Ten players to watch during 2025 Korn Ferry Tour season

The table is set for a sprint to the finish on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour – with all members hoping that big dreams will come true.

The 2025 Korn Ferry Tour schedule consists of 26 events, starting in January and culminating in October, with players visiting seven countries and 17 states. It will mark the 35th season in Korn Ferry Tour history, with the top 20 players on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List earning 2026 PGA TOUR membership. It’s a change from the 30 PGA TOUR cards offered in the previous two seasons, meaning a heightened sense of urgency to produce results early and often in 2025.

With several hundred PGA TOUR victories claimed by Korn Ferry Tour alumni (an esteemed contingent that includes world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler) in the past three decades and counting, it’s clear that the Korn Ferry Tour is the premier talent incubator for professional golf’s next wave.

“The Korn Ferry Tour has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years with strong momentum going into the 2025 season,” said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin. “The success of our graduates on the PGA TOUR highlights the extraordinary and deep talent amongst Korn Ferry Tour membership, and we look forward to continue identifying, preparing and transitioning the PGA TOUR’s next stars.”

But who will become those TOUR stars?

Here are 10 players to watch on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025.

Matthew Anderson

The Canadian is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his winning countrymen on the PGA TOUR and with a balanced, and impressive, 2024 on PGA TOUR Americas he’s already taken the first important step – onwards to the Korn Ferry Tour.

Anderson, 24, won the 69th ECP Brazil Open (which was contested at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Golf Course) in his third start of the season. He cruised through to the end of the 2024 campaign with four more top-five results – including a T2 at the BioSteel Championship.

He ended the year first in Total Birdies on the circuit – with an amazing 63 birdies more than the next closest on the list. That firepower should translate well to the Korn Ferry Tour, where low scores will be necessary to contend at most venues.

Anderson competed at last year’s RBC Canadian Open, a week that included a practice round with Tommy Fleetwood, one of his role models in the game. Fleetwood shared insights and banter throughout that Tuesday afternoon in Ontario, a memorable one for the 24-year-old Anderson, who played collegiately at the University of San Francisco alongside 2025 PGA TOUR rookie Tim Widing.

Anderson would relish the chance to compete alongside Fleetwood and Widing on the 2026 PGA TOUR.

Zach Bauchou

Bauchou finished No. 34 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, thanks to a solid summertime stretch where he finished outside the top 20 just once in a six-event run. It was further evidence that the soft-spoken 29-year-old had the game to compete at the highest level. Bauchou had his breakthrough in 2023, which he entered with zero status but ended with Special Temporary Membership and a spot on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour.

Bauchou had five top-10 finishes in 2024, including a T9 at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, where he held the 36-hole lead but struggled to weekend rounds of 73-76. It was a disappointing finish to the campaign, but the experience should fortify him for 2025 and beyond.

In 2023, Bauchou withdrew during the first round at Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry to be home for his son’s birth. With another year of family life under his belt, along with a collection of fine finishes on the Korn Ferry Tour – he was also 14th in Scoring Average for the 2024 season – the well-experienced pro (he was part of the incredible Oklahoma State squad that also boasted Viktor Hovland and Austin Eckroat) should be primed to join his fellow Cowboys on TOUR soon.

Sam Bennett

Bennett had a celebrated amateur career, topped off with a victory at the 2022 U.S. Amateur. He captured hearts at the 2023 Masters when he finished tied for 16th after becoming the first amateur in 20 years to stand inside the top three on the leaderboard heading into the weekend at Augusta National.

The Texas A&M alum turned professional in May 2023, and he nearly earned a TOUR card in his first full season as a pro. Bennett finished in the agonizingly close No. 31 spot on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List – just six points back of No. 30 and the final PGA TOUR card – on the back of five top-10 results, including back-to-back T3s at the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Hiland Dairy Foods and the NV5 Invitational. Bennett, 25, would have earned a TOUR card with a 3-under final round at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, but he closed in 6-over 78 to necessitate another Korn Ferry Tour campaign.

With a full year of professional golf now under his belt, and plenty more experience, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bennett live up to his vast potential on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour.

Jin Chung

Stories like Chung’s make you believe in the power of golf. The teaching pro, based in Georgia, made his 12th run at Q-School in 2024. He had only advanced to Second Stage once prior, so this marked his first go at Final Stage. He finished T8 to earn guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2025 – after never having any status on any Tour prior to this.

Had Chung shot even-par on Q-School’s final nine, he would have earned a PGA TOUR card. He closed in 2-over 37 at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course to finish two back of the ultimate fairy tale. Some might have felt a bitter taste after this finish – rather, Chung projected a sense of joy in his post-round comments to the media.

