After Monday qualifying, Coloradan Chris Korte and former DU teammate John Sand set to make PGA Tour debuts — ‘clerical error’ controversy notwithstanding
By Gary Baines – 10/9/2024
Perhaps it’s fitting that the newest PGA Tour event — and the one closest to Colorado that includes a Monday qualifying tournament — will be where Highlands Ranch resident Chris Korte makes his PGA Tour debut.
Same with fellow former University of Denver golfer John Sand.
Korte and Sand, DU teammates for one season (2017-18), were two of the four golfers who Monday qualified into the field for the inaugural Black Desert Championship, which starts Thursday at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah. In round 1, Korte will tee it up at 9:19 a.m., and Sand at 9:35. Others in the field with significant Colorado ties are Denver-area resident Martin Laird, Denver native Mark Hubbard and former Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney.
But, unlike the others, this will be the first PGA Tour start for Korte and Sand. They landed their spots — two of the four available — by each shooting rounds of 8-under-par 64 at Sand Hollow in Hurricane, Utah, good for co-medalists honors with Chandler Blanchet. David Bradley carded a 65 for the final spot. A total of 62 players were in the Monday qualifying field.
Korte, winner of the 2015 CGA Amateur and the 2017 CGA Match Play, made seven birdies go to along with an eagle on his 17th hole, followed by a closing bogey. Sand recorded two eagles, including one on the par-4 16th, to go with four birdies in a bogey-free round.
Korte, whose lone start on the Korn Ferry Tour resulted in a missed cut at the 2021 Ascendant presented by Blue at TPC Colorado, was a regular on PGA Tour Americas in 2024. In 16 tournaments there this year, the now 28-year-old posted four top-20 finishes, including a 12th place in the Explore NB Open in July. Korte was runner-up twice in 2023 on PGA Tour Canada.
Sand also was a regular on PGA Tour Americas this year, with a best finish of 16th in 10 tournaments.
Korte and Sand Monday qualifying wasn’t without some controversy as they were mistakenly exempted straight into the Monday event instead of having to go through last week’s pre-qualifying, as initially reported by Monday Q Info’s Ryan French, with additional details from Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine. The Utah PGA, which conducted the qualifiers, told French the issue was a “clerical error.” In three pre-qualifiers, a total 31 players advanced to Monday qualifying out of 177 competitors. To read more about the controversy, CLICK HERE and HERE.
Ironically, tying for fifth in the Monday qualifier were part-time Denver resident Kevin Stadler and Colorado native and former Colorado School of Mines golfer Jim Knous, two of the four players who shot 66 on Monday.
For all the scores from the Monday qualifier, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com