THE FLATS – Five Yellow Jackets head to Las Vegas in an attempt to secure their PGA Tour status for 2024 … Chris Petefish secures Korn Ferry Tour status for 2024 … Andy Ogletree moves closes to winning the Order of Merit on the Asian Tour … More details below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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FIVE YELLOW JACKETS CONTINUE BATTLE FOR 2024 PGA TOUR STATUS
Five former Yellow Jackets continue their battle for spots in the FedEx Cup top 125 in points, which will ensure their exempts status for 2024, at the Shriners Children’s Open this weekend in Las Vegas. Five events remain on the FedEx Fall Schedule, which concludes with the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Ga., in November.
Chesson Hadley (No. 127), the only one of the four inside the top 125 prior to last weekend’s Sanderson Farms Championship, tied for 35th place and slipped down despite an opening-round 64. Paul Haley II (No. 140) missed the cut, while Richy Werenski (No. 147) tied for 65th and Vincent Whaley (No. 200) tied for 28th.
Stewart Cink (No. 172), who did not play the Sanderson Farms last weekend rejoins the effort this week in Las Vegas. He also sits No. 40 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings and is in position to qualify for the PGA Tour Champions playoff series.
Ross Steelman, who finished fourth on the PGA TOUR U ranking, tied for 65th while playing on a sponsor exemption, his third Tour start of 2023 and first made cut. The 2023 Tech All-American played eight Korn Ferry Tour events this summer and is exempt into the final stage of the PGA Tour Q-School.
Matt Kuchar is across the pond this weekend to play in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which is contested over Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St. Andrews Old Course in Scotland.
Solo leader in the clubhouse 👏@ChessonHadley leads by 1 @Sanderson_Champ. pic.twitter.com/jcZCeki35e
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 5, 2023
Leaderboard after Round 1 @Sanderson_Champ 🏌️♂️
1. @ChessonHadley (-8)
2. Henrik Norlander (-7)
2. @BWu97
4. @Matt_KneeSmith (-6)
4. @CBezGolf
4. @RooKnox
4. Luke List
4. @AkshayBhatia_1
4. @PeterMalnati
4. @CarlYuanGolf https://t.co/JGDrrUzZRv pic.twitter.com/9FsBDLkcUe— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 6, 2023
Matt Kuchar drains the eagle putt 🙌 #dunhilllinks pic.twitter.com/UPId0tVGrz
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 6, 2023
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PETEFISH LOCKS DOWN 2024 STATUS ON KORN FERRY TOUR
With a tie for 46th at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, Chris Petefish held his position and finished No. 45 in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings and assured himself of full Korn Ferry Tour status for 2024 and a pass to Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry.
Petefish posted a pair of runner-up finishes, a third-place finish and two other top-5s in 39 events during the 2023 season.
The final stage of the Q-school will take place December 14-17 at Dye’s Valley and Sawgrass golf clubs in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
A great year!! Two 2nd place finishes and a t8 in Panama full status for KFT next year and another round in Indiana tomorrow. Still a lot of golf to play and final stage. Congrats Chris on your talent and consistency. Big things coming.@GTGolf pic.twitter.com/Qf0Ckt0VkB
— COA Golf (@golfplanners) October 8, 2023
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OGLETREE GETS CLOSER TO ORDER OF MERIT TITLE
American Andy Ogletree took another step closer to securing both the Asian Tour and International Series Order of Merits by closing with a 69, which featured a hole-in-one on the par-three fourth, to finish in a tie for third with Thailand’s Poom Saksansin, in with a 68. The 2019 U.S. Amateur champion shot rounds of 68-71-68-69 to surpass the $1 million mark in earnings and hold on to a substantial lead in both races.
Ogletree’s ace was the result of a magnificent five iron from 230 yards that flew straight into the cup.
He said: “Yeah, it was crazy. I didn’t see it. I just had a really bad hole on three and was trying to decide between a four and a five. I said let’s hit the five and give it a chance, and it flew in. Crazy. We heard it hit the pin, but we didn’t know where it went. We got up there, and there it was in the hole.”
It was his ninth hole in one and he also chipped in on the next hole for a birdie.
A slam dunk hole-in-one on the fourth, followed by a chip-in birdie on the next. 🤯 @andy_ogletree sends the Tampines course into a frenzy with some incredible shots on Sunday morning at the International Series Singapore 🇸🇬⛳️🔥#InternationalSeriesSingapore pic.twitter.com/yyVhMU7sXr
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) October 8, 2023
