Matt McCarty Set to Make PGA Tour Debut as Member
Korn Ferry Tour points leader Matt McCarty will make his first start as a PGA TOUR member at the Sanderson Farms Championship after earning the Three-Victory Promotion. McCarty won the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron in August for his third Korn Ferry Tour title in 2024 to earn automatic membership for the remainder of the PGA TOUR season. The Sanderson Farms Championship will be his second PGA TOUR start and first non-major (2022 U.S. Open/MC).
A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, McCarty became the first player since Mito Pereira to achieve the Three-Victory Promotion after winning three times on the Korn Ferry Tour. Pereira accomplished the feat in the 2020-21 season, which spanned two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. McCarty won three times in a six-start stretch in July and August: Price Cutter Charity Championship in Springfield, Missouri (July 21), Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha, Nebraska (August 11), and Albertsons Boise Open in Boise, Idaho (August 25). He became the 24th player in Korn Ferry Tour history to win three times in a season.
McCarty will begin his career as a TOUR member at the Sanderson Farms Championship, the second of eight events in the FedExCup Fall, which finalizes eligibility for the 2025 PGA TOUR Season. McCarty is a mathematical lock to end the Korn Ferry Tour season as the No. 1 finisher on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, which concludes on Sunday at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance in French Lick, Indiana. As the No. 1 finisher on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, McCarty will have a one-year exemption on the PGA TOUR (exempt thru 2025), as well as invites to THE PLAYERS Championship and U.S. Open in 2025.
The Sanderson Farms Championship offers winner benefits that include: 500 FedExCup Points, Official World Golf Ranking points, a two-year PGA TOUR exemption (exempt thru 2026) and invitations to The Sentry, THE PLAYERS Championship, Masters Tournament and PGA Championship. McCarty enters the PGA TOUR season with zero FedExCup points.
McCarty, 26, played five seasons at Santa Clara University (2016-21) and earned All-West Coast Conference honors three times (2018, 2019, 2021). He turned professional in 2021 and earned Korn Ferry Tour membership for the 2022 season via Final Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament (now PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry), and he finished No. 55 (2022) and No. 35 (2023) on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List before his breakout season in 2024.
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