2 players sneak onto PGA Tour field after controversial mistake

This week’s inaugural PGA Tour field Black Desert Championship in Utah features a combination of tour stars and pros trying to improve their status for 2025. It also features something else: two players who have no business being on the court in the first place.

The strange story was revealed by Ryan French of Monday Q Info.

First, some background to better understand the wild series of events. Most regular PGA Tour events have a qualifier on Monday tournament, in which players who have not already qualified for the event compete in a one-round competition for a limited number of field points.

There are several categories of exceptions for Monday qualifiers. For example, any member of the PGA, Korn Ferry, PGA Tour Champions circuits can automatically enter any Monday qualifier. But those who are not exempt must play in a PREQUALIFICATION event to earn their spot in Monday’s qualifier.

As the Frenchman reports for Q Info on Monday, four players were named in the field for this week’s Black Desert Championship who were not excluded and had skipped the pre-qualifying events, which cost thousands of dollars to enter. Their names are RJ Manke, Chris Korte, John Sands and Riley Lewis.

After investigating the matter, French was told by Devin Dhelin of the Utah PGA that the players entered the course due to a clerical error.

“It’s our first PGA Tour on Monday, and he just made a mistake,” Dhelin told French. “He has done hundreds of tours without any problems. He just lacked that.”

After other competitors questioned the inclusion of four players, tournament officials communicated with those players, removed them from Monday’s Black Desert Qualifying field and refunded their entry fees.

But the story does not stop there.

Soon after, the PGA Tour became aware of the issue and discussed it with their legal department, and the Tour came up with a surprising decision: All four players would be allowed to play Monday’s qualifier.

And just like that, they returned to the field.

Monday’s qualifying went ahead as scheduled on Monday and, incredibly, two of the four players who weren’t supposed to be in the field, Korte and Sand, shot eight-under 64s to earn their spots in the Desert Championship. Black, together with two. other players who had correctly qualified to compete in Monday’s qualifier.

Match times for the first and second rounds are likely to be released Tuesday night, and unless the PGA Tour finds a solution to the situation before then, Korte and Sand should be ranked along with the rest of the field.

You can read French’s full report on the strange situation here.

Kevin Cunningham

Editor of Golf.com

As managing producer for GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes stories on GOLF.com and manages the brand’s e-newsletters, which reach more than 1.4 million subscribers each month. A two-time former intern, he also helps make GOLF.com sound outside of the stories and service content provided by our reporters and writers, and works with the technology team on developing new products and innovative ways to deliver engaging engagement. site for our audience.