Ben Kohles had one objective, and that was to lock up a PGA Tour card for 2027. He had two options and chose to follow his hunch.<\/p>\n
Kohles, who won the BMW Charity Pro-Am the first week in June, was No. 19 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list heading into the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, where the top 20 earn PGA Tour cards for next year.<\/p>\n
So he got on a plane to Japan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no real way of knowing what it was going to take points-wise,\u201d Kohles said before going to the airport for the long flight home. \u201cI was just betting on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
It appears to have paid off. Kohles closed with a 3-under 68 in the Baycurrent Classic and tied for 17th, and those 48 points moved him to No. 80 in the FedExCup. He\u2019s not a mathematical lock to finish in the top 100, but with only five events left in the FedEx Fall \u2014 he\u2019s going to play four of them \u2014 he should be all set.<\/p>\n
Kohles was 17th on the Korn Ferry Tour points when he chose not to play the last three events, instead going to the PGA Tour stop in Asheville, North Carolina, (tie for 15th) and Utah (tie for 13th), going from 96th to 84th in the FedExCup.<\/p>\n
It was quite the juggling act.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked it at like, I could play the last three Korn Ferry events and miss the first three in the fall and lock up my card. At the same time, I\u2019ve been doing this long enough,\u201d he said, pausing to chuckle. \u201cThe money is one thing \u2014 it\u2019s a little more on the PGA Tour \u2014 but knowing how I was playing, I thought I could move up in the fall standings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kohles was coming off a poor year and had only conditional status. He started with nine Korn Ferry Tour events in his first 11 starts.<\/p>\n