Canadians Etienne Papineau and Myles Creighton have already noticed that the fields on the Korn Ferry Tour are deeper than the events they’re used to playing. But they’re hanging in there two tournaments into the second-tier circuit’s season.

Papineau and Creighton are in the Korn Ferry Tour’s top 30 entering The Panama Championship this week, after earning their way onto the circuit from the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada. 

Papineau, who is 25th on the points list, said although there are great players on the third tier of men’s professional golf, it’s apparent that everyone is an excellent player on the Korn Ferry Tour.

“I feel like any player can win at any time, to be honest,” said Papineau from Club de Golf de Panama in Panama City on Wednesday. “Every player is really good. I mean, they’re all here for the same reason: to get their PGA Tour card.”

Creighton won the PGA Tour Latinoamerica’s Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship in Colombia last season and finished second overall in that circuit’s order of merit to move up to the Korn Ferry Tour. He agreed with Papineau that the Latinoamerica and Canada Tours — now merged into the PGA Tour Americas starting this year — had solid players at the top of their rankings but were more inconsistent down the standings.

“I think if you ran a PGA Tour Americas event on the courses that we played in the last two weeks, I think the winning score would be very similar,” said Creighton. “It’s just maybe to finish 20th or 25th is like a couple shots better, or to make a cut, it’s very marginally different. 

“You grow with it, as well. You don’t tend to notice that the competition is a little tougher, because you’re becoming a better player and you’re adapting to that.”

Papineau, from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., tied for 44th at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic on Jan. 17 to start the year and followed that up with a tie for 14th at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic on Jan. 24.

Creighton, from Digby, N.S., tied for 25th at the Great Exuma Classic and followed that up with a tie for 27th at the Great Abaco Classic. 

Although the way he plays his game remains the same, Papineau said he’s changing his approach off the course.

“I would say in my preparation, I think I’ll be able to be more careful with that,” he said. “It’s a longer season than PGA Tour Canada. We have 25 events during the season. 

“It starts much earlier so I’m going to be playing pretty much all year up until October.”

Both Canadians are on the Korn Ferry Tour with limited status that only guarantees them spots in the first eight events of the year. There will be a reshuffle after the first four tournaments and, if they’re high enough in the standings, they’ll have their membership extended. 

If they’re still in the top 30 at the end of the year they’ll earn cards on the PGA Tour, the top men’s golf circuit in the world.

“It’s so important to get off to a good start right from the beginning,” said Creighton. “You want to play well early and put yourself in a good position early to then build off that. You don’t want to be playing from behind in that sense. 

“It just gives you a little comfort knowing that you’ve made a cut, you’ve accumulate a couple of points, and you’re in a good spot to start the year.”

Papineau and Creighton will be joined at Club de Golf de Panama by Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., Edmonton’s Wil Bateman and Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont. Yellamaraju is tied for 95th on the Korn Ferry Tour rankings, while Gligic and Bateman have yet to play on the second-tier circuit this season.

Three Canadians have earned 2024 Korn Ferry Tour membership following the final round of the PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry on Monday in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont. finished T14 at 4-under. Étienne Papineau of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. finished T38 at 1-under, and Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S. finished T45 at even par. They will join fellow Canadian Wil Bateman on the Korn Ferry Tour to start the 2024 season.

Yellamaraju recorded rounds of 71-69-68-68-276 to earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for next season after successfully making his way through both second stage and final stage of Q-School.

Papineau previously earned 2024 Korn Ferry Tour membership by finishing fourth overall in the 2023 Fortinet Cup standings on the PGA TOUR Canada (now PGA TOUR Americas). Papineau’s T38 finish at Q-School with rounds of 74-67-68-70-279 improves his Korn Ferry Tour status for the coming season.

Creighton also previously earned his 2024 membership by finishing second on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica (now PGA TOUR Americas) season point rankings. Creighton shot rounds of 70-68-72-70-280 to finish inside the cut line of players who are awarded Korn Ferry Tour cards through Q-school and improve his status for 2024 as well.

Three other Canadians were competing in Ponte Vedra at final stage including, Stuart Macdonald who finished at 7-over, Thomas Giroux at 9-over and Jared Du Toit at 10-over. They will have conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2024.

