Johnny Keefer\u2019s chances of qualifying for his first Masters next April just received a nice boost.<\/p>\n
Keefer, this year\u2019s Korn Ferry Tour points winner, cracked the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career last week, but this week\u2019s three-spot slide showed that he\u2019d need at least one world-ranked start to grab that top-50 exemption into Augusta National at year\u2019s end. Enter next week\u2019s World Wide Technology Championship, where Keefer will compete as a sponsor exemption.<\/p>\n
While the Masters got rid of its exemptions for PGA Tour fall winners, a win for Keefer in Mexico would move him safely inside the world\u2019s top 50.<\/p>\n
There also are opportunities for Keefer to earn sponsor exemptions into the last two PGA Tour events of the fall, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and RSM Classic, and Keefer could also Monday-qualify for both if he doesn\u2019t score an invite. He could find some place internationally to compete as well, or he could take his chances next year, either winning on the PGA Tour or getting inside the second top-50 cutoff, the week prior to the Masters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019ve accomplished so far has been really awesome, just to be in this position to even think about the Masters next year before even playing a PGA Tour event as a full-time member,\u201d Keefer said a couple weeks ago on Golf Channel\u2019s College Golf Talk podcast. \u201cI\u2019m not a huge fan of trying to think too much about the numbers. If I get into an event or two this fall, I\u2019ll be super excited and ready to go out there and ready to compete, but I think it\u2019s the same as thinking about the cut line instead of thinking about winning. \u2026 I\u2019m not trying to just make it to the Masters; even if I don\u2019t make it this year, I\u2019ll have plenty of opportunities next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The WWT Championship will take place at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal course at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico.<\/p>\n
Two recent major winners are in the field, J.J. Spaun and Wyndham Clark, as is last week\u2019s winner Michael Brennan, who was headed to the KFT next year before making the most of his sponsor invite into the Bank of Utah Championship.<\/p>\n
The other three unrestricted sponsor exemptions are Will Gordon, Peter Knade and current Florida State junior Tyler Weaver, who won last spring\u2019s Cabo Collegiate.<\/p>\n
David Lipsky, currently No. 100 in FedExCup points, is in the field, though No. 101 Billy Horschel is not; Horschel isn\u2019t in danger of losing his fully-exempt status, though. That\u2019s not the case for No. 102 Sami Valimaki, No. 103 Isaiah Salinda and No. 104 Patrick Fishburn, all of whom are playing Cabo.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the full field list:<\/p>\n
The World Wide Technology Championship became the first official PGA TOUR event played in Mexico in the modern era when it debuted in 2007, and holds the distinction as the first official TOUR event played outside the U.S. or Canada.<\/p>\n
This year marks the 19th playing of the event\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Hdsq2ouO6q<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) October 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n