Thomas Ponder finishes No. 1 on PGA Tour Americas points list, leads top 10 players promoted to Korn Ferry Tour

PLAYA NUEVA ROMANA, Dominican Republic – The top 10 players on PGA Tour Americas were named Sunday at the season-ending Dominican Republic Tour Championship presented by Scotiabank, and third-year pro Thomas Ponder finished No. 1 on the points list to headline the 10 players graduating to the Korn Ferry Tour.

Joey Savoie carded a final-round 67 at PGA Ocean’s 4 to erase a two-shot deficit and win by one at 14-under, moving him from No. 12 to No. 4 in the final standings and onto the Korn Ferry Tour in 2027. He joins fellow Canadian Étienne Papineau in The 10, and they are the only players to win twice on PGA Tour Americas this season.

Also moving into The 10 this weekend was Patrick Sheehan, who finished T8 and improved one spot to No. 10 to earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the first time. In all, seven of The 10 will be rookies next season: Ponder (No. 1), Savoie (No. 4), Charlie Crockett (No. 6), Justin Biwer (No. 7), Jack Lundin (No. 8), Charlie Nikitas (No. 9) and Sheehan (No. 10).

The other three players in The 10 – Corey Pereira (No. 2), Papineau (No. 3) and Patrick Flavin (No. 5) – previously held Korn Ferry Tour membership.

Below are summaries of the top 10 players on the final 2026 PGA Tour Americas Points List.

1. Thomas Ponder (Dothan, Alabama)

Three months after claiming the No. 1 spot in the standings for the first time, Ponder finished the season in that same position and joins Johnny Keefer (2024) and Michael Brennan (2025) as No. 1 finishers on the PGA Tour Americas Points List. The 25-year-old won the Explore NB Open in July to move to No. 1 and bolstered his resume with third-place finishes at the Commissionaires Ottawa Open presented by Lépine Apartments and Osprey Valley Open. He closed with a T13 at the Dominican Republic Tour Championship presented by Scotiabank to earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the first time.

Before turning pro in 2024, Ponder competed at the University of Alabama (2019-24), where he was teammates with two-time PGA Tour winner Nick Dunlap and Davis Shore, who earned his PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour this season.

2. Corey Pereira (Sacramento, California)

Winning is emotional, and that was especially the case for Pereira at the Mexico Championship presented by Scotia Wealth Management. His win in June came in just his sixth Tour-sanctioned start since his wife, Leah, died from a rare and highly aggressive sarcoma, and set him on a course to return to the Korn Ferry Tour after previously holding membership in 2022 and 2019.

Pereira finished the season with six top-five finishes and the tour’s best scoring average (67.57), and he closed with a T13 in the Dominican Republic this weekend.

3. Étienne Papineau (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec)

Without his final-round 64 at the Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship in June, Papineau’s fortunes would be very different. The fifth-year pro opened the season as a conditional member and missed the cut in the first five events, and his T2 finish in Colombia preserved his eligibility ahead of the season’s first periodic reorder.

As the schedule turned to North America, Papineau recorded wins at the Osprey Valley Open and the Digital Commerce Group Open to become the only two-time winner of the season and secure his spot in The 10 ahead of the season finale. Papineau and Joey Savoie join Drew Nesbitt (2025), Matthew Anderson (2024) and Stuart Macdonald (2024) as Canadians to finish in The 10 on PGA Tour Americas and earn Korn Ferry Tour membership.

4. Joey Savoie (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec)

Savoie played the final 45 holes of the year bogey-free en route to his second win of the season and a promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour. Playing in the fourth-to-last group on Sunday, Savoie two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th to take the clubhouse lead at 14-under, and he secured the victory when Charlie Crockett parred the closing hole to fall one shot short.

“It's been an amazing year, capping off with a win here, win in Ecuador. I think it tells me that if I'm healthy, a lot of good things that can happen,” Savoie said. “I'm well surrounded, finally healthy and I own my arthritis problem. So, I'm just through the moon that I was able to do it with the pain I was feeling the last 10 years.”

In May, Savoie won the Kia Open de Ecuador presentado por Diners Club in his 74th start in Tour-sanctioned competition to break an eight-year winless drought (WAGR- or OWGR-ranked events). The win lifted him to No. 2 on the points list, but his best finish in his next eight starts was T30 and he fell to 12th entering this week. The 32-year-old saved his best for last, carding rounds of 73-68-66-67 to win the finale and earn his Korn Ferry Tour card for the first time since turning pro in 2020.

