Monday qualifiers for PGA Tour event were accidentally allowed into field

Chris Korte and John Sand will be making their PGA Tour debuts this week at the Black Desert Championship after earning spots through a Monday qualifier. One slight problem: Korte and Sand shouldn’t have been allowed to compete in the four-spot event.

The issue, reported first by Monday Q Info’s Ryan French and Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine, stems from a clerical error on the part of the Utah PGA section, which was running the qualifying for the PGA Tour event. Korte and Sand, along with two other players, signed up and were granted access into the Monday qualifying field at Sand Hollow in Hurricane, Utah. However, Korte and Sand did not have exempt status, meaning they should have had to play in a Thursday pre-qualifier to gain entry into the Monday field.

According to French, the problem was discovered after the pre-qualifier was played last week, and the four players initially were removed from the Monday qualifier field. The PGA Tour then decided to allow the four players back into the Monday field, with French stating one of the four players had called the tour and asked for recompensation for travel because of their error.

A PGA Tour source confirmed to Golf Digest there was an administrative mistake but would not comment regarding communications between the tour and the aforementioned four players.

Korte and Sand took medalist honors with an eight-under 64 on Monday, so at least their play merited a spot into the big event. Not that their fellow competitors saw it that way, as former PGA Tour player Jimmy Knous took to the social-media platform X to reply, “Yikes. Shot -6 today, got beat by 2 of these players. And had a flat tire this morning. What a weird day. How about a spot in the field at PGATOUR?!”

It’s worth noting hosting the Monday qualifier was also new to the Utah PGA section. The Black Desert Championship is making its tour debut this week, and marks the PGA Tour’s first return to Utah in 60 years.