Andrew's 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Season Preview

This is the first of two season preview pieces I’ll be running for Out of the Rough – the second will be for the HotelPlanner Tour, which again starts and finishes later in the year than the Korn Ferry Tour.

Last year was the first year that I wrote about the KFT for this site, and the first year that I did full previews. Looking back, I’m pleased with the coverage – apart from a couple of weeks of holiday in August we covered every event and I’m pleased with the depth that we went into on this most confounding tour. I’m disappointed with the financial return, which wasn’t great, but we did find some winners and we did have some very close shaves. My new year’s resolution is, quite simply, to be in profit on every tour I bet on in 2026. The approach will remain similar – I’m trying to win through developing a deeper understanding of the golfers, the courses and the conditions than any of the other gamblers on this tour can manage.  

So what will 2026 look like? Let’s get into it.

The Schedule

This is always a good starting point. We once again have 26 events, beginning in January and ending in October. No changes there. We have a lot of events in common, and lots of courses in common, but there are differences. Not early in the year, though, which is exactly the same as we run through the Bahamas (the two Sunday start events that clash with NFL playoffs,) Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and into the southeastern USA and Mexico. Come May, we are at The Woodcreek Club in South Carolina for a new event (Colonial Life Charity Classic) which (sort of) replaces the longstanding AdventHealth Championship in Kansas City. Other than providing a winner for us in 2025, that isn’t an event that’ll be missed, though the new course appears at first glance to be a fairly vanilla Tom Fazio design that might be another birdie fest.

Kansas continues to take a beating (the state, this time) as the OccuNet Classic in Amarillo, Texas replaces the old Wichita Open. Early appearances show a slightly more tree-lined and classical test than many on this tour, and in truth it looks a little like the short, tight Crestview Country Club test it has replaced. We see the Price Cutter Championship cut from the July schedule and a bit of rejigging of the order of other events before the AdventHealth Championship in Kansas reemerges in the late August window. Hopefully this will lead to tougher conditions but it is still a course we know well.

As we reach the end of the schedule we see the pattern we’re getting used to – points being raised from 500 to 600 and gradually reducing field sizes. This will also be the period of the season where nobody can get in except on their KFT ranking (more on this later, but it may well be significant.) I’m very sorry to say that we see the same courses for the first three playoff events which means that the penultimate event of the season will again by at the laughable Patriot Golf Club in Oklahoma. Let’s hope it plays a little tougher this time around but after Adrien Dumont de Chassart won at -33, it has to. Worse news is that the final event of the year has also been moved, and we lose the French Lick Pete Dye course that was such a distinctive finish. Instead, we’re at the Federal Club in Virginia, an Arnold Palmer design that doesn’t appear to offer nearly the same scale of challenge. The good news is that this event once again sits opposite the Baycurrent PGA event (which, being in Japan, is in a totally different time slot) so widespread TV coverage should be available.

All in all, this is a disappointment. The courses continue to be the weakest part of the KFT offer and don’t, in my view, offer either the best competition that could be managed or prepare golfers effectively for the PGA Tour. Whilst I realise they have longstanding regional sponsors, it’d be great to see new events placed on tough courses or events moving within regions to more varied or challenging tracks. With the finale now ordinary, the most interesting events are again in the Bahamas, Panama, at Raleigh Country Club (UNC Health) and at Ohio State (The Nationwide Children’s Hospital.)

The Fields

Here is where I think things will get interesting. There’s been lots of noise about the reduction in full cards on the PGA (now just the top 100, rather than the top 125.)  As ever, there’s been little consideration of what that means for the KFT. At first blush, it is good news – presumably some decent golfers will now be looking at the KFT – those outside the top 100 without DPWT status or some other method of holding a PGA card (300 made cuts, previous win, injury, etc.) 

In practice, though, I think this may lead to a bit of the problem that is faced on the HPT/DPWT – players who fall between the cracks and have the option of taking up some PGA starts and some KFT starts. We’ve always seen the occasional player semi-voluntarily step down to the KFT midseason – or just for one or two events – but my suspicion is that we’ll see more of it this year. A few biggish names will be in the field for some of these events and heading onto the PGA tour for other weeks. Keeping a close eye on the fields and on the biggest names has always mattered but will be critical this year.

The other thing that always matters (and didn’t get much attention last year as they were, in general, a disappointing group) is the players joining midseason from PGA Tour U. It looks like this might be a decent crop in 2026 so look out for some less well known names starring from midseason onwards.

The Players

I’m not going to go through every player on the Tour. I don’t have the time or the knowledge to do that and nobody would want to read it. What I can do is flag up the major “groups” on Tour and some of the players I’m watching.

PGA Tour of the Americas graduates

With Michael Brennan making a huge noise on the PGA Tour in the Fall Series this group will obviously get more attention this year, but they’re always worth looking out for. There are ten cards (and five conditional) and obviously Brennan topped the list and won’t be troubling with the KFT. The remaining nine are profiled here – and I’m particularly interested in the future of Derek Hitchner, who was a reserve for the 2023 Walker Cup team when starring at Pepperdine (third in the US Amateur, etc.) and has three times made the top ten in the Fortinet Cup, the Americas Tour finale. John Marshall Butler was the captain of the 2024 NCAA Championship winning Auburn team and was third in the 2023 US Amateur and is another to watch.

“Relegated” from the PGA Tour

This is always the highlight group, and as ever it features a number of players who’ve been promoted from the KFT fairly recently. Among that group there are a number who’ll be among the bookies’ favourites early in the 2026 KFT season. Assuming they make regular starts, I would expect to see some wins from the likes of Isiah Salinda, Ricky Castillo, Frankie Capan III and Kris Ventura, all of whom look like better versions of players who have been successful on this circuit before. Quade Cummins is a little older but another of whom I have high hopes. Do review the full list and keep your eyes on the entry criteria.

Q-school cards

All I can say is – watch for them! We’ll try and cover this after Q-school has taken place but wanted to get this column posted in advance of that. We might well see some international golfers or emerging college talents getting cards this way and it warrants watching. It wouldn’t be at all surprising, also, if some of the names in the relegation list win back PGA cards through the Q-school route. Second stage qualifying lists are out for the events starting on Tuesday 2nd December. I'll have a last minute preview on my substack.

Returning KFT players

Whilst a lot of the courses that these guys are playing are straightforward driver-wedge-putt courses, there is clearly a value to knowing the courses and being familiar with the rhythms of the tour. Among the returning players (those between 21 and 75 on the KFT rankings for 2025, with conditional status to 100) there are a few who are particularly worthy of attention – those who are still early in their careers and improving, but have also gained some experience on these tracks. Regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of Barend Botha, who had a run of awful form during the meat of the season last year but is on his second run around here and is classier than many of these players. Sandy Scott, Bryce Lewis and Cole Sherwood are also well worth watching. If he uses conditional status rather than heading to the HPT or other routes - he's also in second stage Q-school next week, Petr Hruby is another of whom I’m a great admirer.

Predictions

• Topping the KFT rankings in 2026 will be… Frankie Capan III. Only a lack of starts (AKA PGA tour status) will stop him. He’s made for the easier courses of the KFT.

• Other qualifiers will be Sandy Scott, Cole Sherwood, Quade Cummins, Isiah Salinda and Kris Ventura. What the hell!  Derek Hitchener, too.

• Scoring is going to be ever more out of control. ADdC’s record -33 will be beaten this year, and we’ll see at least ten scores in the 50s.

• At least one player over 40 years of age will win a tournament. So will someone under 22.

• We’ll see more KFT events won by players with PGA status than ever before. Say, five events.