Korn Ferry Tour set to join PGA in June 11 restart

May 12th, 2020 / Anthony Powter

The Korn Ferry Tour schedule has been officially set for the remainder of 2020 with five new events on its calendar.

The tour was halted in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic after playing just six events. Like the PGA Tour, it is targeting June 11 for its restart date, and it will resume play with a new event, the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass.

Korn Ferry Tour Korn Ferry Tour

A total of 17 events will be played for the remainder of the year. The 23 total tournaments from 2020 will be combined with events in 2021 to comprise a wraparound 2020-21 season.

The schedule additions mean there will be 23 events this year as part of the 2020-21 season. The original 2020 schedule featured 28 tournaments, including three Korn Ferry Tour Finals events.

As with the PGA Tour, the first four Korn Ferry events upon resumption of play will be contested without fans present.

Six Korn Ferry Tour events had been completed at the time of the coronavirus shutdown. Last week the PGA Tour announced new eligibility parameters for 2021 that will prevent the traditional graduation of the top 25 Korn Ferry players following the end of the season. Instead players will compete in a longer wraparound season, with full cards available in August 2021.

The top-10 Korn Ferry players after this year’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship will gain entry into PGA Tour opposite events next season but will not have full PGA Tour status.

With plenty of passion and dialogue around starts and playing privileges Korn Ferry golfer Brady Schnell apologised during the week for calling Vijay Singh a selfish “piece of trash” and other choice words for entering a Korn Ferry Tour event.

Singh, a 34-time winner on the PGA Tour, plans to use his lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour to play in the Korn Ferry Challenge when the tour’s developmental circuit returns.

In a series of since-deleted tweets, Schnell sharply criticised the 57-year-old World Golf Hall of Famer who has earned more than US$71 million on the PGA Tour for potentially taking a spot from a Korn Ferry Tour regular when Singh is just shy the start of the Champions Tour to resume.

Important to note in all of this outrage is that TPC Sawgrass is Singh’s home track, and as such, it may all be little more than a case of him wanting to play at home before returning to the Champions Tour at some point.