Amateur Winners on Korn Ferry Tour

The Korn Ferry Tour is the official development tour (aka feeder tour) of the PGA Tour, the second-level of men's professional golf in the United States. Winning on the Korn Ferry Tour is a steppingstone to a PGA Tour career. And winning on the KFT while playing as an amateur is a pretty good indicator that a good PGA Tour career awaits.

The Korn Ferry Tour, under various names, dates to 1990. But no amateur golfer won on the circuit until 2007. And only two more have won since then — a total of just three amateur winners in the Korn Ferry Tour's history.

Winning on Korn Ferry Tour While Still an Amateur

These are the three amateur winners so far on the Korn Ferry Tour:

• Daniel Summerhays — Won 2007 Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational. Turned pro immediately after winning.
• Russell Henley — Won 2011 Stadion Classic at UGA. Turned pro in 2011, four months after the win.
• Harris English — Won 2011 Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational. Turned pro later in 2011.

Summerhays goes in the record book as the first golfer to win on the PGA Tour's developmental circuit while still playing as an amateur. That victory remains (at the time of this writing) his only victory on either the Korn Ferry Tour or PGA Tour. But Summerhays has had his moments: He got into a playoff (but lost) in the 2012 Sanderson Farms Classic on the PGA Tour; and he finished third in the 2016 PGA Championship.

Henley and English were the second the third golfers, respectively, to win as amateurs on the PGA Tour feeder circuit. They did it in the same year of 2011 (and English in the same tournament Summerhays had earlier won), both turned pro in September of 2011, and both went on to strong PGA Tour careers.

Both Henley and English won multiple PGA Tour tournaments, and both have earned spots on Team USA squads in either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.

Henley's win in the KFT's 2011 Stadion Classic happened on the University of Georgia's golf course — Henley's home course. He was a member of the Georgia golf team at the time.

Related articles:

• Amateur winners on the PGA Tour
• Amateur winners on the LPGA Tour

Sources:
PGA Tour. Web.com Tour Official 2016 Guide, Miscellaneous Records, Amateur Winners.