Harrison Endycott of Australia finished atop the leaderboard at 15-under, Americans Trace Cowe (11-under) and Brian Hale Jr. (9-under) finished second and third, while Raul Pereda of Mexico and Hayden Springer of the United States finished tied for fourth at 8-under to earn their 2024 PGA TOUR cards.

The top five players and ties earned their full status for 2024 on the PGA TOUR. The next 40 finishers and ties earned exempt status through multiple reshuffles of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, with the first 25 finishers and ties being subject to the third reshuffle (12 guaranteed starts), and any remaining finishers within the category being subject to the second reshuffle (eight guaranteed starts).

This marked the first time since 2012 that PGA TOUR cards were awarded during the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School. The field of 168-players played two rounds at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and two rounds at Sawgrass Country Club. The final round was originally scheduled for Sunday but was postponed due to heavy rain in northern Florida.

Calgary, Alta. – Étienne Papineau finishes his PGA Tour Canada season with a Korn Ferry status card for the first time in his career. He finished 4^th in the Fortinet Cup rankings.

Papineau has been a Team Canada member for six years. Native of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu just outside of Montreal and alumni of West Virginia University.

He started off his season strong when he won the season opener the Royal Beach Victoria Open presented by Times Colonist. He finished runner-up at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open. He also finished 4 times in the top 5.

Étienne will receive conditional status on the Korn Ferry tour. The top five finishers are also exempt into the final stage of the PGA TOUR Qualifying School. Since he is the top Canadian finisher in the standings he will receive an exemption into the 2024 RBC Canadian Open.

“If I just keep doing what I’m doing … There are some little details that I need to work on and get better at, but golf game-wise, I think I’m trending in the right direction. So just adjust those little details and the stuff that I would like to work on, and I think we’ll be there one day.” Said Papineau when asked about his future on the PGA Tour.

Etienne Papineau is in the home stretch.

There are two events left on the PGA Tour Canada schedule and Papineau sits third in the Fortinet Cup standings, the top-ranked Canadian on the third-tier tour.

If he can hold on to his spot, he’ll be promoted to the Korn Ferry Tour. If Papineau can move up to the top spot, he’ll also earn an exemption into the RBC Canadian Open.

“It’s part of my goals to move up,” Papineau said Wednesday from Brainerd, Minn. “Obviously, I want to get to the PGA Tour, but if I can get on the Korn Ferry Tour next year, that will be a definitely a big step up.

“I’ve been working for that for a long time. It would definitely mean a lot and it would be definitely a big step in my career.”

Papineau, from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., is one of several Canadians in the field for this week’s CRMC Championship at Craguns Legacy Course in Minnesota.

Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald is fourth on the PGA Tour Canada’s standings and also in a strong position to advance his career.

The tour’s season wraps up next week at the Fortinet Cup Championship on the Talons course at Calgary’s Country Hills Golf Club.

Papineau has earned 944 points this season, thanks to two top-10 finishes including a win at the Royal Beach Victoria Open on June 18.

He’s 266 points behind American Sam Choi, the overall points leader on the PGA Tour Canada.

“I think just being really consistent over the summer has been great for me,” said Papineau. “I think that’s why I’ve had good performances.

“We’re just trying to keep it going.”

Surprisingly, Papineau also credits a couple of off-season injuries for his success. He took several months off to heal his foot and his knee before returning to play in March.

He said that the forced rest was helpful for him with the grind of a professional golf season.

“I think that helped me reset back to zero and start all over again,” said Papineau, who works with Golf Canada’s men’s coach Derek Ingram and University of Montreal coach Pierre Dugas. “When I got back to it, we created a good game plan with my coaches, and I’ve been following it.”

GRANT THORNTON INVITAITONAL – Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners will be partners at the Grant Thornton Invitational, a unique event that will have players from the LPGA and PGA Tours compete together in a co-sanctioned tournament for equal prize money of US$4 million. They both represented Canada at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The Grant Thornton Invitational is Dec. 4-10 in Naples, Fla.

LPGA TOUR – Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., and Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., are in the field at this week’s Portland Classic. Henderson tied for 13th at the CPKC Women’s Open in Vancouver on Sunday to move her up to eighth in the LPGA Tour’s rankings. Szeryk missed the cut in Vancouver, dropping to 91st in the standings.

