John VanDerLaan is the Man: The Road to French Lick, 2025, Ep. 23

On this episode of the show, Ryan Ballengee and Brendan Sweeney recap the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio, where John VanDerLaan won his first Korn Ferry Tour title in 142 tries. No. 76 and Tour Championship bubble boy Sam Anderson joins the show to talk about his season and mindset. Miles Russell joins as he plays in the Junior Ryder Cup. Then we get ready for the Compliance Solutions Championship in Oklahoma.

Watch SEASON 2 of The Road to French Lick:
Episode 1: https://youtu.be/ve4JrpinpwM
Episode 2: https://youtu.be/nfjjIuESZQM
Episode 3: https://youtu.be/BhPgJF9WWZQ
Episode 4: https://youtu.be/-U08B2NfBAQ
Episode 5: https://youtu.be/j_PDV5hrNZM
Episode 6: https://youtu.be/KQes6MTJ1Is
Episode 7: https://youtu.be/sA7hMYNw7PE
Episode 8: https://youtu.be/a0sG7IPCn_E
Episode 9: https://youtu.be/GjTdSfypbQM
Episode 10: https://youtu.be/6NL4eYN6LeA
Episode 11: https://youtu.be/ObTUq3AxE6o
Episode 12: https://youtu.be/imbFUQs_nGw
Episode 13: https://youtu.be/4BH7g_gABR0
Episode 14: https://youtu.be/Ey_O9i29IBg
Episode 15: https://youtu.be/pEudGJiF7VA
Episode 16: https://youtu.be/yhEu91mX0pg
Episode 17: https://youtu.be/WgbKBkoibkA
Episode 18: https://youtu.be/p-rR97H8b4U
Episode 19: https://youtu.be/tb_c0ojVFYU
Episode 20: https://youtu.be/LKMHcQB6JB4
Episode 21: https://youtu.be/TomFFSUg6J4

Watch SEASON 1 of The Road to French Lick:
Episode 1: https://youtu.be/i3HVE6sF_YQ
Episode 2: https://youtu.be/g-cpXXmWnR4
Episode 3: https://youtu.be/Ofli2Lwfvi4
Episode 4: https://youtu.be/vlxUJlgvo_A
Episode 5: https://youtu.be/_zk-4Xqv1wM
Episode 6: https://youtu.be/iKaplacB-dw
Episode 7: https://youtu.be/qLofLnLfAiA
Episode 8: https://youtu.be/G_MF7T8rZ54
Episode 9: https://youtu.be/LquQZfZLLTA
Episode 10: https://youtu.be/cLgBCanqOvs
Episode 11: https://youtu.be/oyH-suXFFp8
Episode 12: https://youtu.be/vPBBiYt7IBc
Episode 13: https://youtu.be/-39IJTl-o4w

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We had a surprise first time winner in the second stop in the corn ferry tour finals. And we’ve got one stop left until we get to the end on the road to French lick. [Music] [Music] [Music] Hello and welcome once again to the Road to French Lake show chronicling the Corn Fairy Tour. I’m Ryan Bali. On this week’s episode, we’ll go over the second leg of the Corin Fairy Tour finals, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. We’ll talk to the bubble boy who’s in 76th position heading into the next stage of the finals, the Compliance Solutions Championship. Brendan Sweeney will join me to talk about everything happening so far in the finals and setting the stage for the final two events of the series. And we’ll go over everything getting you ready for the Compliance Solutions Championship reserved for the top 120 players in the standings out in Oklahoma. First, let’s talk about the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship played once again this year on the Scarlet Course at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. This is now the second stage of the Cornferry Tour finals. Historically, it has been the third stage. Now, it’s been bumped up. The top 144 players in the point standings qualified for this tournament after the top 156 had qualified for the Simmons Bank Open in Nashville to kick off the finals. In the end, we got a little bit of a surprise winner in his 142nd Corn Fairy Tour start. John Vanderland wound up winning this tournament by three shots on 17 under 267, beating Marty Dal and Trent Phillips in the process, who finished on 14 under total each. That was good enough for his first ever corner Tour win. Earned him $270,000 from the $ 1.5 million purse. Most importantly, it earned him 600 Cornin Fury Tour points, a bump up from 500 to the winner in the regular season. And that moved him from 52nd place in the Corning Fairy Tour standings, securely in the Cornfury Tour finals to 15th in the standings, now on the precipice of a PGA Tour card for the first time in 2026. Let’s hear from the winner of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, John Vanderland. John, first corner victory, five seats in Bradbury. finally got it done. Just how are you feeling right now? Uh, it feels great. You It’s been a long time coming. It feels like I told Hannah and my wife after the last six week stretch where I played some really good golf that I was going to win one of these last four and my game’s been good for a while and it feels good to actually get it done this time. You had that double bogey today. Was there anything that went through your head? I just kind of tried to like recompose myself and those two swings on 12 were huge to kind of lead to an easy birdie um and kind of get me going back in the right direction. Uh I tried to get away with probably a little too much on 11 and it cost me, but it was nice to bounce back the way I did. Do you think it’s hit you yet that you’re officially? I don’t know if it’ll hit me for a little bit. It’s been a long time coming, but uh it feels good for sure. As a result of his win in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, John Vanderland moved from 52nd to 15th in the point standings, getting him inside that critical top 20, which are the graduates heading to the PGA Tour in 2026 at the end of the Cornferry Tour Championship. The top five in our standings, however, did not change as a result of the second stage of the Cornberry Tour finals. And all five players in the top five are now guaranteed PGA Tour cards for 2026. Johnny Kefir remains number one on the points