Kihei Akina is halfway to earning a PGA Tour card.
The sophomore at BYU finished ninth Sunday at the PGA Tour's Bank of Utah Championship. This was his third start in the championship and his first time playing the weekend, and it paid off in a big way.
Akina, the reigning Phil Mickelson Award winner as college golf's Freshman of the Year, earned two points toward his PGA Tour University Accelerated total, putting him at 10. That means he needs 10 more to earn a PGA Tour card.
"Just a great week to be back here in Utah again," Akina said. "Just really lucky to have the privilege to be able to play here for the third time, and to be able to play well, it's pretty awesome."
Akina, who was born in Hawaii and played high school golf in Utah before committing
to BYU, has risen to 10th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He was a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team last month and had zero Accelerated points when the year began.
He has made three cuts on the PGA Tour this year. He finished top 10 at the NCAA Men's Golf Championship in June, played on the Palmer and Walker Cup teams and now has a top-10 finish on Tour. That's how he got to 10 points, and only one player, Texas Tech junior Connor Graham, has more Accelerated points. Tennessee freshman Tyler Watts also has 10 points.
With his top-10 finish in Utah, Akina also earned a spot in the field for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship later this month at Port Royal in Southampton. Another made cut and top 10 there would be worth two points.
Three players – Gordon Sargent, Luke Clanton and Jackson Koivun – have earned their PGA Tour cards via Accelerated. Akina is looking to become the fourth, and if his trajectory continues as it has in 2026, he could be there by year's end.
"It's in the back of your head," Akina said. "At the end of the day, you've just got to play golf, and that's what I did this week."
Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: BYU's Kihei Akina is halfway to a PGA Tour card after top 10 in Utah
