Final Round Storyline

The King of the Bahamas-  John VanDerLaan, will take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the Bahamas Golf Classic. The lead should be no surprise, as the former Florida Southern University star has always played well on the island nation. Coming into this week, VanDerLaan had played eight career events in the Bahamas and made all eight cuts, with a WORST finish of T33. Last year, he finished T14 and T9 in his two starts here. Although playing a new course this year, his masterful play continues. He looks for his first career win in his 120th career KFT start. 

One spot- Cooper Dossey finished just one spot out of retaining his fully exempt card on the KFT last season. He finished 76th in points, which normally would mean that he would get a significant amount of starts. However, with the changes for the PGA Tour coming in 2026, the KFT fields this year aren’t going as deep on the priority list. Dossey found himself well outside of the field until the Tour extended the field from 132 to 144 players. The former Baylor star is taking advantage and will head into the final round T19. A good final round will earn significant points and erase any worries about getting into fields after the first reshuffle. 

Surprise, Surprise- John Greco might be one of the most unheralded players in the field. The 30-year-old has limited experience on the big stage, with just one career start prior to this week. I thought it might take the rookie some time to get his feet wet, but after sneaking into the “weekend” on the number, Greco fired a 65 in the third round. The round moved him up 40 spots, and he has a chance to earn a bunch of critical points early in the season. 

Making his parents sweat- Brandon Berry earned KFT membership for the first time this year, making it through all three stages, but not without some drama. In each stage, the former Loyola University star was on the number at some point during the final round of each stage. In his first event as a member, he again found himself right around the number. Last night, I saw his parents in the hotel lobby. “Why does he always do this to us? It’s too stressful,” they said, laughing. The cut moved back to three-under in the morning and Berry was in. On Tuesday, he took full advantage, firing a third-round 65 and sitting T24 headed into the final round. 

No Worries- I was talking with PGA Tour veteran, Kevin Chappell, before he teed it up in the third round. I congratulated him on his good play and asked him about his status on KFT. “I have no idea. I sign up for the tournaments I want to play, and check back to see if I am in. I don’t want to worry about that stuff.” The veteran of over 300 PGA Tour starts, including a win at the 2017 Valero (by one over Brooks Koepka), backed up his good play the first two days with a 65, moving Chappell into the top-20 heading into the final round.  

A Return to Form - Luke Guthrie has been around the professional scene for a long time and has seen every level of it. Turning pro after college in 2012, Gutherie started his KFT career in late July. His first seven events went as follows:

• Playoff loss
• T-3
• T-10
• T-10
• T-6
• CUT
• Win
• Win

This may look like a typo (which would be normal in these articles), but rest assured, it is not. Guthrie played on the PGA Tour full-time for the next four years before losing his card, and hasn’t held PGA Tour status since 2016. From 2017, he played full-time on KFT through the super-season during Covid. He has grinded mini tours since, and this week was his first made cut on a PGA Tour-sanctioned Tour since July of 2022. Luke has seen the highs and lows of golf and looks to continue good form on KFT.

Continuing the Climb - Davis Shore has been a phenomenal player since he was a teenager, ranking as high as number two in the AJGA rankings. He went to the University of Alabama, played in the lineup as a freshman and most of his sophomore season, until injury plagued him. He struggled with injuries the rest of his college career and also had to deal with the Covid season. Shore has shown success all over the world, winning on PGA Tour Canada and having multiple good finishes both in Canada & Latinoamerica. Last year, he started with conditional KFT status and turned it into a top-75 finish on the 2024 OOM. Full status this year and trending, he finds himself T24 going into the final round. 

Clutch Comeback - Russell Knox fired an opening round 2-over, and the double bogey on the final hole made dinner taste worse. He followed it up with a 7-under in Round 2 to move to 5-under, making the cut. Knox has two PGA Tour wins and a DP World Tour win, and is looking to return to form in 2025. At 39 years old, he will likely be playing a full year on the KFT for the first time since 2011. Knox is T-25 going into the final round in the Bahamas.

Crucial Made Cut - Cooper Musselman got into this week’s event on a sponsor exemption, one of the most coveted exemptions being in the first four events. He finished T-124 at Final Stage of Q school and won’t likely receive any starts based on that finish. So, with a ton of pressure this week to try to extend his season, Musselman made the cut on the number. He is now T-81 going into the final round. He would like a hot final round to accumulate as many points as possible to move up in the reshuffle.

The King of Mondays Returns - Everyone who has been around for a minute knows T.J. Vogel is the king of Monday qualifiers. In the 2017-2018 wrap-around season on the PGA Tour, Vogel Monday qualified for eight events! He made the cut in three of them and had a best finish of T-16 at the Valspar Championship. Then in 2022, Vogel won on the KFT, but finished the season poorly, missing seven cuts in a row. He fell two spots shy of a PGA Tour card at 27th (top-25 went to the PGA Tour that year). It has been a struggle for Vogel since. He began 2025 with conditional KFT status based on his win in 2022. Vogel made the cut on the number in the Bahamas, and sits T-75 going into the final round.