list at 2,26 points. Austin Smotherman remains in second at 1,863 points. Neil Shipley remains in third place at 1,627 points. Alio Gonzalez is fourth at 1,562 points. And Hank Leota is in fifth place at 1,455 points. At the end of next week’s Compliance Solutions Championship, the field of 120 players from the top 120 in the points list who are eligible for that event will be cut down to the top 75 who will qualify for the season ending Cornfairy Tour Championship presented by United Leasing and Finance. To give you a sense of what those numbers look like today, Fabian Gomez is number 75 in the points list. He is at 312.35 points. Number 120 on the points list is Brandon Harkkins who comes in at 186.85 points. So about 130ish point 135 point difference between Brandon Harkkins at number 120 and Fabian Gomez at number 75. With that in mind, you’re going to have to finish somewhere inside the top four to give yourself really a chance to get into that final tournament of the year, the Cornferry Tour Championship. If you are down toward that 120 number, even if you don’t qualify for the Cornferry Tour Championship through the Compliance Solutions Championship, you still want to try to finish inside that top 100 figure for next year because every player who finishes 76 through 100 gets conditional status on the Cornferry Tour in 2026 gives them some semblance of a place to play and has some access to the Corn Fairy Tour next year, no matter what. French Lick, Indiana. Our little corner of the world has big things waiting. It’s where legends were made on the court and on the course. Walter Hagen, Colin Montgomery, Betsy RS, and Mickey Wright. It’s where life is lived to the fullest. And where unexpected adventures are around every corner, big things are waiting. Are you in? Visit frenchlick.com and start your escape here in Indiana. We have two guests for you this week on the road to French lick. And the first is Sam Anderson. Sam is 76th on the points list heading into the compliance solutions championship. So just outside of that top 75 cutoff to qualify for the Cornferry Tour Championship. He spoke with Brendan Sweeney out in Columbus about his situation where he is right now trying to get to French lick and everything that’s still on the line for him in these finals. Sam, what’s this year looking like? What where you at? I am. It’s a good question. I was 72 72nd on the points uh before last week. Missed the cut. I think I bumped down to like 70 I think it’s 74. I missed the cut and I was like I just let’s just forget about last week. Yeah. So I think I’m at 74. How do you change your your mindset going into the playoffs here? This is week two and each week it gets whittleled down. So yeah. I don’t know. I I think I know I’ll say this. I know if I play my game of golf, I’ll be totally fine. I’ll make it to French Lake. I’ll be top 75. I can contend to win. Um I played well in in Omaha. I finished tied for six there. So, and finished 10th in in uh in Texas at Texas Rangers. So, like I know my good golf’s good enough to compete to win out here. Um, I think we can almost get a little too caught up in where we’re at on the points and trying to play too well and like, yeah, I mean, it’s the playoffs and it’s elevated points and elevated money and each week’s getting dwindled down, but really at the end of the day, like we’re still playing golf. Yeah. It’s it, you know, you start looking at it and I’m I’m obviously in a in a spot that I’m in a much better spot than a lot of people, but I’m not in as good a spot as some. And and I know that if I have a good week, good solid two weeks that I’ll be totally fine going to French lick. Um, and so I don’t think there’s really any reason to panic because I don’t know if anyone’s ever panicked and really played great. Yeah. Um, so and I think this is my rookie year, so I think my biggest thing this year is just like learning as much as I possibly can. How’s that learning curve been? It’s been it’s been good. I played on the Americas the last last year u and had a nice nice season out there. I think there’s I mean the biggest difference I would say is on the weekends weekends on America’s I mean you’re obviously still going to have to play good but playing on a corn ferry like you’re going to have to shoot four or five under Saturday or Sunday and Sunday you’re going to have to be anywhere between eight to 10 under to not lose ground on the weekend on the corner tour and like America’s like yeah I mean you still had to go low but if you say you had a two- shot lead you could probably shoot like even and still be pretty close to the lead and be in striking distance going into Sunday. On the corn ferry, if you’re in the lead and you shoot even on a Saturday, you’re going to be in 25th place and you’re playing catch-up the whole all all day Sunday. So, I think it’s kind of just like really trusting in myself and knowing knowing knowing what I’m doing is working. And um I mean it’s funny cuz it’s like you’d rather from a point standpoint like you need to know your good is really good, right? Like if you miss a cut and you finish 10th that’s way more points than if you make the cut and finish 62nd, right? And so it’s that’s something that I’ve been that’s been kind of comforting to me. It’s like yeah, I miss a cut, whatever, but like I know I can my good’s going to compete and I can finish top 10. I can finish top three. I could win if I put myself in those positions. So, it’s like I don’t really have to do anything extraordinary to to succeed out here. For some reason, our second guest this week is a little bit of a