5. Patrick Flavin (Highwood, Illinois)

With a win at the second event of the season, the Abierto del Centro Zurich presentado por Personal, Flavin broke a winless drought of 6 years, 329 days spanning 102 Tour-sanctioned starts, and established himself as one of the top players on PGA Tour Americas this season.

The last two seasons, Flavin recorded just three top-10s in 25 starts and finished 33rd (2024) and 51st (2025) on the PGA Tour Americas Points List; this season, he tallied three top-three finishes in 15 starts and finished No. 5 on the points list. A four-time All-MAC First Team selection (2014-18) at Miami (Ohio), Flavin previously earned Korn Ferry Tour membership in 2023 via Korn Ferry Tour Q-School.

6. Charlie Crockett (Surrey, England)

Just one year after making the cut in only two of eight starts, Crockett finished his third season on PGA Tour Americas with seven top-10s, including a win at the ATB Classic presented by Building Trades of Alberta, to earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the first time. Crockett’s path includes PGA Tour Americas Q-School (2024) and PGA Tour Q-School (2025 First Stage medalist), and he closed his 2026 season with a T2 in the Dominican Republic to finish No. 6 on the points list and earn a promotion.

Prior to turning pro in 2024, Crockett played two seasons at Hutchinson Community College (2018-20) before finishing his collegiate career at the University of Missouri (2021-24), where he was teammates with Jack Lundin (No. 8) for three seasons.

7. Justin Biwer (San Diego, California)

Though he will be a rookie on the Korn Ferry Tour next season, Biwer already has experience contending at that level. In addition to his four top-10s in 12 starts on PGA Tour Americas this season, Biwer posted two top-10s in three starts on the Korn Ferry Tour (T5, The Blue Championship; T9, AdventHealth Championship).

Biwer earned PGA TOUR Americas membership via Q-School in April, and his late-season push into The 10 included a win at the CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center and a T2 at the ATB Classic presented by Building Trades of Alberta. Prior to turning pro in 2025, Biwer competed four seasons at the University of Colorado (2021-25), where he finished with the program’s lowest career scoring average (70.95).

8. Jack Lundin (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

Lundin was one of the season’s most frequent contenders with four top-five finishes and two runner-up finishes in playoffs, as the second-year member earned Korn Ferry Tour membership for the first time. The 25-year-old has been in the top 10 on the points list the last 12 weeks of the season, dating to the Kia Open de Ecuador presentado por Diners Club in May when he lost a playoff to Joey Savoie.

Lundin totaled seven top-25s, including a T13 in the Dominican Republic, and he will join the Korn Ferry Tour next season with his University of Missouri teammate Charlie Crockett, who finished No. 6 on the points list.

9. Charlie Nikitas (Glenview, Illinois)

Steady play followed by a hot finish led to a spot in The 10 in Nikitas’ second season on PGA Tour Americas. Standing No. 31 on the points list through 12 events, Nikitas closed the regular season with runner-up finishes at the Digital Commerce Group Open and ATB Classic presented by Building Trades of Alberta to move to No. 8 entering the season finale. The 27-year-old finished T5 this week at PGA Ocean’s 4 to secure his first trip to the Korn Ferry Tour.

Nikitas was a First Stage medalist at PGA Tour Q-School in 2024 to earn his PGA Tour Americas card in 2025, and he went on to finish No. 79 on the points list as a rookie to retain membership for 2026 (top 80 on the points list).

10. Patrick Sheehan (Doylestown, Pennsylvania)

Sheehan has ascended to the Korn Ferry Tour after earning membership through PGA Tour Americas Q-School the last two seasons. As a rookie in 2025, he made the cut in only four of 10 starts and finished 100th on the points list, sending him back to Q-School this spring. He medaled at the Dothan, Alabama, site in March to regain membership, and he capitalized early with a runner-up finish at the Abierto del Centro Zurich presentado por Personal, the second event of the season.

A 25-year-old out of Penn State (2019-23), Sheehan tallied five top-10s this season and closed with a T8 at the Dominican Republic Tour Championship presented by Scotiabank to secure his Korn Ferry Tour card for 2027.