Capan Survives a Some Rain & a Lot of Wind to Claim 1st Korn Ferry Victory

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Frankie Capan had come close to winning but had never quite gotten over the finish line first in a Korn Ferry Tour events before Sunday. Earlier this year, he had two second-place finishes, including the much publicized one at the Veritex Bank Championship, where he shot 58 in the first round.

On Sunday, however, in his 56th Korn Ferry tournament -- the Nationwide Childeren's Hospital Championship -- it looked as though this was going to be his day. He had birdied the final two holes on the imposing Ohio State University Scarlet Course on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead, and he birdied three of the first six holes in Sunday's final round, which expanded his lead to four shots. But he also had two bogeys on the front nine, and as he started the back nine, a storm showed up in drought-ridden Columbus. There was some rain -- Columbus was willing to take anything it could get -- and as Capan arrived at the 11th tee, the wind was suddenly gusting to 30 miles per hour. 

These were not the conditions Capan was hoping for, especially not when he was about to play a 475-yard par 4 that was now dead into a wind, a wind that the guys chasing him hadn't had to deal with.  They had already finished the hole.

"I was a couple back at that point," noted Matt McCarty, the No. 1 money winner on the Korn Ferry this year (with $947,727 going into Columbus). "And on a day like today maybe some bogeys pop in there. So I think (the wind) is a good thing when you're chasing, but not when you're just trying to hang on and win."

Playing the hole into that wind, Capan bogeyed the 11th, which reduced his lead to a single stroke. 

It was the kind of situation that could cause a little panic in someone who's trying to win for the first time.

But Capan had a different reaction. He responded to the bogey at the 11th with a 410-yard drive at the 562-yard, par-5 12th (playing down wind), made a birdie there, and then parred the last six holes. He saved pars at the 215-yard, par-3 13th and the par-4 14th, after missing the greens. But the hole that pretty much settled the matter was the 211-yard, par-3 17th, where Capan found a bunker with his tee shot, but made a 20-foot putt for his par, giving him a two-stroke lead to work with on the 421-yard, par-4 18th. The 24-year-old former Minnesota State Amateur champion had no problems with the 18th and had a tap-in for his par. That gave him a 1-under-par 70 for the day, a 72-hole total of 271 -- and a two-stroke victory.

“It wasn’t my favorite thing to happen,” Capan said of the unwelcome episode of nasty weather that showed up on the back nine. “I didn’t want it to start blowing 30 mph out of nowhere."

Nevertheless, he was able to handle the adverse conditions, and his reward was a first-place check of $270,000. That pushed his 2024 earnings to $619,241 and moved him up to No. 3 on the Korn Ferry money list. He also moved up to No. 5 on the Korn Ferry Points List. Capan, who played for the University of Alabama for two years and then transferred to Florida Gulf Coast for his last two years of college golf, was already assured to being in the top 30 on the season-ending points list, and thereby graduating to the PGA Tour for the 2025 season. But the higher you finish on the points list, the more PGA Tour events you'll get into next year. So it's a good thing to keep moving up. 

There was a three-way tie for second at 273 -- Thomas Rosenmueller, William Mouw and Carter Jenkins. Jenkins started the day barely inside the top 10, but he got through the front nine in 1 under, then made seven pars, one birdie and an eagle (at the 12th) on the back nine. The resulting 67 tied for the second-best score on a difficult day.

McCarty, who shot 70, tied for fifth at 274 and pushed his earnings for 2024 over $1 million.

The final event on the Korn Ferry schedule will be the Tour Championship, in two weeks, on the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Golf Resort in French Lick, Ind. 

Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship

At The Ohio State University Golf Club -- Scarlet Course

Par 71, 7,422 yards

Columbus, Ohio

Final results 

1. Frankie Capan                 $270,000         68-67-66-70--271 (13 under)

T2. Carter Jenkins                  $97,500         69-67-70-67--203

T2. William Mouw                   $97,500         74-63-67-69--203

T2. Thomas Rosenmueller     $97,500         66-70-67-70--273

T5. Matt McCarty                    $54,375         66-69-69-70--274

T5. Pontus Nyholm                 $54,375          68-65-70-71--274

T7. Kevin Roy                         $42,938          68-67-67-73--275

T7. Thomas Walsh                 $42,938          70-69-68-68--275

T7. Noah Goodwin                 $42,938           66-67-71-71--275

T7. Dan McCarthy                  $42,938           70-66-70-69--275