PGA Tour-Bound Keefer Wins Veritex Bank; VanArragon Is 9th

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Korn Ferry Tour was created in 1990 (it was called the Ben Hogan Tour then), and the idea was for it to be a breeding ground for future PGA Touir stars. 

It has served that purpose pretty well, beginning with Tom Lehman. In 1991, he was the Hogan Tour Player of the Year, and it wasn't close. Purses were a lot smaller in those days, but the approximately $150,000 that Lehman earned was 1 1/2 times as much as the guy who was No. 2 on the money list. Lehman went on to achieve the No. 1 position in the Official World Golf Rankings; he won the British Open in 1996; and he was the PGA Tour's Player of the Year that year. After  turning 50, he dominated the Champions Tour for a couple of years, before giving up the fall portion of the senior schedule to watch his sons play football in Scottsdale.

Lehman is the only person to have been the Player of the Year in the -- now -- Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. 

Based on the evidence available so far, two of the guys who contended for the crown at the Veritex Bank Championship could very well be future PGA Tour stars, and Johnny Keefer will get his big chance next year. The 24-year-old former Baylor University star was still an amateur a year ago. He turned pro after the 2023-24 college season ended, joined the PGA Tour Americas, and concluded the year at No. 1 on the money list.

That earned him a promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour for 2025, and he's No. 2 on that money list now, after dominating the proceedings at Veritex Bank. Birdies and eagles were the order of the week at the Texas Rangers Golf Club (the average score of 66.922 is the lowest in the history of the Korn Ferry), and Keefer had to keep his foot to the pedal after taking over first place with a 10-under-par 61 in the second round. Which he did. 

On Sunday, there were some very low scores early, and there was a large group of players tied with Keefer, or close behind him, as he played the front nine. But he separated himself from the field with six birdies in his last 12 holes, on the way to a 6-under 64, which gave him a 72-hole total of 254 -- 30 under par!

The $180,000 that he made pushed his season total to $346,700. That's nearly as much as the player who finished 20th on the 2024 points list made, and that's significant because the top 20 on the money list at the end of the year will get status on the PGA Tour for 2026. (Last year, the top 30 on the KF points list graduated to the PGA Tour, but the rules were  changed this year.) All Keefer has to do now is make the cut a few times, and he'll crack the top 20. 

Another prospective future star in the Veritex field was Blades Brown, the 17-year-old phenom from Nashville who decided to skip college and turn professional right out of high school. He got off to a shaky start this year, but he seems to be finding his way these days. Brown shot 60 on Day 1 at Veritex and closed with a 63 on his way to a tie for second place at 257. It was a rather crowded at 257. There were seven players in the second-place tie.

Two shots behind them, alone in ninth, was Caleb VanArragon, the guy who torched Oak Ridge and Minneapolsi GC two years ago while winning the Minnesota State Open and State Amateur. He was 36 under par in those two triumphs, and won the two tournaments by a combined total of 22 strokes. VanArragon, who's 24, was in a three-way tie for second after 54 holes at Texas Rangers GC, but he was only 1 under after 13 holes on Sunday. That dropped him into a 10-way tie for 19th. He rallied with two birdies in the last five holes and climbed back up into solo ninth, for which he was paid $27,500. It was needed because VanArragon was No. 107 on the Korn Ferry money list when the tournament started. Now he's up to No. 66, with $47,390.

That's not where he wants to end up, but he's headed in the right direction.       


Veritex Bank Championship

At Texas Rangers Golf Club

Par 71, 7,110 yards

Arlington, Texas

Third-round results 

1. Johnny Keefer              63-61-66-64--254

T2. Blades Brown             61-67-66-63--257

T2. Tyson Alexander         64-67-61-65--257

T2. Zach James                60-65-68-64--257

T2. Julian Suri                   64-65-64-64--257

T2. Joshua Creel               64-65-67-61--257

T7. Mitchell Meissner         63-65-66-64-258

T7. S.H. Kim                       65-66-63-64--258

9. Caleb VanArragon       65-62-64-68--259

Missed cut -- 133

Thomas Longbella               69-66--135