COVERAGE: Open-Book Blanchet Wins Korn Ferry Finals, Secures PGA Tour Card

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sunday was unlike any final round in all of golf as it was the Korn Ferry Tour Finals with 20 PGA Tour cards being handed out. Those who get them tell 20 stories of first-time accomplishment or perseverance in returning to the tour they have long dreamed of making.

There are feel-good stories in golf and then there is Chandler Blanchet, the 2017 NCAA Division II individual champion who makes the PGA Tour after four years of searching on the Korn Ferry Tour and a couple more on the PGA Tour Americas.

Blanchet (pronounced Blawn-SHEA) as Mondayq.com revealed was $20,000 in credit card debit as recently as 2023, with his first child due in a month’s time put in the work to officially be Tour-bound a week before the finals and then won to close out his season finishing second of the Korn Ferry 20 graduates.

“There’s a lot of stories you can make about these weeks and what they could mean or what it means to play well or not at the next level or keeping your card out here,” Blanchet exclusively revealed to Pittsburgh Golf Now at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. “You can get ahead of yourself and look at those results, which is super easy to do, it is the natural thing to do. You have to stay present, focus on this next shot and not the result.

“Not look at the projected top 20 whenever you walk by the scoreboard or where you are on the standings. It’s not going to help you. A couple of years ago, I was on the Latin (America) tour and there was only one Korn Ferry Tour card, very tough course and I ended up winning that week. I attribute a lot of that to never looking at a leaderboard, I knew where I stood relatively but I never looked to see what I had to do. I felt that brought in bad vibes and (not) being focused.”

Blanchet was fairly grounded that weekend in Columbus focusing on the task at hand, tying for fourth place which elevated his standing in the Korn Ferry Tour Points List. It was success found on one of the most difficult courses he would see all year where discipline is required, something he believes will serve him well on the PGA Tour.

An extended conversation about coffee around 100 yards off the 18th green gave way to an open discussion about his year, one which started with conditional status.

Blanchet viewed his progression as being a student both in game and life and for him it was this belief which helped secure his tour card.

Even though it was three weeks before anything could be official, Blanchet had clear perspective and objective.

“I’ve made more leaps in my personal life off the course that has translated onto the course,” he beamed. “I’m always trying to get better, we all are. You’ve got to be happy and find joy in where you are. It’s going to be amazing to be on the PGA Tour if that’s where we are next year.

“If I’m out here playing against the best players, I’m living my dream. I’m playing golf, I’m traveling, playing against the best players I can play against, this is my dream, and the ultimate goal is to be on the PGA Tour. That gives us a direction to work towards but that’s been my mindset for the last few years, to pursue growth.”

Blanchet had previously played in Columbus with the Korn Ferry, but his history with the area extended to 2017 when he was given the Jack Nicklaus Award, as he was the NCAA DII recipient.

As Blanchet remembered a few days he considered incredible, he had the chance to be at Muirfield Village where he was formally recognized and the day before he played Scioto Country Club, site of next year’s U.S Senior Open along with Sam Burns. Blanchet spent around an hour with Nicklaus who answered questions, posed for pictures and signed the trophies.

It was a taste of success that kept Blanchet going.

Blanchet’s journey had many ups and downs which included a PGA Tour start at the 2022 Bermuda Butterfield Championship, raising his hopes when he needed it most, but a missed cut sent him back to the drawing board, coming up with a plan to achieve success.

A 2023 Americas event in Argentina got him in the winner’s circle to give him momentum, some stability and another win would help get him the lone exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour.

Blanchet finished inside of the top 100 last year allowing him conditional tour status for the upcoming season.

His season was trending in the proper direction as he was in 30th position in the points standings with four top five finishes before mid-May. He then was able to play the U.S. Open, qualifying at Duke University Golf Course.

While Blanchet’s plus-12 score missed the cut, it helped along his journey, while also besting names such as Justin Rose and Shane Lowry, both members of the winning Team Europe at this year’s Ryder Cup.

Three starts later, he was paired in the final round with Pittsburgh’s own Neal Shipley at The Ascendant and the latter won with a final-round 8-under par round that resulted in his second week.

It was a lesson learned to the point of triumph the very next week at the Price Cutter Charity Championship and presented an interesting parallel to show just how far he had come.

“I have been pursuing growth out here every day,” explained Blanchet. “You can learn from other people, learn from yourself. Earlier this year I played with Neal Shipley out in Colorado and he shot 8-under that final round and won. It was pretty inspiring to see those shots happen and those putts be made. I saw it firsthand and then the next week I was in that position and playing with Neal again and I happened to be the one to come out on top, but I learned from him a bit. You just have to soak all of that stuff in.”

Indeed, Blanchet had to soak in that he had put himself on the inside track of achieving his dream, all while expecting to be a father for the second time in September.

The easy thing to do would have been complacent in his final seven starts and allow the nerves to get the best of him. Instead, Blanchet made every cut and in his final three events, when he needed results the most, he never was outside of a tie for seventh place.

Blanchet’s victory at the final event was the icing on the cake, his card had been secured the week prior, allowing him to play more freely while also enjoying having his family by his side.

“My wife is an absolute trouper,” Blanchet reflected after the victory. “She’s a super wife, super mom. She’s been there through the highs and lows and like supported me to an incredible extent. She trusted me, she knew what could be at the end, what it could mean and what it could lead to. She supported me and never questioned me, so I appreciate her beyond words.”

Photo credit: Korn Ferry Tour Social Media

As Blanchet got to enjoy the victory and the certainty of his future, a dream at last achieved, all his firstborn son wanted to do was hit some balls. Blanchet beamed at his older brother, whose footsteps he desired to follow, the two closer than ever.

All of the sacrifices and uncertainty were worth it. Everything got him into the PGA Tour.

“It’s the dream of all of us, I think,” pondered Blanchet. “Anybody you ask, you want to have your family there, you want to have that experience when you walk up the green and they’re greeting you. Absolutely incredible to have my wife and my kids, my mom, my brother. A lot of loved ones here, so really awesome. I feel like I’ve worked on this for 20-plus years, been grinding as a professional for eight years and it’s kind of all coming together this year to a really exciting, really good year. I’m excited to put my game to the test next year.”

Photo credit: Johnny Keefer/Korn Ferry Tour