Birdie-Birdie Finish Gives Capan the 54-Hole Lead in Penultimate Korn-Ferry Tournament

Minnesota

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Frankie Capan has already secured a place on the PGA Tour for next year. He's No. 14 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, with five top-10 finishes so far this year, $349,241 and 1,078 points. The top 30 from the points list at the end of the year will graduate to the PGA Tour, and the 24-year-old former Minnesota State Amateur champion and MGA Player of the Year (he was both in 2020) is guaranteed to finish in the top 30. 

But by moving up on the points list in the two remaining tournaments on the schedule, he could earn his way into more tournaments next year, tournaments with more prize money, and in some cases no cuts. And that is precisely what Capan has a chance to do on Sunday, after shooting a 5-under-par 66 at The Ohio State University Golf Club's Scarlet Course on Saturday in the third round of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship. An impressive birdie-birdie finish at the 17th and 18th holes gave him a 54-hole total of 201 (miinus 12), and he leads by one stroke over Kevin Roy.

Roy, 34, is from Syracuse, and he's had a relatively long and winding road as a golf professional. He graduated from Long Beach State in 2012 and turned pro that year. Five years later, he had made it up the ladder as far as the PGA LatinoAmerica Tour, but didn't play well out there. "Absoluely horrible," was the way he describes it. So he quit golf and went into medical sales. After a year of that, he came back to golf, and now, in 2024, like Capan, he is headed for the  PGA Tour next year. He's No. 11 on the points list and No. 13 on the money list with $381,374. Also like Capan, he has a chance to move up with a high finish Sunday on the demanding, 7,422-yard Scarlet course, which he navigated in 67 strokes on Saturday. That put him in second place at 202.

Midway between Roy and Capan on the money list, at No. 15 ($373, 544) is Thomas Rosenmueller, a 27-year-old German, and he, too, shot 67 on Saturday. He's tied for third at 203 with Pontus Nyholm, a 26-year-old Swede. Nyholm, who shot 70, is not guaranteed to be on the big tour next year. He's No. 50 on the points list and No. 52 on the money list ($166,316). So he could really use a big finish. If he could simply hang on to a half-share of third place, he'd move up 35 places on the points list, to No. 15.

In other words, there's a lot at stake for Capan, Roy and Rosenmueller this weekend -- and even more for Nyholm. 

One guy who doesn't have all that much to gain, on the other hand, is Matt McCarty, who's tied for fifth, along with William Mouw, at  204. McCarty, who shot 69, has won three Korn Ferry tournaments in 2024 and is No. 1 in points, and also money with $947,727.

Mouw, who shot 63 on Friday and followed it with a 67 on Saturday, was a college teammate of another Minnesota State Amateur champion and MGA Player of the Year -- Derek Hitchner (2021) -- at Pepperdine. He turned pro in 2023, and he's on the fast track to the PGA Tour, at No. 13 on the Korn Ferry Points List and No. 14 on the money list ($379,190).   

(Hitchner has been playing on the PGA Tour Americas this year and is No. 30 on that money list, with $36,217. If he's going to move up to the Korn Ferry or the PGA Tour, he'll have to do it by way of the PGA Tour/Korn Ferry Q-School this fall.) 

Saturday's round was televised by the Golf Channel, and Capan -- who grew up splitting his time between North Oaks and Phoenix (he won the Arizona state high school individual championship by 10 shots as a senior, shooting a 59 in the process) -- was the star of the show. The announcers were saying that Capan is not an exceptionally long hitter, which is yet another indication of how distorted the game of golf has become. Capan, who went to the University of Alabama for two years and transferred to Florida Gulf Coast for his last two years of college, averages 310 yards off the tee -- and that ranks 56th on the Korn Ferry driving distance stats.

Nevertheless, Capan's length off the tee, wherever it ranks, seems to give him an advantage over most of the other Korn Ferry guys. On Saturday, he made two birdies on the front nine, and then moved to the top of the leaderboard with an eagle at the 562-yard, par-5 12th hole. It's possible he was trying to get too close to the green with his tee shot at the 378-yard, dogleg left par-4 16th, and maybe that was why he found the water hazard  to the left of the fairway, which resulted in a bogey.

Undaunted, he hit a gorgeous tee shot to within 10 feet of the pin at the 217-yard, par-3 17th and converted the putt for a birdie. 

The 18th hole at Scarlet is another dogleg left, and it's 414 yards. Despite not being in the top 50 of the Korn Ferry Driving Distantce stats, Capan got closer to the green with his tee shot  at the18th than anyone else on Saturday. Ramarkably, he was within 10 or 12 yards of the green. From there, he hit an OK-but-not-great pitch to about 6 feet and made the putt for his second birdie in a row, and a 66. 

For anyone who might be wondering, if Capan were to win this tournament, he  moveis projected to move up nine places -- to No. 5 -- in the points standings. And there will be a lot of points to play for again  next week in the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship. 


Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship

At The Ohio State University Golf Club -- Scarlet Course

Par 71, 7,422 yards

Columbus, Ohio

Third-round results 

1. Frankie Capan                     68-67-66--201

2. Kevin Roy                             68-67-67---202

T3. Thomas Rosenmueller       66-70-67--203

T3. Pontus Nyholm                   68-65-70--203

T5. William Mouw                    74-63-67--204

T5. Matt McCarty                     66-69-69--204

T5. Noah Goodwin                   66-67-71--204

8. Joey Garber                       70-68-67--205