list and the top 25 from the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals points list.

The announcement was made jointly by PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, Korn Ferry Chief Executive Officer Gary Burnison, and Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin on Wednesday morning in New York City.

“We welcome Korn Ferry to the PGA TOUR family with today’s announcement,” said Monahan. “Our thanks to Gary Burnison and his team for a partnership that will promote Korn Ferry’s mission of helping people and organizations exceed their potential, collaborating with a Tour that has proven to identify the next generation of PGA TOUR talent over the last 30 years.”

Korn Ferry also becomes a PGA TOUR Official Marketing Partner as the “Official Leadership Development Firm” of the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, and Korn Ferry Tour. Additionally, Korn Ferry will assume sponsorship of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance in Evansville, Indiana – the third and final event in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. 

That’s right, the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

“We’re excited to partner with the PGA TOUR. Our organizations are both all about talent – getting players and people to that next level and advancing their careers. People will never discover their full potential until they are provided an abundance of opportunity. Korn Ferry and the Korn Ferry Tour provide that opportunity,” said Burnison. “This sponsorship will further elevate our brand as a global organizational consultancy and extend awareness of our firm to new audiences around the world.”

No where to go but up!

Korn Ferry develops and coaches 1.2 million people a year, puts someone in a new job every three minutes and has worked with companies to evaluate and assess nearly 70 million professionals. The firm has offices in more than 50 countries and 8,500 employees.

Korn Ferry works with clients to design their organizational structures, roles and responsibilities. The firm helps them hire the right people and advise them on how to reward, develop and motivate their workforce. Korn Ferry also helps professionals at all levels navigate and advance their careers. 

“This is a tremendous day for our organization, and we are eager to work with Gary and his team as we continue to build the Korn Ferry Tour from the strong foundation already in place,” said Baldwin, the first female to be named president of one of the PGA TOUR’s six global Tours earlier this year. “Korn Ferry has an impassioned desire to enhance the careers and brands of our players through this incredibly competitive Tour. This partnership will allow us to further those goals while elevating the Tour and our tournaments for our partners and fans.”

With 50 available PGA TOUR cards for the following season (since 2013), the Korn Ferry Tour is the path to the PGA TOUR. Twenty-five TOUR cards are reserved for the leading points earners at the end of the 24-event Regular Season. Another 25 are up for grabs at the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals that follow the Regular Season in August and September.

During the PGA TOUR’s 2017-18 season, eight players from the Korn Ferry Tour Class of 2017 won titles, including Aaron Wise, whose victory at the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson was the 500th by a former Korn Ferry Tour player – a list which includes 24 major championships and eight PLAYERS Championships, including Gary Woodland’s win on Sunday at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Four players from the Class of 2018 have won on the PGA TOUR this season – Cameron Champ (Sanderson Farms Championship), Adam Long (The Desert Classic), Martin Trainer (Puerto Rico Open) and Max Homa (Wells Fargo Championship).

Other notable PGA TOUR players who got their start on the Korn Ferry Tour include major champions Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson.

The release mentions no dollar figures, but the announcement prompted some to point out stagnant purses on the Korn Ferry Tour.

And then there were the reactions to the name…

And somehow, poor Tiger got dragged into the sell:


First Female Tour Head: VP Of Marketing Partnerships Named Web.com Tour President

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The first female president of any the Tour’s tours is indeed historic and exciting, but also noteworthy is the Monahan era tendency to reward marketing experience over golf backgrounds in moving up the Ponte Vedra ladder.

For Immediate Release…

PGA TOUR announces Alexandra “Alex” Baldwin as new President of Web.com Tour

Baldwin becomes first female Tour President in PGA TOUR history

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR announced today that current Vice President of Marketing Partnerships, Alexandra “Alex” Baldwin, has been named President of the Web.com Tour. With the announcement, Baldwin becomes the first female in history to lead one of the PGA TOUR’s six global Tours as President.  

