(Pictured: Ross Steelman is one of two Korn Ferry Tour players to lock down PGA Tour status for 2027, joining Doc Redman. Credit: PGA Tour)
By Chris Lang
The Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by Virginia’s Richmond Region is coming to VSGA member club The Federal Club in October.
The top 60 players on the Korn Ferry Tour points list following the third playoff event of the season – The Compliance Solutions Championship in Oklahoma – advance to a four-round no-cut final event at the Glen Allen club. The KFT Championship is scheduled for Oct. 8-11 and all four rounds will be televised by Golf Channel. The top 20 finishers earn 2027 PGA Tour cards. The regular season ended on August 23 and the four-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals begins next weekend. Points do not reset in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
The VSGA has been taking monthly looks at PGA Tour’s top developmental circuit to prepare members for whom they might see at The Federal Club come October.
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How the Korn Ferry Tour Finals work
Who has won so far?
Twenty-one events are in the books.
After starting the season abroad, the KFT made its U.S. debut in late March. The rest of the schedule will be contested on U.S. soil.
Your 2026 winners:
The four Korn Ferry Tour Finals events
Full KFT Schedule
https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour/schedule?view=fullSchedule&month=All
TourBound
Two players have already locked up their PGA Tour cards for the 2027 season, but there's still plenty to play for in the KFT Finals. The player finishing No. 1 on the season-ending points list not only secures PGA Tour promotion, but gains exemptions into The Players Championship and the U.S. Open.
Ross Steelman | Points: 1873.371 | Rank: 1
A 25-year-old who played at Georgia Tech after transferring from Missouri, Steelman bulldozed his way to TourBound status with a stirring run through the back half of the season. Since missing the cut at the OccuNet Classic in mid-June, Steelman tallied two victories and three other top-10 finishes in a seven-event stretch where his worst finish was a T38. At the Evans Scholars Invitational, Steelman became the sixth player in KFT history to ace a par-4, making a one on the 352-yard 15th hole with a driver. Steelman is one of the more inked players on the KFT, sporting a full-sleeve tattoo on his left arm.
Doc Redman | Points: 1442.155 | Rank: 2
Redman was the first player this year to lock down TourBound status, thanks to two victories and a fourth-place finish at Pinnacle Bank Championship in early August. He's cooled off since, finishing T63 and missing the cut in the final two regular-season events. Though as mentioned above, there is plenty of incentive to push Steelman for the top spot come KFT Finals time, considering the spoils that go to the No. 1 player on the points list. Followers of regional junior golf will remember Redman, who played for Team Carolinas in the Virginias-Carolinas Junior Boys Matches in the mid-2010s. Redman also defeated Virginia’s Mark Lawrence Jr. in the semifinals of the 2017 U.S. Amateur before ousting Doug Ghim in extra holes in the final match. Redman has plenty of PGA Tour experience, making 125 starts and carding six top-5 finishes. Yes, Doc is his real first name.
The rest of the top five
Ian Holt | Points: 1395.622 | Rank: 3
A 30-year-old from Kent State, Holt finished 42nd in points last year got off to a fantastic start this season. One more victory earns him an automatic PGA Tour promotion, though his game has cooled considerably since a hot start that included two wins in January. Showing just how much wins mean on this tour, he's only dropped to second in the points standings despite a run of four consecutive missed cuts in June and July. Holt has not dropped below No. 3 in points since January, and one good playoff week should lock up TourBound status for 2027. Holt played hockey for eight years growing up.
Alistair Docherty | Points: 1364.861 | Rank: 4
After briefly falling out of the top five in the points standings, Docherty shot 22-under and lost in a playoff at the Pinnacle Bank Championship to move back to No. 4. Born in Canada, the 32-year-old Docherty went to Cal State Chico. Securing a full-time card would be huge for Docherty, who has made only six PGA Tour starts in his career, his only start in 2026 coming when he missed the cut at The Open Championship.
