Fortinet Cup Championship field set

KITCHENER, Ontario—The Fortinet Cup Championship field is set. Sixty players following the conclusion of the GolfBC Championship qualified for the season-ending tournament at Deer Ridge Golf Club on September 15-18. Leading the way is overall Fortinet Cup points leader Jake Knapp. The American and UCLA product assumed the No. 1 spot after tying for eighth last week in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Knapp holds a 40-point lead over Canadian Wil Bateman and American Noah Goodwin. Bateman held the top Fortinet Cup spot for the two previous weeks—and three weeks overall. Bateman won the ATB Classic presented by Volvo Edmonton in June, giving him victories on both PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamerica (2015 Chile Open). Goodwin, the winner of the GolfBC Championship and PGA TOUR Canada’s only player with two wins this season, is a rookie out of Southern Methodist, who won the Sotheby’s International Realty Canada Ontario Open in late-July. The rest of the top 10 is Scott Stevens, Ryan Gerard, Danny Walker, Brian Carlson, Thomas Walsh, Ian Holt and Joe Highsmith. Stevens, Gerard, Walker and Carlson are also tournament winners in 2022.

Next week, the Fortinet Cup Championship offers 600 points to the winner, leaving 13 players still mathematically in the running to win the Fortinet Cup. Besides the top-10, Trent Phillips, Parker Coody and Jeffrey Kang remain in contention.

The player finishing No. 1 in the standings following next week’s season-ender captures Player of the Year honors, earns 2023 Korn Ferry Tour membership and is eligible to play in every open Korn Ferry Tour tournament next season. He also wins a $25,000 bonus from a $100,000 pool, offered by Fortinet, for season-long superiority. In addition, he receives an invitation to play in the 2023 RBC Canadian Open on the PGA TOUR. Players finishing in the second-through-fifth Fortinet Cup positions earn conditional Korn Ferry Tour status, while those in the sixth-through-10th spots advance to the final stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament in early November in Savannah, Georgia. All 60 players retain 2023 PGA TOUR Canada membership.

Last week, four players began the GolfBC Championship outside the top 60 but moved their way into the Fortinet Cup Championship field due to their play at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf Club. Americans James Hervol, Easton Paxton, Taylor Funk and Tyler Strafaci supplanted Canadian Drew Nesbitt, Germany’s Lukas Euler and Americans Van Holmgren and Benjamin Shipp in the top 60.

“Going into the week, I just told myself I came up here to play 72 good holes and be 100 percent in the moment. I did a good job of that, and it didn’t really weigh on me much the first three days,” said Paxton of the pressure of trying to work his way inside the top 60. “But [Saturday] night, as I got to thinking about it, it was definitely on my mind. That’s why I’m up here for experience like that.” Paxton began the week No. 69 but jumped to No. 57 with his tie for 23rd in Kelowna. While he can’t win the Fortinet Cup, he maintained his playing privileges for 2023 and identified himself as one of the Tour’s top-60 players.

For those finishing outside the top 60, their seasons are over, and they will begin contemplating PGA TOUR Canada’s 2023 Qualifying Tournament schedule as they continue to pursue their professional golf dreams.

“This has been a tremendous 10 weeks, and these 60 players have earned the right to continue their seasons for one more tournament, with so much still at stake and on an amazing golf course,” said PGA TOUR Canada Executive Director Scott Pritchard. “We’ve conducted tournaments all over Canada and even made history by playing our first official event in the U.S., and the level of golf has been outstanding. After not playing for two seasons because of the pandemic, it’s been extremely gratifying to see PGA TOUR Canada return to the sports landscape, to have such a successful season and see a strong group of players ready for one final tournament.”

Forty-eight of the 60 players come from the U.S., with eight Canadians also qualifying. The other four players are from Zimbabwe, Mexico, China and France.