It's crunch time for two former University of North Florida players in this week's Korn Ferry Tour Championship.
Nick Gabrelcik and Sandalwood graduate Travis Trace will have to play hard Oct. 8-11 at the Federal Club in Glen Allen, Va., to reach the top 20 on the Korn Ferry points list and earn their PGA Tour cards for the 2027 season. Gabrelcik is 29th on the points list and Trace is 48th.
The top 60 on the points list qualified for the tournament. The only player absent is No. 19 Ben Kohles of Ponte Vedra Beach, who is in the field for the PGA Tour's Baycurrent Classic in Japan.
Gabrelcik has 781.958 points,122.194 behind No. 20 Cole Hammer. That means he likely has to finish fourth or higher to make the top 20. Trace is 374.425 points behind and
needs to win the tournament to assure a card. They are trying to join Matthew Borchert, Vince Covello and Philip Knowles as UNF products who earned full PGA Tour status.
Nine players have clinched Tour cards (in order on the points list): Sandy Scott, Ross Steelman, Ian Holt, Alvaro Ortiz, Doc Redman of Ponte Vedra Beach, Cole Sherwood, Alistair Docherty, Tommy Morrison and Hunter Eichhorn. That means 50 players are fighting it out for 11 cards.
All players who qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour Championship have earned full status for next season. Players from Nos. 21 to 50 also have an exemption to the PGA Tour Q-School finals Dec. 10-13 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley and the Sawgrass Country Club, where they can contend for one of five PGA Tour cards.
Schwab Cup has two weeks left
This week's Constellation Furyk & Friendsbrings the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs one step closer. The final regular-season event is Oct. 16-18, the SAS Championship at the Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, N.C.
The top 72 players on the money list advance to the first of three playoff stops, the Stifel Bank Championship Oct. 23-25 at the Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis. The top 54 after that head to Little Rock, Ark., for the Simmons Bank Championship Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the Pleasant Valley Country Club.
The top 36 then go west to the Phoenix Country Club for the Schwab Cup Championship.
It's pretty much a three-man race at this point among Stewart Cink ($3,773, 675), Zach Johnson of St. Simons Island, Ga. ($3,295,613) and Steven Alker ($2,246,332). The next-nearest player is Padraig Harrington ($1,760,924), who could win the next two weeks and still not advance higher than third.
Cink has won six times this season, Johnson five and Alker four. Together, they've won the last seven Champions Tour events: three each for Johnson and Alker, and one for Cink.
Heath Slocum is on the No. 72 bubble this week with $198,016, only $1,273 ahead of Tom Pernice. However, Slocum failed to make the Furyk & Friends field at an open qualifier on Oct. 6.
International players advance to Hammock Beach
The Furyk & Friends got more of an international mix after the open qualifier on Oct. 6 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley. Chris Devlin of Northern Ireland (66), Darren Fichardt of South Africa (66) and Matthew Goggin of Australia (67) battle the rainy conditions to secure the three qualifying spots and get into the Furyk & Friends main draw.
Devlin birdied Nos. 11, 12, 16 and 17, Fichardt birdied his first four holes and Goggin had five birdies in a nine-hole stretch.
PGA Tour
Event: Baycurrent Classic, Oct. 7/8-10/11, Yokohama Country Club, Japan.
Purse: $8 million purse ($1,440,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner.
Defending champion: Xander Schauffele.
TV: Golf Channel (Oct. 7/8-Oct. 10/11, 11 p.m.-3 a.m.).
Area players: Michael Brennan, Brian Harman, Billy Horschel, Ben Kohles, Keith Mitchell, Davis Thompson, Michael Thompson.
PGA Tour Champions
Event: Constellation Furyk & Friends, Oct. 9-11, Ocean Course at Hammock Beach, Palm Coast.
Purse: $2.2 million ($330,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Tommy Gainey.
TV: Golf Channel (Oct. 9, 1-3 p.m.; Oct. 10-11, 4-6 p.m.).
Area players: David Duval, Fred Funk, Zach Johnson, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh.
Korn Ferry Tour
Event: Korn Ferry Tour Championship, Oct. 8-11, The Federal Club, Glen Allen, Va.
Purse: $1.5 million ($270,000 to the winner).
2025 champion: Chandler Blanchet.
TV: Golf Channel (Oct. 8-9, 3-6 p.m.; Oct. 10-11, 1-4 p.m.).
Area players (points standing): Doc Redman (5), Nick Gabrelcik (29), Travis Trace (48).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: UNF graduates Nick Gabrelcik, Travis Trace stage final battle for Tour cards
