Korn Ferry Tour's new normal embraced by players

A tee goes into the ground, a breath is inhaled and exhaled, a quick check of the target and a ball is hit. Then hit again. Then putted – likely more than once. Four rounds. Balls in the air, bunkers blasted out of, and shots executed. The lowest score out of 150 or so is the winning number. It all sounds like a pretty normal tournament week on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Not last week.

After a three-month break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to impact our day-to-day lives, the Korn Ferry Tour returned with a new event, the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass. This week is another new event, The King & Bear Classic at World Golf Village, before the Tour gets back to a schedule that’s cobbled together with new dates for old events and some fresh tournaments added in, too.

It’s all part of the new normal on the Korn Ferry Tour, as the 30th anniversary of the Tour will certainly be one no one in golf will ever forget.

“Obviously, we knew that going in that it would be different, but it’s still golf and it’s competitive and once they announce your name, you’re ready to go and you still get butterflies,” said Luke List, who won the Korn Ferry Challenge at 12-under. He topped Shad Tuten and Joseph Bramlett by one.

The Korn Ferry Tour’s players and caddies and those on site were subject to various levels of COVID-19 testing, which mirrored the efforts done on the PGA TOUR at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first event back after a 91-day break.

Davis Riley, who won in Panama earlier this year, says once he was back in between the ropes there wasn’t a big difference to competition. The big changes, he says, took place before he arrived on site.

“Once you get back out here it’s pretty normal,” Riley said in a pre-tournament press conference. “I flew in (Sunday) and checked into my hotel with my mask on and everything, so that was definitely different. I went through the whole COVID-19 testing process so that was different. You’re so used to just landing and getting to the golf course as soon as you can. It’s definitely different. Getting tested and going through all of the little things.”

Scott Langley, who finished T23 last week, called the break “uncharted territory.” He is a member of the Player Advisory Council (PAC) on the Korn Ferry Tour and was in constant communication with members of the PAC on the PGA TOUR as well over the last few months.

“The last two months have probably been busier than all those other years combined,” Langley, who has been on the PAC of both Tours multiple times, joked. “The news about this Coronavirus is still ever changing. It’s really tough to try to get your arms around the situation and how to properly treat it and how to conduct a golf tournament in such a way where it protects everybody involved from potentially contracting it.

“In the beginning I was a little cautious with having full belief that we would play in that time, but look at the plan that the team produced – 37 pages of very detailed protocols for us to follow in terms of where we travel, as we travel, when we’re here on-site, when we’re at the hotel at night. To say it’s comprehensive would be an understatement. They’ve literally thought of everything. Seeing the plan, I had no lack of confidence in our plan and the thought process that I know went into it.”

While the week, outside the ropes, continued on abnormally (there were, like on TOUR, no fans, media was kept distant from the players, and volunteers and other operations staff were kept to a minimum – although PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan did pop by to watch the final nine holes Sunday), inside the ropes there was still a golf tournament to be played.

“Even all the rounds you play at home, all the money games and everything, it doesn’t equate to playing when it really matters,” said Justin Lower, who finished 22nd.

“We’ve been dreaming of this for months, and It was amazing to be back,” added Bramlett, who spoke passionately about racial injustices in the United States earlier in the week. “Logistics aside, it was a bit uncomfortable but its our new reality right now. I thought the TOUR did a great job telling us what we needed to do.”

List finished with a 3-under 67 Sunday to notch his first Korn Ferry Tour title in nearly a decade. Shad Tuten, Bramlett, Kristoffer Ventura, and Nicholas Lindheim rounded out the top five on the leaderboard.

The top eight on The 25 all remained the same after Sunday, while Ben Kohles moved from No. 10 to No. 9, while List, who is a TOUR member and is in the field this week at the RBC Heritage, jumped to No.10 with his win.

“As much fun as it is to be home and playing house, it’s fun to be out here competing against peers and chasing down trophies,” said List. “We’re just glad to be back.”

That makes all of us.