Meet 'The Five:' PGA TOUR Canada graduates
Meet the five players earning 2024 Korn Ferry Tour membership and access to the Final Stage of Q-School.
The finale of PGA TOUR Canada concluded Sunday in Calgary, Alberta, with Hayden Springer winning for the second time this season.
Springer’s season-ending victory at the Fortinet Cup Championship meant he captured Player of the Year honors, and with that, immediately earned Korn Ferry Tour membership.
Springer started the week sitting fourth in the Fortinet Cup standings, but his Calgary championship saw him earn 600 points and leap all of Sam Choi, Davis Lamb and Canada’s Etienne Papineau for top spot.
Springer won by five shots after a 4-under 67 Sunday.
The Fortinet Cup Championship marked the final event of PGA TOUR Canada as we know it, as it becomes absorbed with PGA TOUR Latinoamerica into PGA TOUR Americas – set to begin play in February 2024.
Here’s a capsule look at The Five for 2023 on PGA TOUR Canada and where they’ll stand heading into the next Korn Ferry Tour campaign.
1) HAYDEN SPRINGER
Hayden Springer won for the second time in 2023 at the Fortinet Cup Championship after winning the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open two weeks prior. It was his fourth top-10 finish of the season.
By virtue of capturing the Fortinet Cup, Springer is fully exempt on the Korn Ferry Tour next season and earned a $25,000 (CAD) bonus.
Springer has also earned a spot in next week’s Fortinet Championship on the PGA TOUR along with the 2024 RBC Canadian Open. Springer is also exempt into the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Qualifying School presented by Korn Ferry with a chance to earn a PGA TOUR card.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Springer started his collegiate career at Texas Tech before transferring to Texas Christian University. There he won the Big 12 Championship (topping this season’s FedExCup Champion Viktor Hovland in the process) in 2018. Springer turned pro in 2019.
2) SAM CHOI
Sam Choi turned professional this year after a decorated collegiate campaign at Pepperdine University. He was a model of consistency this year on PGA TOUR Canada with seven top-10 finishes in 10 events including a win at the Windsor Championship. He started the season with five straight results inside the top-six on the leaderboard and was No.1 on The Five until Springer’s final-event triumph.
Choi, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea when he was in the ninth grade to pursue professional golf, finished 11th on this year’s PGA TOUR University rankings.
Choi earns conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour next season (elevated to the first conditional category, subject to the first reshuffle) and is also exempt into the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Qualifying School.
By finishing runner-up in the Fortinet Cup Points List, Choi earned a spot in the 2024 RBC Canadian Open.
3) DAVIS LAMB
When Davis Lamb was hot this year, he was real hot.
Lamb, a Notre Dame alum, won the ATB Classic after getting into the field as a Monday Qualifier. He also captured the Quebec Open powered by Videotron Business the very next week, becoming the first golfer on PGA TOUR Canada to win back-to-back events since Tyler McCumber in 2018.
Lamb fired a sizzing Sunday 64 at the Fortinet Cup Championship for his sixth top-25 finish in eight events this season.
By virtue of finishing third on the Fortinet Cup standings, Lamb’s conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour next season is elevated to the first conditional category (subject to the first reshuffle). He is also exempt into the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Qualifying School.
4) ETIENNE PAPINEAU
Etienne Papineau couldn’t have asked for a better start to his PGA TOUR Canada season – and now at its conclusion, he’s earned Korn Ferry Tour status for the first time.
Papineau, who is from just outside Montreal and is an alum of West Virginia University, won the season-opening Royal Beach Victoria Open presented by Times Colonist. He also finished runner-up at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open.
With Papineau finishing as the top Canadian in the Fortinet Cup Points List, he earns an exemption into the 2024 RBC Canadian Open. As a six-year member of Golf Canada’s National Team, Papineau teed it up at this year’s Canadian Open at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto where he missed the cut.
Papineau earns conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour next year and is exempt into the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Qualifying School.
5) YI CAO
Talk about coming up clutch.
After a 5-under 66 Sunday at the Fortinet Cup Championship, Yi Cao was the only golfer to move inside The Five. Cao, who started the week at No. 9, finished tied for second at the season finale – a week after capturing the CRMC Championship presented by Gertens.
A pretty darn good time to nab results of 1-2 on the schedule.
Cao, on account of his runner-up (on his 32nd birthday, no less), moved up four spots in the Fortinet Cup Points List and bumped Canadian Stuart MacDonald from The Five after Cao’s fabulous finish.
Born in China, Cao moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, at age 15. He turned pro in 2012 and this was his fifth season on PGA TOUR Canada. His win last week was the first of his career and in came in dominating fashion – his eight-stroke margin of victory tied the PGA TOUR Canada record for the largest in Tour history.
Cao is the final golfer to earn conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour next season and is also exempt into the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Qualifying School.
OTHER NOTABLES
Jeffrey Kang (No. 6) moved up five spots from No. 11 after finishing tied for third at the Fortinet Cup Championship… Stuart MacDonald ended up at No. 7 after being bumped by Yi Cao for the fifth and final spot in The Five… Derek Hitchner had the biggest leap of anyone from the season finale. Thanks to his tie for third he moved all the way up to No. 22 from No. 45 and will be exempt into the Second Stage of the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament… SudarshanYellamaraju (No. 29 to No. 21) was the only other golfer to jump inside the top 25 after the Fortinet Cup Championship and earning an exemption into the Second Stage of the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament.