The Korn Ferry Tour is set to resume play June 11-14 with the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass. After a long coronavirus-related layoff, the players who ply their trade on the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit are no doubt itching to play. But one surprising name popped up on the list of pro golfers expected to tee it up: Vijay Singh.
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Singh’s sparkling career resume includes three major wins among his 34 PGA Tour victories. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame way back in 2006. In light of those accomplishments, one Korn Ferry pro was extremely unhappy with Singh’s decision to play the Challenge event, and he unleashed on the Hall of Famer on Twitter.
In a since-deleted tweet, pro golfer Brady Schnell took Singh to task, writing, “Hey @VijaySinghGolf you are a true piece of trash if you except money playing in a Korn Ferry Tour event and I’ll say it right to your face.”
And Schnell didn’t stop there, he responded to other Twitter followers who spoke out in support on Vijay, calling Singh “selfish” and writing that “Its just Vijay being Vijay.”
Schnell’s primary beef has to do with Singh, who sits in fourth place on the PGA Tour career money list ($71,216,128) taking a spot and much-needed potential earnings from a young player fighting to make it in pro golf. Schnell, who is 35, has $424,456 in career earnings on the KFT, and has competed in a total of 27 PGA Tour events, including 21 in 2019 when he made six cuts.
“Do you know how much those points and money could do for a young kid?” Schnell wrote in another since-deleted reply. “…He’s got his money and he’s got his career. Just wait another month and roll with your senior friends.”
Most recently, the 57-year-old Singh has been playing on the PGA Tour Champions, where he’s collected four victories since 2017, the latest coming at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in November 2018.
Singh has a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour as a result of having more than 20 wins, so he’s not using a Korn Ferry Challenge event to earn his way back to the big leagues. Instead, he’s likely using it as a warm-up for when the senior tour returns.
The Korn Ferry Tour has been suspended since March. Many KFT pros struggle in the best of times to make ends meet financially on the cutthroat Tour, and the cancellation of months worth of tournaments has made their sitatuions worse. Every event will count when play finally resumes.
You can read more about Korn Ferry Tour pros’ experience during the shutdown in this story from GOLF’s Zephyr Melton.
