For one group of Canadian professionals, the golf season is over. For another, just a handful of crucial events remain.
Members of the first group know their fate, while those in the second batch are still trying to climb up the FedEx Cup list.
The first group involves the Korn Ferry Tour, which wrapped up its season over the weekend. The Tour Championship was held at the Federal Club in Glen Allen, Va., where American Austin Hitt won the event and the top 20 finishers on the season-long points list earned promotions to the PGA Tour.
No Canadians were in that group. Last year, Sudarshan Yellamaraju finished 19th and advanced to the PGA Tour where he ended the season as the top Canadian.
However, all was not lost for Canadian golfers with three players – Adam Hadwin (55), Roger Sloan (46) and Drew Nesbitt (41) all ended the campaign in the top 60. That secured them full status on next year’s Korn Ferry Tour.
Hadwin has locked up a place to play next year, albeit a step down from his usual place of business, but he will continue to try and improve his position on the PGA Tour by playing as many of the remaining stops as he can.
Matthew Anderson and Stuart Maconald will start next season with conditional status for ending up in the top 100 on the points list.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is off this week as many players regroup from last week’s event in Japan.
Only two Canadians were in that field, with Nick Taylor finishing tied for 41st and falling from 69th to 71st in the FedEx Cup standings, and Taylor Pendrith ending up tied for 54th. He remained in 96th position.
Three Canadians who didn’t make the trek to Japan dropped in the FedEx Cup standings. Yellamaraju fell three places to 63rd spot, Corey Conners also dropped three positions and is now in 66th spot, and A.J. Ewart went from 102nd to 105th.
The top 100 will retain their full field exempt status for 2027. The PGA Tour has five stops left, starting with the Butterfield Bermuda Championship which begins Oct. 22.