FARMINGTON, Utah – Canadian Roger Sloan capped a final-round 5-under 66 with birdies at Oakridge Country Club’s par-4 17th and 18th, hitting back-to-back approaches inside 10 feet, including a near hole-out to set up the winning putt, en route to victory at the Utah Championship. Sloan’s closing birdies moved him to 24-under par for the tournament, one stroke ahead of runner-up finisher Christopher Petefish, who did not make a bogey all week.

The win snaps a winless drought of just over nine years for Sloan, who earned his only previous Korn Ferry Tour win at the 2014 Nova Scotia Open in his native Canada.

“It feels great,” Sloan said. “To (win) here is special just because this place reminds me so much of being back home. I love Salt Lake City. It’s a great place. Anytime you win, though, is very special. This one, my family was here. To see my kids run onto the green and hug them, that’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

Sloan began Sunday’s final round one stroke behind outright 54-hole leader Kevin Dougherty at 20-under par. An eagle at the par-5 seventh and back-to-back birdies at the par-4 eighth and ninth moved Sloan into the outright lead at 23-under par. Sloan fell back to the pack after bogeys at the par-3 11th and par-4 13th, and Petefish jumped in front at 23-under par with an eagle at the par-5 15th.

Petefish eventually made a miraculous par save at No. 18, rebounding from a second shot which hit a tree. Petefish signed for a bogey-free 5-under 66 and became the first player since Brandon Crick at the 2021 Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS to finish a 72-hole event without a bogey. Every other player in the field made at least three bogeys (or worse) this week.

Once Sloan stuffed his approach inside of 3 feet on the 72nd hole, Petefish ceased playoff preparations and settled for a career-high finish and third top-10 in his 34th career start on the Korn Ferry Tour.

“I knew I was tied for the lead,” Sloand said. “I knew once I had that (birdie) putt on No. 17. When I hit a really good putt on No. 17, I had a feeling we might be able to do something on No. 18. I just had a perfect number, hit a 56-degree wedge, and I hit it 95 (yards). Couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Sloan previously graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour at the conclusion of the 2014 and 2018 seasons. Sloan played four consecutive seasons on the PGA TOUR, until a No. 160 finish on the 2021-22 FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List relegated him to the Korn Forn Ferry Tour for 2023.

The win moves Sloan inside the top 30 of the Korn Ferry Tour Points List and into contention for a return to the PGA TOUR.

“I haven’t had the greatest of years results-wise, but it’s because I’ve been having to work on my game more than I have lately,” said Sloan, who entered the week without a top-10 in 14 starts this season. “I really just got to keep chipping away at what I’ve been doing all year, stay committed to that. The goal is for me to be the best player I could be, hopefully get back to the PGA TOUR soon, but I’m just taking it one day at a time.

“While this is great and we’re going to enjoy it, it’s back to the grindstone next week.”

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Ben Kohles became the first two-time winner of the Korn Ferry Tour season on Sunday when he seized on Ben Silverman’s mistake on the final hole of regulation and beat him with a birdie in the playoff in the HomeTown Lenders Championship.

Kohles, from Texas, who won in Chile at the start of the month, closed with a 3-under 67. It looked like it would come up short until Silverman took double bogey on the 18th hole and to fall into a playoff.

Silverman, from Thornhill, Ont., was also looking for his second win of the year.

Kohles and Silverman now are Nos. 1 and 2 on the points list and assured of finishing in the top 30 to earn PGA Tour cards for next season.

Kohles won for the fourth time on the Korn Ferry Tour. His previous two wins were more than a decade ago.

Canada’s Ben Silverman fired a final round, three-under 68 to tie for third, just one shot out of a sudden death playoff on Sunday at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Lecom Suncoast Classic.

Silverman, who already has a win this season at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, finished the event at 20-under par.

Wil Bateman tied for 18th at 14-under after a 69 on Sunday, while Roger Sloan finished with a 74 to tie for 36th at 10-under.

GREAT ABACO, The Bahamas – Ben Silverman shot 118 in his first Canadian Junior Golf Association tournament, an unsurprising result given he was 16 years old, relatively new to the game, and still thought of himself as a hockey player rather than an aspiring professional golfer. As Silverman lined up a playoff-forcing 3-footer for double bogey on the 72nd hole of The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club Wednesday afternoon, surrendering the last two shots of what was at one point an eight-stroke lead, it probably felt like a putt for 118.

