David Hearn of Canada hits on the 2nd hole during the second round of the Korn Ferry Tour Albertson's Boise Open at Hillcrest Country Club on Aug. 23, 2019 in Boise, Idaho.Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., came through in the clutch on Monday to win his return to the PGA Tour next season, while fellow Canadian Adam Svensson came up agonizingly short.
Hearn shot six-under-par 66 in the final round of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Indiana to vault into the tournament’s top five – but, more important, into the top 25 of the second-tier circuit’s playoff series. That earned him a playing card for the 2020 season on the top-level PGA Tour, on which he’s played for the past 15 years.
As he came down the stretch of the Korn Ferry season finale Monday, the 40-year-old veteran summoned memories from the PGA Tour’s 2004 qualifying school, when he first earned his card. He said to himself, “I’ve done it before, I can do it again,” he told Golf Channel after a sigh of relief.
Hearn, who lost his PGA Tour card this summer after a middling 2019 season and had to enter the three-tournament Korn Ferry series to win it back, punctuated his rally Monday with an approach shot on the final green to a couple of feet, setting up a tap-in birdie.
He was not only battling nerves and fellow competitors who were also trying to win jobs for 2020, but he was also fretting over his family in South Florida as Hurricane Dorian threatened the state. “My mind has been totally on this hurricane,” he said, but noted his family retreated to safety.
The Tour Championship didn’t go as well for the two other Canadians in the field. Svensson, 25, of Surrey, B.C., stepped up with a 68 Monday but fell a couple spots short of regaining his card. He was a PGA Tour rookie in 2019 but also failed to keep his card. Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., missed the cut at the Tour Championship, giving him no chance to get into the top 25 overall. Both will have playing privileges on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.