It’s not official — not quite yet, anyway.
The PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour have conservative calculations to declare when a player has clinched a PGA Tour card, which is given to the top 30 players on the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-long standings at year’s end.
Frankie Capan III of North Oaks, Minn., is in 12th place on the season-long list following his tie for second place in the Magnit Championship on Sunday in Jackson, New Jersey.
The 24-year-old has a pair of runner-up finishes and three top-fives this season. He earned 184 points with this weekend’s performance, pushing his mark to 1,013 on the season. That total would been enough to finish in the top 30 in past seasons easily. He has a nearly 400-point lead on the golfer at No. 31 in the standings.
Four events are remaining in the tour’s season, which concludes with the Korn Ferry Tour Championship Oct. 3-6 in French Lick, Ind.
For the third time this season, Capan was in a final grouping on Sunday. But he struggled on his front nine, shooting 1-over-par 37 to seemingly fall out of contention.
But Capan caught fire on the final nine with birdies on 11, 12 and 13, and then he capped off his tournament with a birdie on No. 18 to get to 15-under 273 for the week and into a second-place tie with Ricky Castillo, Tim Widing and Will Chandler. Max McGreevy, who is second on the season points list, won at 18-under 270 after shooting 3-under 69 on Sunday.
With Capan’s final birdie, it’s likely more of a case of when — not if — the Tour announces that Capan’s spot on the top professional tour next season is secured.
