Former top-ranked amateur Braden Thornberry wins Korn Ferry Tour Championship, joins Aussie Karl Vilips as one of 30 to earn PGA Tour promotion

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[PHOTO: Mike Mulholland]

Braden Thornberry’s can’t-miss label that he carried into professional golf in 2018 slowly eroded over time, the PGA Tour a moving target for him, until one remarkable week culminated with his victory today in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

The victory, the first of his professional career, allowed him to jump from 51st to 16th in the Korn Ferry Tour standings, with the top 30 earning PGA Tour cards.

“It’s amazing,” Thornberry said, unable to keep his emotions in check and wiping away tears. “I played good all year, and just hadn’t quite got it to work out for me. For this to all come together today is just special.

“It’s a weird thing, because it’s getting my first pro win as well as getting to the PGA Tour. I worked so hard to get here. A lot of stuff hasn’t quite gone my way over the past five years or so. To finally have something go my way and to play well at the right time is just amazing.”

Thornberry, 27, was once No.1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He won the prestigious Haskins Award given to the top college player while at the University of Mississippi in 2017 and won 10 college tournaments. In 2017, a 20-year-old playing in the PGA Tour’s FedEx St Jude Classic as an amateur, Thornberry introduced himself to the golf world at large by tying for fourth.

He was unable to live up to the hype, however, and has been chasing a PGA Tour card since, finally earning one today. His rounds of 71-72-70-66 on the Pete Dye Course at Indiana’s French Lick Golf Resort, a 72-hole score of nine-under 279, gave him a one-stroke victory over Alistair Docherty, Doc Redman and Brian Campbell. Of those three, only Campbell earned a promotion to the PGA Tour by finishing seventh in the KFT standings.

Noah Goodwin grabbed the 30th and final position. The 24-year-old from Michigan birdied the ninth hole, his last of the day, then had to wait for more than two hours before his fate was determined. When the final putt dropped for the event he had dropped four spots in the Korn Ferry Tour standings, but it was just enough.

“I always fight until the last putt drops every single round,” an emotional Goodwin said. “I have nothing better to do out there except just give it my all.

“I knew I’ve put in the work, I knew my game was there. I just fought the entire time.

“Seven-year-old me would be really proud right now.”

Among other notable players to earn the PGA Tour promotion were Australia’s Karl Vilips [above], who won on the Korn Ferry Tour in August, Matt McCarty, who won three KFT events and finished first in points, former PGA Tour pro Harry Higgs and former Pepperdine University star William Mouw.

Among notable players to fail to earn their tour cards were Sam Bennett, the 2022 US Amateur champion, who was low amateur in the 2023 Masters, finishing tied for 16th, and Doc Redman, the 2017 US Amateur champion. Redman made double-bogey on the 15th hole on Sunday and a bogey on the 17th before closing with a birdie to tie for second place. Alistair Docherty ended the week in a three-way tie for second place. A two-way tie for second would’ve given him tour status for 2025.

Here are the 30 players who earned PGA Tour cards:

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. Christobal 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 Anderson
23. John Pak
24. Kris Ventura
25. Kaito Onishi
26. Ricky Castillo
27. Trevor Cone
28. Danny Walker
29. Aldrich Potgieter
30. Noah Goodwin

First five to miss out:

1. Sam Bennett
2. Alistair Docherty
3. Trent Phillips
4. Zach Banchou
5. Trey Winstead