Hitchner Tied for 1st Going into Final Round of Fortinet Cup Championship

CALGARY, Alberta -- Derek Hitchner is making a late run to crack the top 5 on the PGA Tour Canada's Points List with his performance this week at the season-ending Fortinet Cup Championship.

The 2021 Minnesota State Amateur champion -- and MGA Player of the Year -- shot a 9-under-par 62 at the Country Hills Golf Club's Talons Course in the second round on Friday, and he followed it with a 66 on Saturday. As a result, he's tied with Hayden Springer for first place going into Sunday's final round, with a 54-hole total of 195. Springer, a former TCU All-American and the 2019 Big 12 individual champion, matched Hitchner's 62 on Friday and shot 67 on Saturday.

Springer is No. 4 on the PGA Tour Canada Points List, and he could move up to No. 1 with a victory Sunday. That would give him full status on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024. (The Korn Ferry Tour is the final stepping stone for players on the way to the PGA Tour.)

Hitchner is currently No. 45 on the points list, but he could move up into the top 5 if he were to win this weekend. The players who finish the season Nos. 2 through 5 get conditional status for the Korn Ferry next year.

In addition, those in the top 5 will be exempt into the Final Stage of PGA Tour Q-School this fall, and those from No. 6 to No. 25 will be exempt into the Second Stage. For the past dozen years, it was Korn Ferry Q-School, not the. PGA Tour Q-School. But now it's PGA Tour Q-School again, and the top five finishers in the Final Stage of Q-School will go right to the PGA Tour. Everyone else who makes it to the Final Stage will be exempt for the Korn Ferry.

Hitchner was an All-American for Pepperdine for the 2022-23 college season, and he ended up in the top 15 in the PGA Tour University Rankings (for players in their final year of college eligibility). That was how he got a spot on the PGA Tour Canada this summer. He made five of seven cuts, but had only one top-10 finish, and he's made $13,392. Springer made five of six cuts, had three top-10 finishes, and he's won once, all of which earned him $50,996.

On Friday, Hitchner started the day just outside the top 10 in the standings, but he moved up pretty quickly, with a birdie at the second and sixth holes and an eagle at the 588-yard, par-5 seventh. He made five more birdies on the back nine. On Saturday, he was 4 under on the front nine again, with a birdie at the second and three more in a row, at the sixth, seventh and eighth holes. But after going 3 under on the first four holes on the back nine Friday, he was 1 over for those holes on Saturday, the result of a bogey at the 443-yard, par-4 12th. He got to 5 under for the day, however, by making birdies once again at the 15th and 17th holes.

Heyden shot his 67 despite making two bogeys plus a double at the 12th. That double was offset by his eagle at the seventh, and he had five birdies to go with it.

He and Hitchner are three clear of the guy in third place, Jared du Toit, who turned in Saturday's low round, a 64, on his way to 198. And then it's another two back to Eric Lilleboe and Alex Scott, the two players tied for fourth at 200. Lilleboe had a 69 Saturday, and Scott a 70.

Thomas Longella, the former Gopher from Chippewa Falls, is No. 26 on the points list, and he probably won't be moving up from there. He's tied for 56th through three rounds with 213 (70-68-75); so he's likely to drop a few places. But he'll have a place to play next year, because the top 60 on the points list will be fully exempt next year for the new PGA Tour Americas. That tour will combine the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica and PGA Tour Canada, both of which will cease to exist.



Fortinet Cup Championship

At Country Hills Golf Club -- Talons Course

Par 71, 7,79 yards

Calgary, Alberta

Canada

Third-round results

T1. Derek Hitchner 67-62-66--195

T1. Hayden Springer 66-62-67--195

3. Jared di Toit 67-67-64--198

T4. Eric Lilleboe 64-67-69--200

T4. Alex Scott 65-65-70--200

T6. Eric McCardle 72-64-65--201

T6. Noah Steele 69-66-66--201

T6. Etienne Papineau 68-66-67--201

T6. Myles Creighton 69-65-67--201

T6. Yi Cao 66--67-68--201

T56. Thomas Longbella 70-68-75--213