Obtaining a PGA Tour card is an extremely difficult task. But maintaining it isn’t easy either. Is it still harder? Win back a card after losing it. Three PGA Tour veterans proved that the hard way Sunday at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, having just missed a chance to regain tour privileges.
After qualifying rules changed in recent years, only the top 20 players in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship will receive PGA Tour cards for the 2026 season. You can read all about the lucky few who bought tickets to the Tour on Sunday here.
But here in this area, we’re concerned with the other side of the equation, the players who lived their PGA Tour careers, fought hard all year on the Korn Ferry Tour, and ultimately failed miserably on Sunday.
What’s the silver lining for these three pros? They all finished high enough in the Korn Ferry rankings to gain full qualification in 2026, at which point they will launch new campaigns to reclaim their cards.
PGA Tour pro misses card at KFT Championship
Justin Sue
Justin Suh is a 28-year-old former PGA Tour pro from San Jose who played in 90 PGA Tour events during his professional golf career, finishing in the top 5 twice and in the top 10 five times.
In 2024, Xu played all 29 tour events throughout the season. But he only advanced 12 times and failed to make the top ten. As a result, he was ranked 162nd in the FedExCup standings, disqualified and returned to the Korn Ferry Tour.
On the Korn Ferry Tour this season, he won the Argentina Open in March and had two other top-10 finishes. But it wasn’t enough to return to the major leagues.
Xu entered the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in 24th place in the standings, just outside the top 20 for cards, and he maintained a tantalizing gap with a tie for 31st, but ultimately failed to get his card back.
Russell Knox
Russell Knox is a 40-year-old Scottish pro who has enjoyed many years of success on the PGA Tour, with two wins at the 2015 WGC-HSBC Championship and the 2016 Travelers Championship.
But his last full season was 2022-23, when he hit 23 of 37 shots, finished 144th in the FedEx Cup standings and lost his Tour card.
He competed in 10 Tour events in 2024, then received three sponsor offers in 2025, made two cuts and finished 68th at the Corrales Punta Cana Championship.
Knox competed in 21 Korn Ferry Tour events in 2025 and had a runner-up finish early in the season at the Great Abaco Classic in the Bahamas along with three other top-10s.
But a disappointing tie for 55th at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship on Sunday dropped Knox from 34th to 36th in the final KFT standings, 16 spots shy of regaining his PGA Tour card.
Dylan Wu
Twenty-nine-year-old Oregon native Dylan Wu should be familiar to many golf fans. In the 2022-23 season, he participated in 33 PGA Tour events and ultimately ranked 86th, retaining his qualifications.
But in 28 starts in 2024, Wu had just one top-10 finish, falling to 119th in the FedEx Cup standings and losing his Tour card in the process. Although he competed in 13 Tour events last season and had some good results, he only finished 170th in the points standings.
He’s played just eight events on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025, so a tie for 31st on Sunday would only lift his ranking from 71st to 69th, well below the Tour card cutoff.
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