Erik Barnes is a family man.

Two years ago, with the Korn Ferry Tour on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Barnes took a job as a Grocery Replenishment Specialist at his local Publix supermarket, stocking shelves in the mornings and keeping his golf game sharp in the afternoon.

The Indiana native received widespread admiration for working essentially two full-time jobs to support his family, but he didn’t see himself as doing anything special; he was just fulfilling his responsibilities as a husband and dad.

Barnes and his family – wife Ashleigh, sons Jaxton and Tucker – recently moved from west Florida to Birmingham, Alabama. During the Huntsville Championship earlier this spring, Barnes made the 100-mile drive each way to attend one of Jaxton’s youth baseball games – after a competition round.

Barnes didn’t see it as special. It was just what he wanted to do.

This season, the 11-year pro has taken his golf game to a special level, and the reward will be his first PGA TOUR card for the 2022-23 season.

With a top-25 finish at this week’s REX Hospital Open, Barnes has crossed the Korn Ferry Tour’s fail-safe threshold of 875 points to secure a spot in The 25 upon the conclusion of the Regular Season-ending Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna in August.

Barnes’ Korn Ferry Tour journey is one of perseverance. After spending some time on smaller tours post-college, he earned Korn Ferry Tour membership via 2014 Q-School, finishing top-40 at Final Stage to earn guaranteed starts in a week he describes as one of the most nerve-wracking of his career.

The Austin Peay alum has been a consistent presence on the Korn Ferry Tour ever since, compiling 18 top-10 finishes in 165 cumulative starts, including three runner-up showings.

The end of the 2019 Regular Season provided a sting, as Barnes finished No. 77 on the Points List, narrowly missing a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where he would have had a chance to earn his first TOUR card. After finishing outside the top-40 at Final Stage of Q-School, he began 2020 with conditional status, and the pandemic hiatus made for more uncertain times.

Barnes failed to get entry into the first two events of the Return to Golf, but he finished T13 at the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank in June 2020, parlayed that into a T3 at The Ascendant at TPC Colorado the following week, and didn’t look back.

The 34-year-old finished No. 31 on the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List to ensure full status in 2022. With 10 top-25 finishes in the first 14 events of the 2022 season, including a solo third at the Huntsville Championship in his adopted home state, he has assured himself of a place amongst golf’s elite in 2022-23.

Erik Barnes is a family man and a testament to the spirit of perseverance.