Pittston Area graduate Brandon Matthews will return to the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour as a fully exempt player after securing the season title on the PGA Tour Latinoamericas Sunday.
Matthews, the only player to win twice in what evolved into a nine-event, 2020-21 Latinoamericas season through multiple adjustments for the coronavirus pandemic, led the season points standings to land the only fully exempt spot available for 2022.
The 26-year-old from Dupont placed tied for 33rd Thursday through Sunday in the season-ending Bupa Championships at PGA Riviera Maya in Tulum, Mexico with rounds of 73-72-77-74 for an 8-over-par, 296.
Matthews finished with 1,191 points in the tour standings.
Sam Stevens bypassed Conner Godsey into second with 1,067 by tying for eighth at 2-over, 290.
Godsey was third with 1,041, followed by Alvaro Ortiz with 888 and M.J. Maguire with 860.
Matthews spent 2019 on the Korn Ferry Tour before taking a step back to the Latinoamericas Tour where he has three career wins.
The second- through fifth-place finishers landed partial spots on the Korn Ferry Tour depending on the number of entries with higher exemptions each week. Top 25 and top 60 finishers earned passes through stages at Korn Ferry Qualifying School.
Matthews has none of those concerns with a spot in each Korn Ferry event.
“If I can take that amount of pressure off of me going into next year, that would be great,” Matthews said in an interview prior to the final tournament.
Mission accomplished.
The Korn Ferry Tour is the second-highest in North America behind only the PGA Tour.
