It’s now more difficult than ever to earn a PGA Tour card. The best path is to play well on the Korn Ferry Tour, much like playing well in Triple-A baseball.
In the past, the top 30 players on the Korn Ferry point list earned their way on to the PGA Tour. This year, that number was reduced to 20.
That’s when Davis Chatfield knew he had to make a change.
One of the smaller players on the tour — he’s listed at 5-foot-6, 150 pounds — the Attleboro native, a 2017 Bishop Feehan High School graduate and two-time winner of the Attleboro Area Golf Association Open, put on 15 pounds in an offseason strength and conditioning program.
That’s enabled Chatfield to drive the ball longer.
“I’ve been driving it really well,” Chatfield said in a recent phone interview. “I’m getting it out a lot further so that I only have a wedge or short iron in my hands into the green. I’m pretty comfortable with that.”
His usual precision iron game along with strong work on and around the greens enabled Chatfield to finish second in his most recent event, the Astara Chile Classic presented by Scotiabank in Santiago, Chile. Chatfield had just one bogey over 72 holes while finishing at 18-under par.
“I’m not giving away shots, which is super important,” he said.
That most recent showing, as well as two other top 10 finishes, has lifted Chatfield into fifth place on the Korn Ferry points list, by far his highest showing ever.
Last year, his second on the Korn Ferry Tour, Chatfield finished 44th on the points list. More importantly, he said he felt “super burned out” after a season of travel and golf.
Now, he’s hoping the weight and strength he has gained will also increase his endurance, especially during blistering midsummer rounds.
“I said to myself, ‘You don’t deserve it, you’ve got to earn it,’ ” he said.
Chatfield has always been a terrific ball striker. As a boy, he would get dropped off in the morning at the former Highland Country Club in Attleboro and either play the nine-hole course a few times or work on his short game on the practice greens.
The results were tremendous. In 2015 at the age of 16, Chatfield dusted the field at the AAGA Open, winning by 11 strokes. The following year, he again lapped the competition, winning by a whopping 16 strokes in the 72-hole event, a record for the 57-year-old event.
Then, it was off to Notre Dame where he was a 2021 Ping Division I All-Region Team selection, spearheaded the Fighting Irish’s first team NCAA Regional appearance since 2012 and averaged 71.62 strokes per round, the fifth lowest in program history. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in film and television.
After turning pro in 2022, he spent the last two years on the Korn Ferry Tour. That experience has also helped in his early season improvement.
“I’ve gotten to know the courses, and that’s a big help,” he said.
Unlike the majority of players on the Korn Ferry Tour, Chatfield has no coaches or fitness trainers although he does call on friends, like Notre Dame coach John Handrigan, when he is working on a part of his game.
“I like to rely on myself,” he said.
While playing golf for a living has always been his dream, it does come with its burden. The first five events on the Korn Ferry Tour this season involve a lot of traveling. Besides Chile, Chatfield has been to the Bahamas, Panama, Colombia and Argentina.
“That travel takes a lot out of you,” he said.
Chatfield gets to rest and practice for a few weeks while the Korn Ferry Tour takes a break. He lives in the area of Ponta Vedra, Florida — headquarters of the PGA Tour and home of TPC Sawgrass, where he practices regularly. Last week, he went to a couple of rounds of The Players Championship on the famed Pete Dye-designed course.
His goal for this season is a victory on the Korn Ferry Tour, which would almost certainly lock up one of the 20 PGA Tour cards to be awarded this season. That could enable him to be in the field for next year’s Players Championship.
“That would be so awesome,” he said.
Mike Kirby, former editor-in-chief of The Sun Chronicle, has served as an adviser to the Rock Report this school year. This story was reprinted with permission of The Sun Chronicle.