It conveyed an appreciation for his opportunity in 2025, where he’ll have a full season to chase a PGA TOUR card via the top 20 on the season-long standings – same as the dozens of rising stars and wily veterans with whom he’ll share tee sheets throughout the 26-event campaign.

“This is what I wanted,” Chung said through tears after the Q-School finale, “but I wasn’t sure if I could.”

Wanted. Earned.

Alistair Docherty

If the golf gods taketh away, then Docherty is ready for them to giveth in 2025.

Docherty’s story has been well-documented over the last few months but it’s worth repeating once more here – he finished, essentially, one shot back from earning PGA TOUR status after finishing T2 at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance. He then finished one shot back from earning PGA TOUR status, again, at Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry after a seventh-place result (he ended at 3-under for the week, while players at 4-under earned TOUR cards).

The 30-year-old had a solid campaign tee-to-green in 2024, finishing No. 6 on the Korn Ferry Tour in Total Driving and No. 4 in Greens in Regulation. There was room for improvement with the flatstick, as he ended up 119th in Putting Average. But a laser-like off-season effort along with a couple of deserved breaks going his way could mean a top spot on the Korn Ferry Tour next season.

Austin Greaser

After a celebrated career at the University of North Carolina, Greaser made 13 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour this summer and notched one top-10 finish. He placed No. 3 on the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking to earn exempt Korn Ferry Tour status for this past summer, and he then finished third in PGA TOUR University Total Points (combined FedExCup and Korn Ferry Tour points in 2024, among PGA TOUR University graduates) to earn exempt Korn Ferry Tour status in 2025.

The Tar Heel had three college victories and ended his career third in school history in scoring average, having played on 19 tournament-winning teams – more than any other golfer in school history.

Greaser, who began playing golf at age 6 alongside his twin brother, is now eager to follow in the footsteps of many of golf’s young stars who have progressed via PGA TOUR University.

Cole Hammer

Is it finally Hammer(‘s) time? After teeing it up at the U.S. Open at just 15 – at the time he was the third-youngest competitor in U.S. Open history – it does feel like Hammer has been in the golf conversation for a long while. It’s not entirely inaccurate, as he’s now 25 and had a tremendous run while at the University of Texas.

Last year marked Hammer’s first full campaign on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he notched top-10 finishes in back-to-back weeks early in the season. After a run of six straight missed cuts through the late spring, he bounced back nicely at the end of the year with a T13 at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and finished No. 65 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List.

With a full Korn Ferry Tour season now in the rear-view mirror and another crack at more familiar venues, perhaps 2025 will be the year he has been waiting for.

Johnny Keefer

Keefer, who turned pro in 2024, had a spectacular run on PGA TOUR Americas this summer with just a lone (as in, one) finish outside of the top 10 in his 10 starts. He had four runner-up results before he finally broke through for his maiden title on the circuit at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open.

Keefer, who had an incredible scoring average of 66.00 for the season, finished T4-T3 in his final two starts of the year to top the season-long Fortinet Cup standings and earn full Korn Ferry Tour status for 2025 (he also nabbed a spot in last fall’s Procore Championship and this year’s RBC Canadian Open).

Keefer earned his spot on PGA TOUR Americas by scooping up the final spot on the PGA TOUR University Ranking (No. 25) earlier in the springtime. He took full advantage.

Christo Lamprecht

The long-hitting South African spent 2024 learning the ins and outs of professional golf with some solid results and some inconsistency. He finished No. 2 on the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking but placed No. 140 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List (and made three starts in the FedExCup Fall). Lamprecht was previously No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and won the 2023 British Amateur in Lancashire, England.

His steady play at Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry was rewarded with guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2025, however, as he navigated some tricky conditions to finish at even par for the week, tied for 19th.

Lamprecht certainly has all the tools to be a solid modern-day pro, and now he’s got a consistent stage to test his mettle.

James Nicholas

Nicholas, a well-traveled pro, didn’t have the round of the day, score-wise, in the final round at Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry. But the final-round 65 authored by the Yale alum probably felt like the best of the best.

Nicholas, who has competed around the globe over the last half-decade aiming for that big break, birdied four of his final six holes at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course to finish the week at 2-over, good enough for a T36 and earning guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts by a single shot.

Fascinatingly enough, Nicholas only began to take golf seriously as a sophomore at Yale (he played safety for the football team as a freshman and was a well-awarded hockey star growing up) and was on the pre-med track at the school. His grandfather, Dr. James A. Nicholas, was an orthopedic surgeon and physician who, according to an old story in The New York Times, “saved the celebrated career of Jets quarterback Joe Namath” while his father is also an orthopedic surgeon.

Nicholas spent most of 2024 on the DP World Tour, with his best result coming at the Italian Open (T5). Now he’ll return to his home country for the 2025 campaign.