Editor's note (June 13, 2023): Beginning in 2023, Korn Ferry Tour members who earn FedExCup points at the U.S. Open will have these points count toward their total on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List.

Ten Korn Ferry Tour members have qualified for the 2023 U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club: Paul Barjon, Frankie Capan III, Patrick Cover, Ryan Gerard, Yuto Katsuragawa, Mac Meissner, Roger Sloan, Jacob Solomon, Andy Svoboda and Austen Truslow.

It has been a long-running question on Korn Ferry Tour driving ranges as the spring moves to summer.

“Are you trying to qualify for the U.S. Open?”

The question was underlined by an inherent trade-off, with no better case study than Taylor Montgomery. The Las Vegas native played in the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and made the cut, finishing T57 with his dad Monte on the bag. By competing at the U.S. Open, he sacrificed the chance to earn Korn Ferry Tour points at that week’s Wichita Open, and he eventually fell one spot shy of a TOUR card on the season-long standings. It’s revisionist history, but a solo 39th in Wichita would have made up that gap.

So when Montgomery opted to try U.S. Open qualifying in 2022, again advancing into the field at The Country Club, his dad was skeptical. He had not yet clinched his TOUR card via the season-long standings, and dad didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

“My dad, this year, he was like, ‘You’re a dumbass,’” Montgomery remembered this fall. “’You shouldn’t be going. You’re going to finish No. 26 again and look like the biggest idiot in the world.’

“But that wasn’t the case. I proved my dad wrong.”

Montgomery notched two top-three finishes in his final three Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season starts to comfortably earn his first TOUR card, well clear of the bubble, and he has quickly proven that his game transitions to the TOUR. Montgomery, 27, ranks No. 11 on the FedExCup standings into the holiday break.

And the U.S. Open decision matrix illustrated by Montgomery is no longer. Beginning with the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles CC, Korn Ferry Tour members who earn FedExCup points at the U.S. Open will have these points count toward their total on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List. The policy has been formally approved by the PGA TOUR Policy Board and Korn Ferry Tour Player Advisory Council.

"We have immense pride in the talent level of our Korn Ferry Tour members, and it's always thrilling to see them compete - and contend - in major championships," said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin. "This policy change is something we've been exploring with our membership and our Player Advisory Council for a few years, and we look forward to cheering on our members as they compete in the U.S. Open this season and beyond.”

The U.S. Open provides a chance to compete against the world’s best by way of Local and Final Qualifying. All with a sufficient handicap are eligible to try. Each year, several Korn Ferry Tour members qualify to compete in the U.S. Open; the number often reaches double digits.

But the U.S. Open often falls opposite a Korn Ferry Tour event, and playing in the national championship previously served no benefit on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List. It didn’t help toward the ultimate goal of a PGA TOUR card.

“I know a few of them (Korn Ferry Tour peers) didn’t go try to qualify,” said Montgomery, “because they were worried about being on the bubble.”

Last year, Montgomery followed his No. 26 finish on the Regular Season Points List with the same result on the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals Points List. One spot away, twice in the span of four weeks.

“I didn’t think I could finish 26 twice,” Montgomery quipped. “It’s pretty hard to do.”

Montgomery’s 5.89 FedExCup points at Torrey Pines wouldn’t have been enough for a TOUR card (he finished 16.961 points shy of No. 25 Austin Smotherman), but questions lingered as to how he would have fared in Wichita.

Montgomery doesn’t regret his decision. He proved it by again advancing through U.S. Open qualifying in 2022 and electing to compete at The Country Club, having yet to clinch his TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour season-long standings. His decision was met with skepticism in some circles (e.g. his dad).

The decision in 2021 may have delayed his TOUR arrival by a year, but he’s on TOUR now, with six top-25s in his first seven starts as a member. He’s positioned to become one of 2023’s breakout stars. Rules and regulations evolve, and perhaps Montgomery’s story helped push this newest one across the finish line.

“I would never change it,” Montgomery said of his decision. “Being able to play in the U.S. Open is something special, and to have my dad on the bag (in 2021) and make the cut, it was really something that I’ll remember for a long time.”

This is the second significant announcement between the Korn Ferry Tour and United States Golf Association (USGA) in the past year, following the news from January that the No. 1 player on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List at the conclusion of each season will receive an exemption into the following year’s U.S. Open. California native Justin Suh earned that spot for 2023 at Los Angeles CC.

Jason Gore can speak from experience when evaluating the fine line between Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR competition. The Pepperdine alum holds the Korn Ferry Tour’s all-time wins record (7), became the USGA’s first player relations director in 2019 and now works at the TOUR as Senior Vice President, Player Advisor to Commissioner.

Gore also played in the final group of the 2005 U.S. Open as a Korn Ferry Tour member. He was trending with three top-20s in four Korn Ferry Tour starts, then headed to Pinehurst No. 2 where he captured hearts across the golf world as a quintessential underdog in the final pairing with global star and past U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen.

Gore struggled to a final-round 84 and T49 finish, but he rebounded to win in three consecutive Korn Ferry Tour starts that summer and earn an automatic promotion to the TOUR. Then he won the TOUR’s 84 LUMBER Classic that fall.

“No matter where or what I would do in my career in golf, I would never, ever see anything like that again,” Gore said of his 2005 U.S. Open experience. “I could always say, ‘You know what, I’ve been there.’”

His successors will no longer have to evaluate the trade-offs of potentially sacrificing that experience. Prior to this announcement, they were quite real.

“One of my friends, Curtis Thompson, he didn’t play in the (2021 U.S. Open) qualifier because he’s like, ‘I’m not finishing 26,’ but I’m like, ‘Yeah, you have a few events left to do well,’” remembered Montgomery.

“And I finished 26.”