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A gamble he took four years ago has paid off in the best way possible with Sydney’s Harrison Endycott playing his way onto the PGA TOUR.
In what is golf’s most emotionally fraught final round, the culmination of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Pinnacle Bank Championship in Nebraska sees 25 PGA TOUR cards distributed for the top 25 finishers on the points list at the end of the regular season.
Nineteenth at the start of the week, making the cut all but guaranteed Endycott’s PGA TOUR promotion but it wasn’t until completing his final round of two-over 73 for a share of 55th that his top-25 finish was officially confirmed.
It marks an emotional and patient rise for the 26-year-old from Avondale Golf Club.
He turned professional in 2017 and the following year deliberately took himself out of his comfort zone by playing the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica circuit.
He played in countries such as Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil, recording three consecutive top-five finishes late in the year to finish 19th on the Order of Merit.
He returned the following year and then advanced to the Korn Ferry Tour season for the first time in a season spread across 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A five-stroke victory at the Huntsville Championship in May was his first as a professional and provided the foundation to cash in on that gamble he took four years earlier.
“I’m just so proud of him,” said his father Brian, who had made the trip from Australia to will his son over the line.
“Getting to where he is… As you can see we’re both emotional because he works so hard for this. Very, very hard for this.”
As Endycott celebrated his PGA TOUR promotion, a host of Aussies were featuring prominently on leaderboards around the world.
Cameron Smith’s hopes of snatching the world No.1 ranking from Scottie Scheffler took a hit before he even teed off in the final round of the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis.
Smith was adjudged a two-stroke penalty for taking an incorrect drop on the par-3 fourth hole during Round 3, his Saturday score of 67 adjusted to 69.
That put him four strokes back of 54-hole leader JJ Spaun, Smith unable to make up the difference with a final round of even-par 70 to finish six back of eventual champion Will Zalatoris.
It was a happier Sunday for Adam Scott, who kept his chances of advancing to the Tour Championship with a final round of four-under 66 and tie for fifth.
That moves Scott from 77th to 45th in the FedEx Cup standings with an opportunity to move into the top 30 at this week’s BMW Championship.
“Going into today I just wanted a good solid day. I felt that would be good enough to get me through,” said Scott, who went out in 31 in his final round.
“Most likely under par would have got me through, but maybe needed better. But after nine I felt like, well, if I have another nine like that, I could post something and win the tournament.
“Then a quick bogey on 10 teaches me for thinking anything at all and I’m back grinding just to play another week.
“Even though I’m not winning this event, I feel like I’m getting something out of the week.
“Hopefully that’s good for the confidence going into next week and somehow have a big week and get through to East Lake.”
Cam Davis also shot 66 on Sunday to move up to 51st in the FedEx Cup while Marc Leishman’s 68 will see him enter the BMW Championship in 68th position.
TPS Victoria champion Todd Sinnott was the clubhouse leader when he shot 64 to reach 14-under at the Asian Tour International Series Singapore event, ultimately finishing two strokes back in a tie for fifth.
A runner-up finish behind Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Boeing Classic has moved David McKenzie up to 45th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings on the Champions Tour and Cassie Porter made an immediate impression on the Epson Tour, finishing tied for eighth at the Four Winds Invitational.
Results
PGA TOUR
FedEx St Jude Championship
TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee
Winner Will Zalatoris 71-63-65-66—265 $US2.7m
Won on the third hole of sudden death playoff
T5 Adam Scott 66-67-70-66—269 $480,000
T13 Cam Davis 67-71-67-66—271 $260,892.86
T13 Cameron Smith 67-65-69-70—271 $260,892.86
T64 Marc Leishman 69-69-75-68—281 $32,250
MC Jason Day 65-74—139
MC Lucas Herbert 73-70—143
MC Danny Lee (NZ) 72-72—144
Asian Tour
International Series Singapore
Tanah Merah Country Club (Tampines Cse), Singapore
Winner Nitithorn Thippong 68-67-68-69—272 $US270,000
T5 Todd Sinnott 68-70-72-64—274 $55,725
T12 Kevin Yuan 71-71-68-67—277 $20,058
T31 Wade Ormsby 73-68-70-69—280 $11,587
T44 Jake Higginbottom 72-71-69-71—283 $7,811
T44 Brett Rumford 73-70-71-69—283 $7,811
T57 Scott Hend 70-69-74-72—285 $5,175
T57 Sam Brazel 73-70-70-72—285 $5,175
T67 Cory Crawford 72-71-77-67—287 $4,050
T70 Jediah Morgan 73-70-72-74—289 $3,600
T73 Ben Eccles 69-71-77-76—293 $3,225
MC Travis Smyth 76-69—145
MC Ben Campbell (NZ) 74-73—147
MC Will Heffernan 73-75—148
MC Daniel Fox 76-72—148
MC Junseok Lee 73-75—148
MC Blake Windred 76-78—154
WD Anthony Quayle 73
WD Josh Younger 79
DP World Tour
ISPS HANDA World Invitational
Galgorm Castle & Massereene, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland
Winner Ewen Ferguson 61-70-68-69—268 €247,185.52
T23 Jake McLeod 72-68-69-69—278 €15,994.36
T32 Zach Murray 70-70-69-72—281 €12,286.57
T60 Dimitrios Papadatos 68-73-75—240 €4,289.40
MC Maverick Antcliff 71-71—142 €2,650.43
MC Elvis Smylie 72-71—143
MC Jordan Zunic 75-70—145
LPGA Tour/Ladies European Tour
ISPS HANDA World Invitational
Galgorm Castle & Massereene, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland
Winner Maja Stark 69-70-69-63—271 €218,104.95
T18 Karis Davidson 71-71-69-73—284 €22,828.32
T27 Stephanie Kyriacou 71-75-69-72—287 €16,067.07
T53 Sarah Kemp 73-73-74—220 €5,670.73
MC Su Oh 72-78—150
MC Whitney Hillier 74-81—155
Korn Ferry Tour
Pinnacle Bank Championship
The Club at Indian Creek, Omaha, Nebraska
Winner Robby Shelton 66-70-66-65—267
T47 Nick Voke (NZ) 70-69-71-70—280
T55 Harrison Endycott 69-71-69-73—282
MC Curtis Luck 69-76—145
MC Rhein Gibson 73-75—148
MC Ryan Ruffels 72-76—148
Epson Tour
Four Winds Invitational
South Bend Country Club, South Bend, Indiana
Winner Yan Liu 64-71-74—209 $US30,000
Won on the first hole of sudden death playoff
T8 Cassie Porter 73-69-69—211 $4,613
T12 Amelia Garvey (NZ) 72-70-70—212 $3,075
T12 Gabriela Ruffels 70-72-70—212 $3,075
T21 Hira Naveed 70-72-71—213 $2,054
T39 Grace Kim 77-67-71—215 $1,276
T41 Sarah Jane Smith 73-72-71—216 $1,153
T55 Soo Jin Lee 71-75-73—219 $772
MC Robyn Choi 71-76—147
MC Emily Mahar 77-74—151
MC Stephanie Na 74-78—152
MC Julienne Soo 82-74—156
Champions Tour
Boeing Classic
The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, Washington
Winner Miguel Ángel Jiménez 70-64-67—201 $US330,000
2 David McKenzie 73-64-66—203 $193,600
5 Steven Alker (NZ) 69-68-69—206 $105,600
T8 Rod Pampling 71-70-68—209 $55,733
T33 Stephen Leaney 72-72-71—215 $14,190
T50 Stuart Appleby 73-71-75—219 $6,380
T62 John Senden 78-73-73—224 $3,300
