By Chris Lang
RICHMOND – The Korn Ferry Tour announced on Monday that it will be bringing its season-ending Tour Championship to The Federal Club in Glen Allen, ensuring that Virginia will continue to host high-level professional golf through at least October 2029.
The announcement confirmed speculation that the PGA Tour would maintain a presence in Virginia, even after the final ball was struck on Sunday at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.
The inaugural event—the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by Virginia’s Richmond Region—will take place October 5-11, 2026. PGA Tour cards will be distributed to the top 20 players on the season-ending KFT points list. Among those earning automatic promotion to the PGA Tour this year were Zach Bauchou, who grew up outside of Lynchburg and was the stroke-play qualifying medalist at the 2013 VSGA Amateur Championship, and Neal Shipley, who spent time at James Madison University and is a two-time winner of the Fox Puss Invitational at Boonsboro Country Club in Lynchburg.
Among those joining the KFT in 2026 is past VSGA Amateur and VSGA Junior Match Play champion Michael Brennan, who won three times and finished atop the season-long points list on PGA Tour Americas in 2025.
Four sponsors operate under the Virginia’s Richmond Region umbrella: The Henrico Economic Development Authority, Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority, Richmond Region Tourism, and the Virginia Tourism Corporation.
The KFT Championship takes the reigns from the DECC, which concluded its 10-year run at The Country Club of Virginia on Sunday. It also marks a return of the PGA Tour’s main feeder circuit to the area, as The Dominion Club hosted the Henrico County Open on what was then known as the Nike Tour—and eventually the Buy.com Tour and finally the Nationwide Tour—from 1993-2008.
The KFT Championship was held this year at French Lick Resort in Indiana after a five-year run at Victoria National Golf Club, another Indiana venue.
“This community has been an incredible host to a PGA Tour Champions event for a decade, and we’re looking forward to building on the foundation they’ve established in this area,” KFT president Alex Baldwin said. “We are thrilled for what the future holds here in Virginia.”
When Dominion Energy and CCV ended their agreement with PGA Tour Champions four years early, there was real concern that professional golf would leave Virginia for good. The Champions event struggled to find a title sponsor once Dominion dropped. Finding multiple sponsors willing to support was critical in bringing the KFT Championship to Virginia.
“Hosting the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship highlights our region’s ability to deliver world-class sporting events that drive tourism and economic growth,” said Daniel Schmit, chair of the Henrico Country Board of Supervisors. “The Federal Club will provide an exceptional stage in 2026.”
The Federal Club has hosted six VSGA Championships, including the 2018 Amateur and two Junior Stroke Play Championships. Steve Schoenfeld, who has served as executive director of the DECC since its inception, will serve in the same capacity for the KFT Championship. Planning is already well underway for next year’s event.
“I already have it in my head a plan to where we might build venues for hospitality,” Schoenfeld said. “I’m fortunate in that I’ve had a lengthy career on a PGA Tour, so when I show up to a golf course, I know what to look for. Where are we staging the television compound? Where’s the volunteer compound? And with the space we have out there (at Federal Club), it’s a huge win for us and a huge check in the ‘pro’ box.”
The top 75 players on the season-long points list advance to the KFT Championship, a four-round no-cut event where all players are guaranteed at least conditional KFT status for the next season. All four rounds are televised by Golf Channel.
One of the priorities for event officials over the next 12 months will be to shift the selling points of the championship to local golf fans. For a decade, fans were accustomed to the big names of yesteryear teeing it up at CCV, names like Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Bernhard Langer, Justin Leonard, and more. Now, fans will get acclimated with new names and rising stars.
“It’s a different challenge, in terms of you’re introducing these names to people,” Baldwin said. “It’s about back stories. Why should I care about these people? So you’ve got a Brennan, a Leesburg native and Wake Forest alum, or Johnny Keefer, who went to Baylor and played TPC San Antonio. But you also have a lot of guys coming down from the PGA Tour to re-establish themselves. … We’re going to lean on this community to get some of those little nuggets, drop those breadcrumbs. Who’s that future player? Who’s the next Scottie Scheffler?”