Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
Oct 7, 2026 5:15 PM
Five players enter the Korn Ferry Tour Championship on the PGA Tour card bubble, where one strong week could completely change their careers.
The Korn Ferry Tour Championship begins Thursday at The Federal Club with one of the most stressful leaderboards in professional golf.
The top 20 players on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List will earn PGA Tour cards for the 2027 season, and several players are sitting right on the cut line entering the finale.
For Davis Shore, Ian Gilligan, Cole Hammer, Yuta Sugiura and Austin Hitt, the math is simple: play well now, and the PGA Tour could be waiting.
Shore enters the week at No. 16, putting him in the strongest position of the group.
The 28-year-old Alabama product has made 24 starts this season with nine top-25 finishes and five top 10s.
He’s also eighth on the Korn Ferry Tour in Strokes Gained: Total, 11th in approach and seventh in putting.
Gilligan sits No. 17 after a remarkably steady rookie campaign.
The 23-year-old has nine top-10 finishes and arrives in Virginia after a T8 at the Compliance Solutions Championship.
His rise is even more significant considering the health battle he endured as a teenager, making this final push toward the PGA Tour one of the week’s best stories.
Then comes the real pressure.
Hammer is No. 20, holding the final PGA Tour card position. The former world No. 1 amateur has four top-five finishes this season, but there’s virtually no margin for error.
“I’ve put myself in position,” has essentially been the story of Hammer’s season. Now he has to finish it.
Just behind him is Sugiura at No. 21, only a handful of points outside the line.
The 25-year-old surged into contention with a late-season win at the AdventHealth Championship and recently fired a third-round 58, tied for the second-lowest score in Korn Ferry Tour history.
Hitt sits No. 22 after briefly climbing inside the top 20 before a missed cut last week.
His runner-up finish at the AdventHealth Championship and T4 at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship proved he can contend when the pressure rises.
This week, though, there’s no safety net.
At The Federal Club, every birdie could mean a PGA Tour card ... and every mistake could mean another year chasing one.
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