Minnesotan Hitchner Escapes Five-Way Playoff to Earn First Korn Ferry Victory in Utah

Photo: Andrew Wevers/Getty Images  

OGDEN, Utah – With a birdie on the first hole of the biggest playoff in the history of the Korn Ferry Tour Sunday, 2021 Minnesota Golf Association Amateur champion Derek Hitchner emerged victorious from a five-way playoff at The Utah Championship at Ogden Golf and Country Club for his first victory as a professional.

Hitchner began the week 136th in the Korn Ferry Tour points list, missing cuts in six of his past seven starts. But with his victory Sunday, he jumps to No. 26 with seven events left in 2026, eyeing a top-20 finish in the points race to give the former Pepperdine University golfer full PGA Tour status for 2027.

“I feel like I try to look at things from a broader picture just in the sense that I finally saw some better golf this week,” the 26-year-old Hitchner said following his victory Sunday. “I found that really just quietly reassuring and encouraging.

“Obviously wanted a great outcome this week, but I felt like I had the tools needed to play well the rest of the year based on what I saw this week. So, I was really happy about that. Obviously, just with how this has all turned out makes it pretty incredible.”

Hitchner closed out his opening round with a pair of late birdies Thursday to post a 2-under 69 before moving into contention with back-to-back rounds of 8-under 62 during the second and third rounds.

“I was staring at five feet for bogey on [No. 4] the first day to stay even par. So, to be at that point to then shoot two 62s, it's absurd,” Hitchner said. “But it's a testament to how golf can change so quickly. That's something I always try to remember and just know that it's always a little bit closer than it probably feels at the moment.”

Tied for the lead with Blades Brown entering Sunday’s final round, Hitcher birdied three of his first four holes to remain on top of the leaderboard but would fall a shot behind after a bogey at the par-5 16th.

He recaptured a share of the lead at 21-under par when he converted his birdie opportunity from inside of six feet at the 17th.

Left with 15 feet for birdie and a chance to claim victory, Hitchner left his putt five inches short of the hole, forcing a five-way playoff between Cole Hammer, Mason Andersen, Travis Trace and Tommy Morrison after shooting a final-round 67 Sunday.

Hitchner was the lone player to convert a birdie opportunity in the playoff, sinking his putt from six feet for his first victory since turning professional in 2023.

“It was a relief to see a putt go in because I felt like I had been looking at a lot of opportunities on the back nine and just couldn't really get one to go in,” Hitchner said. “Yeah, it's all just profoundly surreal but unbelievably happy to be here.

“I felt pretty solid all day. I wasn't necessarily doing anything incredibly well but just kind of staying pretty stable. Yeah, it obviously felt like it got a little tougher down the stretch just knowing that I was going to need to make a putt at some point and thankfully at 17 I was finally able to do that.”

Hitchner earned his status last fall after finishing sixth in the final Fortinet Cup standings during his second season playing the PGA Tour Americas.

After falling in a playoff to Michael Brennan at the CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center at Cragun’s Legacy Courses in August, Hitchner notched a second straight runner-up finish a week later.

A sixth-place finish two weeks later secured Hitchner's promotion for the 2026 season.