Bizarre ‘clerical error’ leads to ineligible player in contention at Korn Ferry event

It’s been a wonderful week on the Korn Ferry Tour for the veteran pro MJ Daffue.

On Saturday morning, Daffue woke tied for third at the KFT’s annual Pinnacle Bank Championship — a finish that, should it hold, would represent his best finish in three years.

There was just one problem: He wasn’t supposed to be in the field.

The story of perhaps the strangest contender in golf in 2025 comes to us courtesy of the always-interesting Monday Q Info, whose website and social media channels delight in the unusual stories at the center of golf’s working class. And, according to Monday Q, the story of Daffue’s accidental journey in contention begins with a “clerical error.”

“MJ Daffue is currently T4, but he is not supposed to be in the field,” Monday Q posted on X on Friday afternoon. “And Rayhan Thomas, who sat on the range all day Thursday as the first alternate, before not getting in, should be in the field.”

According to Monday Q, the issue stemmed from the minutiae of PGA Tour exemption rules. Daffue was playing on what’s called a “medical exemption,” given to players with PGA Tour eligibility who run into medical issues that keep them from competing. While competing under a medical exemption, Tour players are required to earn a certain number of World Ranking points to maintain their eligibility.

Daffue failed to reach the points threshold and had his PGA Tour card lapse just a few weeks ago. When his exemption lapsed, he fell from the highest-ranking eligibility category for this week’s Pinnacle Bank Championship into one of the lower eligibility categories.

Here’s where the Tour’s fumble came in: The Tour didn’t realize that Daffue’s major medical had lapsed, and accidentally placed him in the highest-ranking eligibility category. He was gifted a spot in the field as a result, while the next-highest-ranked player in the field, Rayhan Thomas, was left out as first alternate.

“Had he been listed in the correct category, Daffue would have ended as the fourth alternate,” Monday Q wrote. “Therefore Rayhan Thomas, who I spoke with as he was driving back to Oklahoma, was left out of field he should have been in. And with just one more event left in the regular season and Thomas being 107th in points, the start was vital. His father had flown in from Dubai for the event and Rayhan sat on the range the entire day and headed home after the last tee time had teed off and no one had withdrawn.”

For Thomas, the bad break should not be fully in vain. According to Monday Q, the Tour is “working” to find a solution that will allow him to compete in a future event.

For Daffue, the good fortune was well-spent. Though he wasn’t “supposed” to be in the field, he will be given the opportunity to finish the tournament after playing 36 holes. He enters Saturday’s third round at the Pinnacle Bank Championship just a few shots off the lead set by Matt Atkins, and looking for his first top-10 finish of any kind since a T9 at the Alfred Dunhill in 2022. Perhaps he’ll even have time to play the lottery.