Brandon Matthews will be able to play in any Korn Ferry Tour he wishes to this season.
Sunday Dispatch file photos
Brandon Matthews completed the 2020-21 PGA Latinoamerica Tour as its season points leader July 25, earning the tour’s only full exemption onto the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour.
Sunday Dispatch file photos
Brandon Matthews played his way back onto the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour and into the best position of his professional golf career.
When Matthews completed the 2020-21 PGA Latinoamerica Tour as its season points leader July 25, he landed that tour’s only full exemption onto the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour.
Matthews has been on the Korn Ferry before, spending most of two seasons there, but never with a full exemption into every event.
Being the only player to win twice on a Latinoamerica Tour, reduced to nine events over two years by the pandemic, put Matthews in that position.
“The last two times on the Korn Ferry Tour, I made it there through (Qualifying) School,” said Matthews in an interview Tuesday, his 27th birthday. “The first eight starts of the year were guaranteed and then it’s reshuffled and there a lot of different scenarios.”
Matthews hopes to make the most of the different situation, having the knowledge he is in to any event he chooses all season.
“It doesn’t put any added pressure on to play well early,” he said. “I have the entire season to play good golf and try to win and advance and get one of the spots on the PGA Tour.”
In addition to his promotion to within one step of the PGA Tour and the avoidance of the grueling Q School routine, Matthews earned some much-needed rest and relaxation.
His tournament schedule will ease up temporarily.
“I’ll just kind of enjoy what I accomplished this season,” the former state high school champion from Pittston Area said. “I’m actually coming back to Pennsylvania for a little bit to visit some family and just honestly take time to catch up on a little bit of relaxation.
“I haven’t been able to do that lately.”
While on a competitive break before preparing for what could be one of the most important seasons of his career, Matthews is sure to find his way to a local golf course.
“I love golf so much that there’s no way I can stop playing,” Matthews said. “I’m sure I’ll be playing a lot.
“We have a couple special things going on up there; going to play some great golf courses. It’s going to be a fun trip.”
The former Dupont resident, now playing out of Florida, had built a big points lead and eliminated all put six other contenders heading into the season finale.
Those seven players went into the finale trying to land the only full exemption available for the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour.
Matthews finished tied for 33rd at 8-over-par, 296 on rounds of 73, 72, 77 and 74 in the Bupa Championships July 22-25 at PGA Riviera Maya in Tulum, Mexico.
Sam Stevens used a tie for eighth place in the finale to move from third to second in the point standings, slightly cutting into Matthews’ points lead, which wound up at 1,191-1,067.
The second- through fifth-place finishers earned partial tour status while other leaders on the Latinoamerica Tour received passes through one or two steps of Q School.
Matthews made cuts in his first three events on the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour before struggling the rest of the way. He finished with four made cuts, 14 missed cuts and three withdrawals in 21 events while making $8,215 and finishing 184th on the tour.
The Temple University graduate fared better in his first try in 2018, making 13 of 21 cuts and earning $65,220 while ranking 82nd in the points race and 93rd on the money list.
