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The attention in the men’s professional game may well have been on the Home of Golf for the conclusion of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday.
Yet across the Atlantic in Indiana, there was perhaps even more meaningful drama.
While LIV Golf’s Tyrrell Hatton was plotting his third victory at the Dunhill, players on the Korn Ferry Tour Championship were chasing their own dreams, deep in battle to secure a 2025 PGA Tour card.
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Each year, there are 30 cards up for grabs for Korn Ferry Tour graduates, determined by the top finishers in the season-long standings.
Former NCAA champion Braden Thornberry won the event at French Lick, a stunning Pete Dye design, with a six-under final round 66 to storm through the field and win by one. He and a dozen others secured the remaining cards that hadn’t already been allocated throughout the season.
But down the list of players who had already secured their playing rights was a familiar face to many fans on the PGA Tour. Harry Higgs, who earned cult hero status among many Americans after his shirtless celebration at the WM Phoenix Open two years ago, is back at the top table at the first time of asking.
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Higgs, 32, lost his card at the end of 2023 after falling out of the top 125 in the final FedEx Cup standings, but has earned his place back on merit thanks to wins earlier this season at the AdventHealth Championship and Visit Knoxville Open.
Granted, it’s not common for players to celebrate with champagne after a T69 finish at a tournament. Higgs finished on +13 and failed to break 74 across his four rounds, but his performance in this particular event was redundant.
Among 29 other hopefuls, Higgs is now back in the big time.
2025 Korn Ferry Tour graduates
These are the 30 players who have secured their playing rights on the PGA Tour in 2025.
1. Matt McCarty
2. Max McGreevy
3. Frankie Capan III
4. Steven Fisk
5. Tim Widing
6. Taylor Dickson
7. Brian Campbell
8. Harry Higgs
9. Thomas Rosenmueller
10. William Mouw
11. Quade Cummins
12. Ryan Gerard
13. Kevin Roy
14. Cristobal Del Solar
15. Kevin Velo
16. Braden Thornberry
17. Paul Peterson
18. Isaiah Salinda
19. Karl Vilips
20. Jackson Suber
21. Jeremy Paul
22. Mason Andersen
23. John Pak
24. Kris Ventura
25. Kaito Onishi
26. Ricky Castillo
27. Trevor Cone
28. Danny Walker
29. Aldrich Potgieter
30. Noah Goodwin
ALL ABOUT THE OPEN
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