Kohles Bets It All on FedExCup Fall With Blistering 62 in Yokohama

Most golfers in Ben Kohles' position would have played it safe. Instead, the 36-year-old went all in — and on Friday in Yokohama, the gamble started paying off in spectacular fashion. Kohles, the only qualifier to skip this week's Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Virginia, fired a bogey-free 9-under 62 in the second round of the Baycurrent Classic, the low round of the day. The five-time Korn Ferry Tour winner arrived in Japan ranked No. 84 in the FedExCup Fall and sitting on the bubble of the top 20 on the Korn Ferry points list — the threshold that earns a PGA Tour card for 2027. Rather than lock in his card in Virginia, where the field featured just 20 cards on the line, he chose the PGA Tour's fall swing, where eight events offer more chances to earn full status at the top level. The 62 vaulted him to 9 under, just two shots behind co-leaders Keith Mitchell and Jacob Bridgeman heading into the weekend. Whether the strategy works will play out over the next two months, but for one Friday morning at Yokohama Country Club, Kohles looked like a man who had made exactly the right call.