Scottie Scheffler fired a 4-under 67 to capture the opening event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals by two shots Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. The rookie out of Texas also took a huge step toward fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour.
Scheffler birdied three of his first six holes and only needed a pair of birdies on the back nine of a difficult Scarlet Course to finish at 10 under, ahead of a three-way tie for second that included Scheffler’s former teammate Beau Hossler, LSU product Ben Taylor and past Tour winner Brendon Todd.
Scheffler’s victory netted the Dallas native 1,000 points, which pushed him past Xinjun Zhang and Robby Shelton in the KFT’s combined points list. Scheffler was among the 25 players to receive their Tour cards after last week’s regular-season finale in Portland, but he and the rest of that group are playing for priority in the three-event Finals.
Also, 25 more cards are available to the leading point-getters in the Finals, which is why Hossler, Taylor and Todd all clinched cards Sunday. Hossler played on Tour last season but failed to make the FedExCup Playoffs. Taylor was bumped from the top 25 after last season’s Portland Open and had to spend another season on the KFT. Todd hasn’t won since the 2014 Byron Nelson and is No. 490 in the OWGR.
Brandon Hagy, the 54-hole co-leader, shot 71 to slip to T-5 with Robert Streb. The other third-round co-leader, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, carded a 77 and finished T-32.
Curtis Luck and Justin Harding were part of a four-way tie for seventh while Oklahoma State alum Viktor Hovland tied for 11th.