Dan Glod, who has served as President of the Web.com Tour since January of 2017, has been elevated to Senior Vice President, Global Sponsorship Strategy and Development in a corresponding announcement.

“We are excited to announce Alex as the new President of the Web.com Tour in what is a watershed moment for our organization,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “In her role as Vice President of Marketing Partnerships, Alex has spearheaded our efforts to provide increased value to our PGA TOUR partners and I know she will have that same level of success on the Web.com Tour. We thank Dan Glod for his tremendous leadership with our partners, tournaments and membership over these last two years and know the Web.com Tour has a great foundation which Alex can continue to build upon.”

Baldwin joined the PGA TOUR in 2017 as Vice President of Corporate Partnerships, where she was responsible for co-leading the Marketing Partnership team and overseeing key partner account teams including Morgan Stanley, Dell, Omni Hotel and Resorts and United Airlines, among others. In addition to spearheading partner oversight, she negotiated extensions and new programs with partners including Avis, MD Anderson, Rolex and Citi.

“I am thrilled for this opportunity to lead the Web.com Tour while drawing on years of experience in golf, sports and business,” said Baldwin. “The Web.com Tour is a tremendous avenue through which we’re able to develop the next generation of PGA TOUR stars, and I’m eager to learn as much as possible about our partners, tournaments and communities as we look to build on the Tour’s incredible 30-year foundation.”

Prior to joining the PGA TOUR, Baldwin was a Corporate Consulting Executive at CAA Sports in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, working with major brands on their strategy and activation plans in sports and entertainment. During that time, she worked strategically with Waste Management and the Waste Management Phoenix Open as well as Synchrony Financial, CVS Health and Concur among others.

For 10 years prior to joining CAA, Baldwin was with Boston-based Fenway Sports Management, consulting clients and driving sales efforts around premier golf properties, including the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Baldwin’s career began in 1992 as an intern with International Management Group (IMG), where she eventually rose to agent, representing the likes of LPGA stars Karrie Webb and Suzann Pettersen, as well as PGA TOUR winners Brad Faxon and Carlos Franco.

PGA Tour Sends Web.com Tour Championship Out Of Headquarters' Hometown For Next Decade

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Say what you want about the PGA Tour’s pursuit of every penny imaginable but deserting their own community for a few more bucks?

Impressive devotion to maximum activation!

Garry Smits with news of the Web.com Tour Championship, played in the Ponte Vedra/Jax Beach area for the last five years at TPC Sawgrass Valley and Atlantic Beach CC getting shipped off to Victoria National over the next decade.

Budding golfers and their families will want to read all of the Smits story, but this was also a nice buried lede to help us prepare for yet another name change potentially coming.

Another factor in the move was the future of Web.com as the tour’s umbrella sponsor. Web.com, a Jacksonville-based firm that specializes in internet services for small businesses, was sold earlier this year for $2 billion to Sirius Capital, an equity firm. The sale closed in October.

The current sponsorship deal with Web.com runs through 2021. The tournament was a good fit in the same area as the headquarters of the umbrella sponsor but there have been no signs as yet that Sirius Capital wants to continue the relationship beyond the current terms.

Country Singer Owen Posts 86 In Web.com Tour Event, Gets Into Twitter Spat Mid-Round

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I'm usually a defender of sponsor's invites and the silly scores that have come with them. But I'm not sure if country singer Jake Owen (Nashville Open first round 86) taking to Twitter mid-round is the look a tournament or the PGA Tour was hoping for since Owen was pushing back at a player unhappy at seeing a spot wasted. How Owen saw the mention among his 2.28 million followers is unclear, or when he found the time to bang out a Tweet as he was racking up a huge score is also not clear.

Either way, he fired off a less-than-gentlemanly reply to Doug Walker:

Walker challenged Owen to some charity fundraising via birdies--of which Owen made zero in round one--and it appears all are on board with others pledging money to Brandt Snedeker's foundation, the beneficiary of the event, reports Golf World's Christopher Powers. 

One of Walker's many follow-ups: