Wil Bateman started his 2023 season with some solid results. A kickstart to his debut campaign on the Korn Ferry Tour put him in a good position for the balance of the year to, at the very least, re-earn status for 2024.

The rest of the year was a physical battle, however. And now he’s hoping, after his best career result on the Korn Ferry Tour Sunday, he can ride a clean bill of health to the PGA TOUR.

Bateman, who finished tied for second at The Panama Championship, admitted he tore a collateral ligament on the outer part of his right knee after the fourth event of the Korn Ferry Tour season in 2023. He did a hard workout one morning and then he traveled to the course. Before he started his playing routine, he gets into a “standing pigeon pose” to adjust his iliotibial band — because it often gets tight — but he pushed too hard that morning, he said, and it popped. His doctor described it as a grade 2 tear.

“I walked it off for 20 or 30 yards, but I knew I did some damage,” Bateman said.

The suggestion from his doctor was to take six to eight weeks off completely and just rest. At that point in the early part of the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour campaign, Bateman was in a good enough position on the Points List but he wanted to keep playing – which, he said now, “probably wasn’t” the best idea.

“I didn’t, not, feel my knee (in pain) until probably mid-July, maybe June,” Bateman said.” It was a long period of time where I was basically playing injured.”

Bateman battled through the end of the Korn Ferry Tour season and notched a tie for 11th at the Magnit Championship. His third-best result of the year after finishing tied for fourth in two of the first three events of 2023. He also made the cut at the RBC Canadian Open, just his second PGA TOUR start, on the back of a second-round 66 at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club.

Bateman had the opportunity, given where he finished on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List (68th) to tee it up at Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry and try to earn a PGA TOUR card, but he decided to pass on the opportunity. He felt beat up by the end of the year after playing so many tournaments and traveling for many weeks in his debut Korn Ferry Tour campaign.

“I definitely learned that I need to take more care of my body,” Bateman said.

Heading into this year, it’s easy to think Bateman has just a singular goal — get to the PGA TOUR. He said he’s written down a “bunch” of outcome goals and process goals, though. He’s looking forward to the year ahead being back in full health.

“I’m not going to be doing anything stupid like that,” he said with a laugh. “I think that’s huge in itself. Last year I just wasn’t healthy. Obviously, I was still able to work around my injury and golf my ball and make some cuts, but as the weeks went on and you got to that seventh week in a row, or 13th of 14th and you’re just beat up.”

Despite starting the year with two straight missed cuts, Bateman turned things around in Panama — although he admitted getting into the final group Sunday, “snuck up” on him. On Friday, he was on the cut line with just eight holes to play, but he rattled off three birdies in a row to get inside the number comfortably. For Saturday’s third round, he played alongside multi-time TOUR winner Sean O’Hair and was trying to stay focused on his own plan and game. One shot at a time. The plan worked and he shot a Moving-Day 64.

“It was very cool to be part of that mix and be in the final group and feel those nerves on the first tee,” Bateman said.

Sunday’s finale wasn’t what he hoped it would be, but he'll chalk it up to a learning experience. Bateman said his group was “grooving” until they got to the 11th hole of the day when the sprinklers turned on by accident. The group ahead had to wait almost 10 minutes and that particular tee shot was the only one on the course Bateman had been uncomfortable with throughout the week. His brain started working overtime and he hit a bad tee ball, leading to a triple bogey. He finished the week in a three-way tie for second, eight shots back of winner Isaiah Salinda. Salinda went eagle-birdie on Nos. 11 and 12 in the final round, topping Bateman by seven shots on those two holes alone. But the Canadian was firmly in the mix last week, save for a singular mistake.

“I just handled my emotions really well after (the triple bogey) and how I closed the way I did gives me a lot of confidence moving forward,” Bateman said.

Bateman has been a professional golfer for over a decade and calls Scottsdale home. He sees what the best of the best do on the PGA TOUR, and he proved he’s got the game to hang on TOUR after a tidy week at the RBC Canadian Open last June.

With a year on the Korn Ferry Tour under his belt, a handful of process goals at the ready, and most importantly, being back to full health, Bateman is ready to take his career’s logical next step.

“I think it’s important to prove yourself on every level; I feel like I’ve done it,” Bateman said. “Everyone is on their own path and it’s going to happen for whomever whenever, but if you focus on the process everything will take care of itself.”