The Korn Ferry Tour is already starting to feel the trickle-down effects of sweeping changes up on the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour late last year announced reductions in field sizes for 2026 and eligibility changes for 2025, most notably taking away 10 cards from the KFT and decreasing the number of players who maintain fully exempt status via the FedExCup from 125 to 100 players. Those changes are expected to cause PGA Tour members to play more this year, while those players who finished Nos. 126-200 in last year’s FedExCup are anticipating getting into fewer PGA Tour fields.
And thus, the latest opening of pandora’s box:
Several players who earned guaranteed KFT starts this year via last December’s PGA Tour Q-School found themselves on alternate lists for the first two events of the 2025 KFT season – both in the Bahamas, and the first of which starts a week from Sunday – after those fields were finalized on Friday.
The news was first reported by Monday Q Info and confirmed with the PGA Tour by GolfChannel.com.
This, of course, is due to a greater number of FedExCup Nos. 126-200 players, who are prioritized above players who earned eight guaranteed KFT starts, committing to a KFT schedule, at least early in the year. Players with eight guaranteed starts include those who finished among the next 40 finishers and ties (and outside the next 25 finishers and ties) at final stage of Q-School, plus medalists from five second-stage sites.
To fix the problem, the PGA Tour on Friday announced that it is expanding both fields to 144 players to accommodate the alternates who should’ve been exempt – nine for the season-opening Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis and 11 for the following week’s Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.
“We closely monitored the fields for the first two events of the season and, as we approached the commitment deadline, it became evident a variety of factors were impacting the field list, which saw 20-plus additional commitments due to less withdrawals compared to last year’s fields,” KFT president Alex Baldwin said in a message to players on Friday. “We felt factors such as a new, championship-caliber golf course in an easier-to-access location in Nassau, an earlier and combined commitment deadline alongside changing dynamics of both the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour schedules, contributed to this change.”
Unlike when the PGA Tour expanded fields for last year’s Valspar Championship, Texas Children’s Houston Open and Valero Texas Open, the KFT will keep both fields at 144 players, pulling from the alternate list for future withdrawals.
The KFT holds four tournaments in South and Central America following the Bahamas fortnight, though all but Panama (144 players) are 156-player fields.
Petr Hruby, a first-year pro out of the University of Washington who was a second-stage medalist, checked his Links Portal last week and was surprised to see he was sixth alternate for the season opener. “But then in the back of my mind, I was like, Well, they said ‘guaranteed,’” Hruby said Friday night via phone.
Hruby flew from his home in Czech Republic to Jacksonville, Florida, last week to settle into a friend’s condo, where he’ll be based for at least the first few months of the year. As he practiced at TPC Sawgrass on Friday morning, Hruby, who had dropped a spot on the alternate list (after previously climbing it), still hadn’t heard how, or even if, he’d be guaranteed his Bahamas debut. Then word popped in his email inbox shortly after 4 p.m. ET.
“Sweet, I don’t have to cancel flights for my girlfriend, my mom and my sister, who are all coming over from Czech Republic,” Hruby said. “At the same time, worst case, I was thinking we’ll go have a vacation in the Bahamas.”
Hruby was already dreaming of pina coladas, which he promised his girlfriend before he left for Q-School.
Friday’s news also could potentially help Shad Tuten.
Tuten finished No. 78 in KFT points last season, impressive considering he made just 13 starts after missing the first few months of the year while recovering from a heart issue, which popped up after Tuten missed earning his PGA Tour card at the 2023 KFT Championship following a two-shot penalty on the 15th hole of his final round. Tuten could not improve his conditional status at final stage, though in previous years, finishing just three spots – and 11.5 points – outside of maintaining full KFT status would’ve likely gotten him into both Bahamas events. Instead, prior to Friday’s field expansions, he was buried on the alternate lists (he’s now a handful of WDs away from getting in). And making matters worse, his request for a medical extension was denied because of a miscommunication.
Tuten said he and his agent were told that he could play up to 12 events last season and still be eligible for a medical, and he was also under the belief, he says, that postseason starts did not count toward that total, which ended up not being true.
“I had spoken to an immense amount of people about how it all worked, and I believe this is what caused my confusion,” said Tuten, who included “some staff members and longstanding Korn Ferry/PGA Tour members” in that group.
“Honestly, it doesn’t feel real after what happened to me just a couple years back,” Tuten added. “This upcoming year will be the hardest yet with status that isn’t great. This won’t break me, and I will come back; I always have.”
