(Reuters) – The United States Golf Association said on Monday it will offer a U.S. Open exemption to the cumulative points leader from the developmental Korn Ferry Tour beginning with the 2023 event at Los Angeles Country Club.
The individual with the most points from the Korn Ferry Tour’s 23-event regular season and three-event playoffs in 2022 will earn the exemption to the major for the following year.
“The USGA is pleased to offer an exemption to a tour that has been well-represented in the U.S. Open and has developed an accomplished group of professionals for more than three decades,” John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer for the USGA, said in a news release.
Past U.S. Open champions Bryson DeChambeau (2020) and Lucas Glover (2009) are among the many golfers who have started their careers on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Recent Korn Ferry Tour members have impressed at the U.S. Open, highlighted by Scottie Scheffler’s tie for seventh in 2021 at Torrey Pines Golf Course and Will Zalatoris’s tie for sixth in 2020 at Winged Foot Golf Club.
The Korn Ferry Tour begins this year’s schedule next week with The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay from Jan. 16-19 and concludes Sept. 1-4 Tour Championship in Newburgh, Indiana.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