“I got way ahead of myself in my head, thinking I already won the tournament,” Silverman said.

Silverman made the putt, signed for a 2-under 70 and caught a shuttle ride back up the fairway of the par-5 18th, where he hit shots into two different penalty areas no more than 10 minutes prior.

Cody Blick joined Silverman on the 18th tee this time around. Blick could hardly believe he had a chance at his first Korn Ferry Tour win. Just under a half hour ago, Blick figured a closing birdie for a round of 6-under 66 simply added a little extra flavor to the night’s dinner, as it took him to 15-under par, three strokes clear of a four-way tie for third place and more than enough for back-to-back runner-up finishes. Impressive stuff for someone who was without a single top-25 in 26 career Korn Ferry Tour starts preceding the 2023 season. Yes, dinner would taste phenomenal.

This trip down the 18th fairway, though, it was Blick who put two shots into the same penalty areas Silverman found in regulation, first on the lay up, then the approach. Silverman nearly found the rocky native area up the right side of No. 18 with his lay up as well, but a fortunate bounce off the rocks put him in the fairway and with a routine wedge shot into the two-tiered green.

Silverman left his approach on the front half of the green and two-putted up the slope to his second career Korn Ferry Tour victory.

“It’s amazing. A little overwhelming,” Silverman said. “Honestly almost broke down in the fairway in regulation. It worked out in the end. I’ll learn a lot of lessons from that. Once I knew it was a playoff, Tom Whitney said in the scoring room, ‘No matter what, it was a great week.’ I just wanted to be more committed on my shots the second go round and just give it my all.”

Silverman’s journey to PGA TOUR membership and a second Korn Ferry Tour victory was as unlikely as the fact he lost an eight-stroke lead only to come back and win the tournament in a playoff.

A native of Thornhill, Ont., Silverman played competitive hockey until around the time he turned 16 and still measured 5 feet, 10 inches. Too small and too worried about getting hurt. There were brief stints in volleyball and baseball, even ultimate frisbee. Silverman eventually found himself at a golf camp during a family trip and stuck with the game.

He eventually entered a tournament and shot 118. He graduated high school with a handicap index of 12. He made his way to a Johnson & Wales University satellite campus in Miami, which offered a handful of academic tracks but was known for its culinary program. He walked on to the golf team there and, two years later, did the same at Florida Atlantic University. He turned professional in 2010 and toiled on the mini-tours for four years until he earned PGA TOUR Canada membership. By 2016, he earned Korn Ferry Tour membership, but he missed 11 of 16 cuts as a rookie and yet again found himself without status.

At Final Stage of the 2016 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, things finally turned around. A T6 there ensured Silverman had nearly half a season before he was subject to reshuffles in 2017.

A run of four consecutive top-10s in July and August, highlighted by a victory at the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper, earned him a PGA TOUR card.

Silverman spent two seasons on TOUR and struggled through the 46-event 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour season, finishing 115th on the points list. Playing from the Past Champion 5-10 Years category in 2022, Silverman made just seven starts as he played Monday qualifiers and found himself at the back end of the Korn Ferry Tour’s priority ranking.

Last October, Silverman missed the cut by three strokes at Second Stage of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, setting him up for another year of chasing Monday qualifiers and hoping for sponsor exemptions in the 5-10 category. Around Thanksgiving, Silverman got a call from folks at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club, the second event of the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season. The tournament awarded him a sponsor exemption.

As the sun set behind the 18th green at The Abaco Club Wednesday night, Silverman became the first sponsor exemption to win a Korn Ferry Tour event since Martin Trainer won the 2018 El Bosque Mexico Championship. And without the help of a tournament volunteer, it may never have happened.

“I had a great start to the morning,” Silverman said. “But I had some butterflies, so I was doing some meditations to kind of calm down. I guess I went longer than I thought. I was looking at my phone… I’ll catch the 8:30 (a.m.) shuttle, no big deal. I get there, and there’s no 8:30 shuttle.”

Silverman negotiated a deal with a shuttle driver, a local resident and tournament volunteer named Victor. The two were on the road and still on Silverman’s intended schedule. Victor asked where Silverman stood in the tournament.

