Josele Ballester won’t be playing the Korn Ferry Tour this summer.
The recent Arizona State grad, who recently capped his college career with a T-4 finish at the NCAA Championship and a quarterfinal exit by the Sun Devils, officially declined the KFT membership he received as the No. 3 finisher in the PGA Tour University rankings, GolfChannel.com has learned.
With Ballester declining membership, several PGA Tour U grads improved their status. Texas A&M’s Phichaksn Maichon was bumped to fifth, which comes with a full KFT card and now an exemption into final stage of PGA Tour Q-School this December. LSU’s Algot Kleen moves to No. 10, now receiving full KFT membership in addition to his exemption into second stage of Q-School. Ole Miss’ Kye Meeks goes from nothing to No. 25 and full PGA Tour Americas status.
Auburn’s Brendan Valdes, Florida’s Ian Gilligan, Vanderbilt’s Jackson Van Paris, Arizona State’s Preston Summerhays, Louisville’s Sebastian Moss and UCLA teammates Omar Morales and Pablo Ereno are the other newly minted KFT members from this PGA Tour U class.
North Carolina’s David Ford won the PGA Tour U points list this season – Ballester was in the running for this until Ford won three straight events in the spring – to earn his PGA Tour card for the next season and a half. He made his pro debut two weeks ago at Colonial and will join Gordon Sargent and Luke Clanton, two PGA Tour U Accelerated achievers, in this week’s field at the RBC Canadian Open. Auburn’s Jackson Koivun also has earned 20 points through Accelerated, though he’s returning for his junior year.
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