In pro golf’s ‘offseason,’ something rare emerges every weekend

Once the calendar flips to September, the PGA Tour, and for the most part, pro golf as a whole, goes semi-dormant. Outside of the Ryder Cup, the FedEx Cup Fall Series and the DP World Tour’s finishing stretch of the Race to Dubai, golf takes a backseat in the fall. It’s why the PGA Tour moved the FedEx Cup Playoffs to August so it would not conflict with football, and it gives its members time to have an “offseason” before The Sentry rolls around in January.

But pro golf doesn’t go completely cold in its “offseason,” there’s just a different goal for those in the arena. It’s an arena that delivers something rare in pro golf.

Real stakes.

The focus for most teeing it up during October and November — be it on the PGA Tour or the Korn Ferry Tour — isn’t about padding their bank accounts or peaking for major championships. It’s about keeping the dream alive.

That pursuit is draining. The climb up the professional ladder is grueling, and the resilience needed to stay there is something few have.

Highlights from final round of Sanderson Farms

Fall on the PGA Tour is about players trying to either stay or get on the right side of the top-100 bubble to keep their fully-exempt status. You’ll have a handful of players jockeying to get into the first two Signature Events of 2026, and a few of the top players might make a start here or there.

But for the most part, it’s about Lanto Griffin, who finished third at the Procore Championship behind two guys — Scottie Scheffler and Ben Griffin — who were only there to stay crisp for the Ryder Cup. A win would have meant Griffin, who has one career victory and entered the fall at 142nd in the standings, would have been exempt for two years. Instead, Griffin now sits at 105 after a missed cut at the Sanderson and has just weeks to jump five spots.

It’s also about Steven Fisk, the 28-year-old PGA Tour rookie who arrived in Jackson, Mississippi, with one top-10 finish on his resume and sitting well outside the top 100.

With just a few weeks left to earn his card for 2026, Fisk fired back-to-back 65s to vault into contention and then shot a Sunday 64 to track down Garrick Higgo to claim his first PGA Tour win and the peace of mind that comes with it.

“Self-belief. Grit. I know I’m good enough. I thought I could do it,” an emotional Fisk said after his win.

“It’s a lifelong dream, honestly. Sometimes you doubt yourself. I don’t know. I knew I could do it. And to have some job security is pretty nice. It has been a long, hard year.”

Hours before Fisk tapped in to wash his worries away, a former PGA Tour member put the pedal down on Sunday to breathe some life into his career.

Doc Redman’s last PGA Tour start came at the 2023 RSM Classic. He narrowly missed out on regaining his card at last year’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship. But the 2025 season was hard for Redman on the KFT. The former Clemson star finished 138th on the points list and has no status for next season unless he gets through Q-School. But Redman got into the Sanderson Farms by winning a three-way playoff at the Monday qualifier and then shot 65-67 on the weekend to finish in a tie for ninth place at 16 under. That top-10 finish gets Redman into the Bank of Utah Championship, where he can continue accumulating non-member points, earning him KFT starts next season.

Redman needed a birdie on 18 Sunday to secure his top-10 finish. He hit his drive 330, stuck his approach to seven feet and rolled in the birdie putt to punch his ticket to Utah. Even as his climb stalls, Redman’s self-belief remains intact.

“So there is really no bad results unless I had a bad attitude or something like that,” Redman said on Saturday about staying positive even when professional golf gets hard. “So you know, I think I’m good enough, so I just got to trust that.”

The chase is even more intense this time of year on the Korn Ferry Tour, with players needing to finish in the top 75 on the points list to guarantee their status for next season or else be left adrift in the pro golf world. The top-75 cutoff takes place after the Compliance Solutions Championship, which is the third leg of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

First, we go to Cole Hammer.

The Texas product entered the week at No. 79 in the points ranking and needed a strong final round to secure his place in the Finals. With his job status on the line, Hammer fired a bogey-free 64 to jump into the top 15 and finish at No. 72 in the rankings. With his KFT privileges secured for 2026, Hammer could exhale.

“I am so relieved, honestly,” Hammer said after his round. “But more so proud of just how I fought. I really had to lean on my experience from last year all day long. I knew I was in a similar position [as last year], and it’s not easy.

“I might have looked calm on the outside, but it felt like there were bumblebees inside me. I was buzzing so much. It’s hard standing over a three-footer on the last hole thinking, ‘OK, if I make this I’ll have a job. If I don’t, I won’t.’ … There’s so much finality to these last couple of events that the other events don’t have. Knowing that I pretty much had my job on the line was a pretty stressful experience. I learned that I’m a little bit tougher than I think I am. Sometimes I’m not sure if I can handle the big moment or whatever life calls for, but today I think I showed that I can hang in there and stick around in the ring for all 12 rounds.”

Among the others who buckled down on Sunday at The Patriot Club in Owasso, Oklahoma, was Blades Brown. The 18-year-old phenom elected to forgo college to turn pro. He started the season with no status and needed to finish in the top 75 to have full playing status on the KFT.

Brown played his final seven holes in three under to finish in a tie for 43rd and get into the Korn Ferry Tour Finals on the number at 75.

“I cannot explain or put into words the feeling that I was feeling on those last couple of holes,” Brown told Golf Channel after his round. “I remember my hands were shaking on No. 17, and I was like, ‘What the heck, Blades? You have a pitching wedge in your hand. Just hit it where you want.’ I was an unreal pressure and I learned a lot about myself.”

James Nicholas entered the week 78th in points but shot 23 under to finish in third place and vault into the top 75. Samuel Anderson played his final four holes in two under to go from 76th to 72nd and avoid a trip back to Q School.

In professional golf, the dream is always right there. It’s one swing away, one round away, one feeling away. The fall is about those still chasing it — still raging against the dying light.

Some are successful. They keep climbing using inertia and self-belief as their fuel. Others are left to continue the chase, knowing they’ve chosen a pursuit that can’t be faked. The only way up is to get the ball in the hole.

“I think the correct answer is let the chips fall where they may and focus on what you can control,” said Sam Ryder, who sits at No. 111 in the FedEx Fall. “I can’t control how people play. Really I just know — it’s really more process-oriented stuff. I’m very aware where I’m at. You know it all year. You get a text every single week that tells you exactly where you are on FedEx. You can’t hide from it.”

Source link