Meet the six players who earned their TOUR cards at 2025 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – It’s a week that defines dozens of careers, the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry. A finish inside the top five and ties guaranteed a PGA TOUR card, four rounds for a golfer to change their lives.

For some, Sunday’s result meant a return to the big stage after failing to keep their card. For others, it’s their first touchpoint to the TOUR and a lifelong goal realized. For all five, it means a full year on the PGA TOUR.

Lanto Griffin earned medalist honors, shooting a final-round 63 at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course to win by three strokes. Griffin spent much of Sunday on cruise control after opening in 6-under 29, but that was a distinction he held alone. There was plenty of drama unfolding under him on the leaderboard, a tight finish that produced dramatic results.

Meet the six golfers who earned full status on TOUR for 2025.

Lanto Griffin

• Age: 36
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 148
• New PGA TOUR member: No

Griffin’s not done yet. The one-time PGA TOUR winner was on the precipice of losing his card for the first time since 2019, but a revelatory week in northeast Florida will keep him on TOUR for another year.

Griffin shot the round of Sunday, opening in 6-under 29 and adding another birdie on the back to shoot 63 and earn medalist honors. While he entered the day on the bubble, the drama was all but over by the time he made the turn, comfortably keeping his card for 2025.

It was a needed week for the veteran, who missed just four cuts during the TOUR season, a career low. The winner of the 2019 Houston Open, Griffin has battled injuries in recent seasons. He injured his back in May 2020, rupturing his L5-S1 disc and then re-rupturing it in January 2022. He underwent a microdiscectomy surgery later that summer and battled other rib and back injuries into 2023 before finally returning during the FedExCup Fall healthy. He’s struggled since, particularly with his putter which had been the best part of his game for much of his career. Griffin ranked 123rd in SG: Putting in 2024. It was no issue Sunday, pouring in five birdies, an eagle and no bogeys.

Hayden Buckley

• Age: 28
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 90
• New PGA TOUR member: No

Another 2024 TOUR member who saved his card this week, Buckley notched back-to-back rounds in the 60s over the weekend at Final Stage for the first time since the Barracuda Championship this summer.

A turn in form came just in time. Buckley showed his experience (90 TOUR career starts) when it mattered most, making birdie at the 10th and 16th holes and pouring in a testy mid-range par putt on the 17th hole to make the 18th hole all but a formality. For good measure, he poured in a birdie to finish solo second at 6-under.

Buckley comfortably kept his card in his first two seasons on TOUR (2021-22, 2023), but a loss of form over the second half of 2024 put his future at risk. The Tennessean had made just one cut since July to fall outside the top 150 of the FedExCup, leaving himself with no TOUR status entering this week.

Takumi Kanaya

• Age: 26
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 25
• New PGA TOUR member: Yes

It’s a TOUR card long in the making for Kanaya, a seven-time Japan Tour winner and former top-ranked amateur in the world.

He’s no stranger to high-level golf. Kanaya, 26, has already appeared in 11 major championships despite never holding a PGA TOUR card and ranked as high as 49th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Most recently, he ranked No. 1 on the Japan Tour’s 2024 money list.

He advanced through Second Stage in California, then registered four rock-solid rounds at Final Stage to earn his card. He was the only golfer with four rounds of even-par or better.

Kanaya joins a wave of Japanese players headed to the PGA TOUR. Along with Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Histatsune, who retained their cards, Kaito Onishi earned his card through the Korn Ferry Tour and Rikuya Hoshino earned his through the DP World Tour.

Alejandro Tosti

• Age: 28
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 32
• New PGA TOUR member: No

A PGA TOUR rookie in 2024, Tosti wasn’t ready to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour. The Argentine was 5-over through two rounds at Final Stage but shot 65-69 on the weekend to finish 4-under and sneak into the top five to retain his card.

It was anything but simple for Tosti, who found himself on either side of the bubble depending on when you refreshed your leaderboard. With his TOUR card at stake, Tosti carded seven birdies and three bogeys. He found the water at both the 11th and 13th holes, leading to two bogeys. In between he sandwiched a needed birdie at the 12th. By the end of the round, he was comfortably inside. He tapped in for par on the 18th to clinch.

His season followed a similar cadence, a year of incredible highs and lows. He very nearly won the Texas Children’s Houston Open in March, losing to Stephan Jaeger by a shot. But he managed just one top-10 the rest of the season and missed five of seven cuts in the fall to finish No. 137 in the FedExCup. Known to run hot and cold, Tosti caught fire at the right time and earned himself another year on TOUR.

Will Chandler

• Age: 27
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 0
• New PGA TOUR member: Yes

It’s a nine-hole stretch he won’t soon forget. Chandler fired a back-nine 30 at Dye’s Valley to rocket up the leaderboard and improbably snag a TOUR card. Chandler birdied the 10th, 13th and 15th holes before pouring in an eagle putt from outside 50 feet at the 16th to move to 4-under. The University of Georgia alum narrowly missed another birdie at 17, then clinched it with another par on 18 to solidify the career breakthrough.

Chandler has only 19 TOUR-sanctioned starts to his name – 10 on the Korn Ferry Tour and nine on PGA TOUR Canada, all within the last two years. He hasn’t had reliable status on either tour, though an out-of-nowhere runner-up at the 2024 Magnit Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour nearly secured his status on that tour for 2025 and beyond. He didn’t do enough the rest of the season, though, finishing 85th on the Points List.

That left him with more than just TOUR status to chase. A finish inside the top 45 would have earned him Korn Ferry Tour status. But that’s no matter now. The life on the mini-tours and Korn Ferry Tour Monday qualifiers is over. The 27-year-old is headed straight to the PGA TOUR.

Matthew Riedel

• Age: 24
• Career PGA TOUR starts: 0
• New PGA TOUR member: Yes

From college to the PGA TOUR in a matter of months.

Riedel finished T2 at the SEC Championship in April, turned professional in June and earned his PGA TOUR card by December.

It was anything but a guarantee on Sunday. While the Vanderbilt alum began the day tied for the lead, he quickly dropped out of the top five after going 3-over through 10 holes. The starting cushion proved pivotal as Reidel needed only to play the final eight holes in 1-under. He got that crucial birdie on the par-5 16th. He laid up off the tee with iron, gave himself a full wedge in and stuck the approach to within 3 feet for the birdie. Riedel scrambled well on the 17th, recovering from a wayward drive to save par. He sunk a mid-range par putt on the 18th to secure his card.

Riedel played five seasons at Vanderbilt (2019-24), where he was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference First Team selection (2023, 2024) and won his lone collegiate event at the 2022 SEC Match Play presented by Jerry Pate. He finished No. 77 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List in just 13 starts after he joined the Tour via PGA TOUR University performance benefits in June.

He will aim to make it the only 13 starts he makes on the Korn Ferry Tour.