Fortinet Cup, Week 14: John Keefer charges to top

Coming off four runner-up finishes in his first seven starts as a professional, John Keefer finally took things to the next level with a well-deserved victory at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open. His one-shot win over Neal Shipley and Joey Savoie secured him the top of the Fortinet Cup, where he now enjoys a 388-point lead over Matthew Anderson with only two events left to play in the PGA TOUR Americas inaugural season.

With 1,739 Fortinet Cup points earned through his eight North America Swing starts, Keefer has an impressive average of 217.3 points earned per start. Having yet to shoot par or worse in any of his 31 rounds as a professional, his Tour-leading scoring average of 65.52 strokes is just as remarkable.

“It’s a relief,” said the 23-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, who had tied for second in his past two starts. “Coming in second place four times doesn't feel quite as good as you'd think.”

There are 1,100 Fortinet Cup points still available for the winners of the last two events, 500 at the last regular season event and 600 at the season-ending Fortinet Cup Championship. That means that only the players ranked 13th or higher in the Fortinet Cup have a mathematical chance of catching Keefer atop the standings.

The only other change inside the top 10 was made Joey Savoie, who shared runner-up honors in Winnipeg for his best week of the season. The 30-year-old from La Prairie, Quebec, became the third Canadian player to make it inside the Fortinet Cup top 10, behind Anderson and Stuart Macdonald. Savoie claimed the 10th spot by moving nine points ahead of Mexico’s José de Jesús Rodríguez, who held that position for the past two weeks.

The following is a look at the Fortinet Cup’s top 10 players and those who made significant moves during Week 14 of the 16-week season:

1. John Keefer, United States

• Fortinet Cup points: 1,739 (eight starts)
• Last week’s rank: Second
• Best finish this season: Won the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open

The runner-up in four of his first seven starts this summer, Keefer is finally a PGA TOUR Americas champion. In a three-way tie for the lead after an opening 63, he held the solo lead the rest of the way after a second round of 11-under 61 that tied the course record at Southwood Golf & Country Club. On Sunday, he outdueled Shipley in a fierce battle for the title. His first professional win was also the 26th victory by a PGA TOUR University alum across Tours since June of 2021.

2. Matthew Anderson, Canada

• Fortinet Cup points: 1,401 (14 starts)
• Last week’s rank: First
• Best finish this season: Won the ECP Brazil Open

Advancing 21 spots on the leaderboard with a final-round 63 that included 10 birdies, he tried his best not to surrender his Fortinet Cup lead in Winnipeg. His tie for fifth finish at 22-under proved insufficient as Keefer claimed the win to move comfortably ahead of him in the standings. Through 14 starts, he remains the Tour leader in rounds in the 60s (33), sub-par rounds (38), par-5 performance (96 under) and total birdies (254).

3. Frederik Kjettrup, Denmark

• Fortinet Cup points: 1,102 (seven starts)
• Last week’s rank: Third
• Best finish this season: Won The Beachlands Victoria Open presented by Times Colonist and the ATB Classic in consecutive weeks

Unable to record a top-25 finish since winning the first two events of the North America Swing, Kjettrup made his return to the first page of the PGA TOUR Americas leaderboard in Winnipeg. He carded an opening 66 to tie for 10th and fired a final-round 65 to finish in a tie for ninth for his third top-10 of the season.

4. Barend Botha, South Africa

• Fortinet Cup points: 1,005 (five starts)
• Last week’s rank: Fourth
• Best finish this season: Won the Commissionaires Ottawa Open and the BioSteel Championship in consecutive weeks

Just as the week before, a second round in the 60s was not enough for him to secure a weekend tee time in Winnipeg. His two consecutive missed cuts have come after an extraordinary run of back-to-back victories in Ottawa and Windsor.

5. Clay Feagler, United States

• Fortinet Cup points: 881 (14 starts)
• Last week’s rank: Fifth
• Best finish this season: Won the Bupa Championship at Tulum

Tied for 87th after an opening 70 in Winnipeg, he came back to shoot a bogey-free 66 in the second round to put an end to a streak of four missed cuts. With rounds of 69-70, he was unable to move into contention on the weekend and finished in a tie for 39th at 13-under.

6. Harry Hillier, New Zealand

• Fortinet Cup points: 844 (14 starts)
• Last week’s rank: Sixth
• Best finish this season: Won the Inter Rapidísimo Golf Championship

He ran out of holes in a second-round 70 that he closed with three consecutive birdies. At 5-under through 36 holes, he went on to miss his third cut in his last five starts.

7. Samuel Anderson, United States

• Fortinet Cup points: 753 (14 starts)
• Last week’s rank: Seventh
• Best finish this season: Solo second at the Diners Club Perú Open

In great shape after recording his fifth top-10 of the season five weeks ago in Bromont, this 25-year-old from Wisconsin needs to get his good pace back. Back-to-back 70s left him three strokes off the cut line in Winnipeg, where he missed his third cut in his last four starts.

8. Ryan Burnett, United States

• Fortinet Cup points: 730 (13 starts)
• Last week’s rank: Eighth
• Best finish this season: Won the Bromont Open presented by Desjardins

After making the cut right on the number, a third round of 74 put an end to his chances in Winnipeg. On Sunday, he came back to shoot 67 and finished in a tie for 53rd at 10-under.

9. Stuart Macdonald, Canada

• Fortinet Cup points: 724 (13 starts)
• Last week’s rank: Ninth
• Best finish this season: Won the Diners Club Perú Open

Tied for the 16th spot after a third-round 66, things took a wrong turn Sunday. A final round of 77 saw him slip into a tie for 60th at 9-under for the week.

10. Joey Savoie, Canada

• Fortinet Cup points: 720 (14 starts)
• Last week’s rank: 18th
• Best finish this season: Tied for second at CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open

Carrying strong momentum into the final stretch of the year, he fired a bogey-free 8-under 64 Sunday to share runner-up honors in Winnipeg. It was his best performance of the season and his third top-10 in his last four starts. This is his first time inside the top 10 of the Fortinet Cup since tying for fourth at the season-opening Bupa Championship in Tulum, Mexico.

Who dropped outside the top 10:

11. José de Jesús Rodríguez, Mexico

• Fortinet Cup points: 711 (10 starts)
• Last week’s rank: 10th
• Best finish this season: Win the Totalplay Championship at Tulum

Although the tie for 26th in Winnipeg was his third-best finish of the season, he needed a stronger finish to remain the only Latin player inside the Fortinet Cup top 10. On the bright side, he is only nine points outside the top 10 and his putting has shown significant improvement over the last two weeks.

Most significant move outside the top 10:

44. Neal Shipley, United States

• Fortinet Cup points: 320 (three starts)
• Last week’s rank: 119th
• Best finish this season: T2 at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open

Inside the top two the entire week, he came close to securing his first professional victory in Winnipeg. A bogey at the last prevented him from extending a week-long battle with John Keefer, who edged him out by only one shot. The tie for second, his second top 10 in only three starts, allowed him to make the strongest move of the week in the Fortinet Cup standings.

Next stop:

PGA TOUR Americas is playing the CRMC Championship presented by Gertens this week (Aug. 29-Sept. 1). The 15th event of the season will determine the Fortinet Cup’s top 120 players who will advance to the season-ending Fortinet Cup Championship (Sept. 5-8).