Cole Sherwood | Points: 1321.778 | Rank: 5
Sherwood jumped into the top 5 courtesy of his victory in the Colonial Life Charity Classic earlier this season, which moved him from 34th on the points list to No. 3. It goes to show how just one great week on the KFT can elevate a player’s chance at PGA Tour promotion. Since then, he's added a T7 at the BMW Charity Pro-Am and a second-place showing at the Memorial Health Championship that included a sizzling final-round 62. The 24-year-old Sherwood was a standout at Vanderbilt who finished No. 7 in the 2024 PGA Tour University rankings. There's a clear demarcation between the top five and the next level on the KFT points list, with Sherwood entering the KFT Finals with nearly a 150-point edge over No. 6 Tommy Morrison.
Five more names to watch
Tommy Morrison | Points: 1175.550 | Rank: 6
Literally a huge presence on the course, the 6-foot-9 Morrison played at the University of Texas and teamed with former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo at the 2023 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Morrison made his KFT debut in June, tying for 10th at the OccuNet Classic. He blasted his way up the points list with a T5 the next week at the Memorial Health Championship, a second-place showing at The Blue Championship, a win at the Evans Scholars Invitational, and a loss in a playoff at the Utah Championship. Expect to see the big Texan on the PGA Tour next season.
Blades Brown | Points: 1009.252 | Rank: 10
One of the nation’s most talented junior golfers, Brown bypassed college golf and turned professional in 2024. Brown, who recently turned 19, has made the cut in eight of his nine PGA Tour events this season and played in the final group with Scottie Scheffler at The American Express in January. He finished third at the Puerto Rico Open. Brown tied for 14th at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour, his fourth top-20 finish in seven starts. Brown has clearly chosen the KFT as his best path to full-time PGA Tour status next season, and he comes into the KFT Finals riding a hot streak of three straight top-10 finishes.
Ben Kohles | Points: 887.009 | Rank: 14
A 36-year-old former UVA standout, Kohles will be interesting to watch. What's his best path to a PGA Tour card? He's currently ranked No. 96 in the FedEx Cup fall standings, and the top 100 earn full PGA Tour status next season. So too do the top 20 on the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour points list. Kohles returned to the KFT after playing seven PGA Tour events in June, July and August. He finished T3 at the John Deere and ninth at the 3M Open. After failing to advance to the FedEx Cup playoffs, he came back to the KFT after the PGA Tour's regular-season ending Wyndham Championship.
Zack Fischer | Points: 736.550 | Rank: 21
The current bubble boy in the standings, Fischer made a big move forward by winnin the OccuNet Classic and promptly followed that up with six straight missed cuts, which dropped him as low as No. 27 on the points list. A T7 at the AdventHealth helped get him back to No. 21, where he's currently 10 points behind No. 20 Alvaro Ortiz. The 36-year-old played four years of college golf at the University of Texas-Arlington.
Yuta Sugiura | Points: 731.722 | Rank: 23
A 24-year-old from Japan, Sugiura was a longshot to finish in the top 20 until winning the final KFT regular-season event, the AdventHealth Championship, jumping him from No. 85 to No. 23 on the points list. Suguira posted a 29-under 259 in his victory, by far his best showing of the season. His previous low tournament score was 14-under, achieved twice this season.
Local flavor
A strong August propelled River Bend Club's Brandon Berry into comfortable KFT Finals position. He finished T9 in Utah, T33 at the Pinnacle Bank and T38 at the AdventHealth, and those results were enough to move him to No. 116 on the points list. Barring disaster, that should get him two KFT starts but he'll need to work his way into the top 100 to keep his season alive. Former VCU standout Lanto Griffin played in one KFT event this year and made the cut, so at No. 149 in points, he qualifies for the first KFT Finals event, giving him one possible postseason path to earning 2027 status. Griffin made eight cuts in 16 PGA Tour starts this year and finished No. 156 on the FedEx Cup points list. Griffin's best hope for gaining at least conditional status might be through the FedEx Cup Fall Series. He would need to move to No. 125 to earn conditional status and into the top 100 to gain a full card for next season.