“Leading,” said Silverman, who carried a two-stroke lead into the final round. “He smacked the steering wheel like, ‘Let’s go!’”

Victor watched from the hospitality tent behind the 18th green as the wild scene (did we mention heavy rain showers appeared seemingly out of nowhere, soaked Silverman and the rest of the final group, and left behind a double rainbow?) unfolded along the shores of The Abaco Club. The two shared a lighthearted moment and a celebratory drink at the end of it all. Neither of them would be driving anywhere on this night.

Club ambassador and 2011 Open Championship winner Darren Clarke presented Silverman with perhaps the greatest perk of winning this particular Korn Ferry Tour event: membership at The Abaco Club.

Guess that explains Silverman’s fortunate bounce in the playoff.

“I had no idea, but that’s unbelievable,” Silverman said. “You can guarantee I’m going to bring my wife, friends, sponsors, we’re definitely coming back for a vacation.”

Silverman won’t need an exemption or shuttle schedule for the trip. Surely a new friend will greet him at the airport.

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SAVANNAH, Ga. – For the first time at the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament’s Final Stage, the Korn Ferry Tour will provide live streaming coverage of the final round from The Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia. Live streaming will be available Sunday, November 7 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET on the NBC Sports App and GolfChannel.com, with coverage highlighting a bubble group seeking guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts for 2022.

The Final Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, commonly known as Q-School, is the last phase of the competitive process for obtaining status on the Korn Ferry Tour for the following season. The medalist(s) at the Final Stage of Q-School receives fully exempt status for the upcoming season, while finishers 2-10 (and ties) receive guaranteed starts through the first 12 events of the season, and finishers 11-40 (and ties) earn guaranteed starts through the first eight events of the season.

“As we continue exploring innovative ways to connect with our fans, we’re excited to provide live tournament coverage of the final round of Q-School Final Stage for the first time,” said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin. “The livestream broadcast will provide another valuable opportunity to showcase some of the incredible stories of our players, as well as highlight the grueling, yet rewarding, journey our players face as they compete and work their way to the Korn Ferry Tour.”

After being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Q-School has returned in 2021, with pre-qualifying, First and Second Stages contested in recent months at various sites across the United States. Final Stage of Q-School is set for November 4-7 at The Landings Club’s Marshwood and Magnolia courses in Savannah, Georgia. This marks the first year The Landings Club will host Final Stage of Q-School.

The livestream will seek to tell the unique stories of Q-School as players bid for a top-40 finish. Play-by-play host Brian Katrek will be joined in the booth by analysts Andres Gonzales, a former Korn Ferry Tour player, and APGA golfer Doug Smith. They’ll be joined by on-course reporters Gary Christian and James Nitties, as well as Teryn Gregson, who will handle the post-round interviews.

In addition to the livestream’s availability on the NBC Sports App and GolfChannel.com, the first 30 minutes of the broadcast will also be live on the Korn Ferry Tour’s social media channels, including Twitter and Facebook, from 10 – 10:30 a.m. ET on November 7.

For more information about the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, please visit PGATOUR.com.

The 2021 season of the Korn Ferry Qualifying Tournament season saw several worthy players take their shot at advancing through pre-qualifying, First and Second Stage and Final Stage at various sites across the country. The final stage of Q-School was contested at The Landings Club in Savannah, Ga from Nov. 4-8.

American Zack Fischer became the first two-time medalist in the modern era (since 2013) of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament’s Final Stage, breaking a four-way tie for medalist honors with a 12-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole. Fischer watched as final-group playing partner Andrew Kozan’s 8-foot birdie putt slid past the cup, thus securing his second Final Stage win. The 32-year-old Texan carded a 2-under 69 Monday on The Landings Club’s Marshwood Course and finished at 14-under par.

With the victory, Fischer, who topped a field loaded with future PGA TOUR winners at the 2013 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament’s Final Stage, secured fully exempt status for the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season

Canadians Albin Choi and Drew Nesbit advanced to the final stage with Choi finishing 5-over, and Nesbit recording a score of plus-8.

Canadian results are as follows:

Final Stage

Stage Two

Stage One

For more information on the Korn Ferry Qualifying Tournament click here.