{"id":924593,"date":"2026-10-07T23:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924593\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T23:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:32:12","slug":"local-golfer-set-for-tour-championship-with-pga-ticket-on-the-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924593\/","title":{"rendered":"Local golfer set for tour championship with PGA ticket on the line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drew Nesbitt enters the final event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour schedule ranked 42nd, leaving him little margin to secure one of the 20 PGA Tour promotions available<\/p>\n

Drew Nesbitt will play the final tournament of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour schedule this weekend.<\/p>\n

The Korn Ferry Tour Championship is slated to tee off tomorrow in Virginia and the circuit\u2019s top 20 players will earn promotion to the PGA Tour at the close of play on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Korn Ferry Tour is the main development circuit for the PGA Tour and is often likened to AAA baseball\u2019s relationship to the major leagues. Its season-ending event is restricted to the top 60 players who will compete for a $1.5-million purse, with $270,000 to the winner (all figures US).<\/p>\n

“I’m very excited to have earned my way here,” said Nesbitt via text.\u00a0“I know what I need to do in order to find my way into the top 20.”<\/p>\n

Nesbitt, who grew up near Horseshoe Valley, needs to win or finish alone in second to squeeze inside the top-20 cutoff. The 31-year-old is currently 42nd on the Korn Ferry points list.<\/p>\n

“I’m proud of the position I’ve put myself in … I’m solely focused on the details needed to execute at a high level this week (then) we’ll see where I end up.”<\/p>\n

Powered by a victory earlier this year at an event in Springfield, Illinois<\/a>, Nesbitt has earned almost $230,000. Overall, he has made just nine of 21 cuts but his tournament victory \u2013 and the $180,000 cheque that came with it \u2013 clinched his Korn Ferry Tour card for next season.<\/p>\n

Assuming he doesn\u2019t do it this weekend, Nesbitt has one more opportunity to earn his PGA Tour card at the final stage of qualifying next month.<\/p>\n

Nesbitt is amid a remarkable career turnaround. A pro since 2014, Nesbitt was transitioning to a teaching position and was employed as the director of instruction at National Pines on the Barrie\/Innisfil border last year while still playing the PGA Tour Americas circuit part-time.<\/p>\n

After some high finishes in the spring of 2025, a win in Victoria last fall clinched his Korn Ferry Tour card<\/a> for 2026. He then quit his job at National Pines and moved to Florida to prepare for the step up in competition.<\/p>\n

Though he missed his first five cuts to begin 2026, Nesbitt displayed flashes of good form until his breakthrough victory in the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln in June.<\/p>\n

Beyond the win, Nesbitt has turned heads in other ways in 2026, including making an ace at an event<\/a> in Savannah, Georgia, his fourth hole-in-one of his career. Nesbitt also carded a round of 60 during the week he won \u2013 the fourth-lowest round on the Korn Ferry Tour this season.<\/p>\n

He also had one stretch where his tee ball found the fairway 29 consecutive times \u2013 the 10th best streak on tour. Nesbitt is also among the Korn Ferry leaders in \u201cbounceback,\u201d a stat that measures how often a player follows a bogey with a birdie.<\/p>\n

Nesbitt\u2019s 2026 tournament victory also provides a nice bit of geographical synergy to his career titles: he has now won professional tour events in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, when he won that country\u2019s national open in 2019.<\/p>\n

Nesbitt is a graduate of Eastview Secondary School in Barrie and his father, Dave, is the former owner of Shanty Bay Country Club.<\/p>\n

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