flashback for you. We talked to Miles Russell last year in the first season of the Road to French Lick out of Lakewood Ranch, Florida, when he was entered into that event, became the youngest player in the history of the Cornferry Tour to finish inside the top 20, earning himself another start on the circuit. He’s now playing in the Junior Ryder Cup, which is why we bring him back here this week. Here’s our conversation with then 15-year-old Miles Russell. Hopefully, I I play well in my game. Kind of see how it stacks up against some of the best. Pretty good. I mean, I think I I finished second in the Big Yam event and then didn’t play great at another one, but it’s been it’s been good. Where do you play out up in Jacksonville? Atlantic Beach. It’s good. I mean, Jacksonville, you got the players, you got TPC, so there’s a lot of good players, and every once in a while, you find yourself a good game. How’s your summer going to shape up with you playing in AJ stuff at all or? Yeah, I’ll play a couple AJs. A lot of lot of AM events this summer, but be a busy summer. It’ll be a fun summer. Brent Sweeney joins me from Orlando. We’re going to talk about the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and then set up with a week-l long break for the RDER Cup, the Compliance Solutions Championship at the Patriot Golf Club out in Oklahoma. So John Vanderland winds up winning in his 142nd cornfairy tour start gets his first ever win on the circuit. Jumps up from 52nd place to 15th place. And all of a sudden what he was probably worried about was trying to find a way to have two good weeks to get himself a card. Now he needs to have one decent week and he’s probably got himself a PJ tour. How things can change in seven days. Good. Good for him. Hey and good for Smoky Patterson uh Chevrolet in Palmyra, Illinois. the big logo sponsor on on on his shirt. And good for the Florida Mox, man. Uh or Southern Florida. It’s where he went to college in Lakeland, Florida. And there’s some great golfers that came on out of out of there. Lee Jansen, Marco Dawson, Rock Mediate, now him. So, yeah, that’s awesome. Congratulations. His dog looked great. His wife was having a good time. Um I tell you what, it’s it’s tough to go up against the NFL on a Sunday, but if you’re watching the road to French Lake, you’re probably watching Cornferry Golf. So, we appreciate you. Do want to give a shout out to his dog. I thought that was cool. I would like to see more 72nd hole celebration dogs out there on the golf course. Even if it’s not your the winner’s dog, just release some cool dogs and, you know, let them let them have some fun out there. Um, we we we had we had Steve Ferguson’s labs out at our place last year during the during the card ceremony. I tell you what, that’s way you know you’re doing all right when Steve Hannie did two leashes and said, “Go over there and watch my dog.” So, And we probably will maybe we can fit them in. A lot of action going on. I’m sorry. We get them on the episode for the Cornfair Tour Championship this year. We We’ll get We’ll get them both. They’re they’re a riot. Um, no problem. All right. So, two players that finished tie for fourth really improved their chances of getting a PJ tour card. Chandler Blanchett who already won this year. He went from ninth to seventh by going T4. Basically locked up a card. It’s It should be done and dusted by the time we get to French Lick. And then Jeffrey Kang, who is 17th, tied for fourth, goes up to 14th. He’s not exactly guaranteed a PGA tour card yet. We’ll see how everything shakes out next week with the comp or two weeks with the compliance solutions championship. But those are two big steps for guys who didn’t win but really improved their situation. He’s right there. And Zach Bashau, I mean, he didn’t he didn’t have a great week, but he’s still up there in the top 10, which is great. Then Chandler um if he would have finished third or better he would have gotten his card on Sunday. Yeah. And uh he left the putt on short on 18 short and uh there you go. But yeah, chances are he’s he’s he’s punching his ticket to French leg. So which is good which is awesome. I mean that’s the kind of value of these last couple tournaments is yeah there are the cut offs right and we’ll get to those in a minute. But also one guy here, one guy there. If they’re not exactly guaranteed mathematically have a card, they’re awfully close and they probably get to wipe their brow a little bit. Yeah. And and Chandler actually has a French look logo on his bag. So we’re we’re pulling for him big time. So it’s good. Well, we then we got to get him some airtime during the corner tour championship, too. So he can’t totally mail it in. You know, we we’d like to see him presented by United Leing and Finance, which is good. And then there were the the two guys that I don’t I don’t want to skip over them entirely. The guy the two guys that finished tied for a second. Marty Dal who has been back and forth between this circuit the PGA Tour. He’s he’s been kind of all over. This is an important week for him. He goes from 58th to 33rd in the points. Yeah, that doesn’t get you in the top 20, but you’re definitely in different French lick. You definitely have a place to play and you definitely have an outside shot in the next two tournaments to get a card. Same with Trent Phillips who goes from 53rd to 31st. So really important moves to kind of try to set yourself up to at least have a chance to get a car. Yeah. And if you if you look at like who’s like hovering around that top 20 so far, you know, Justin Saw a Ortiz, Josh Peter, Logan Mallister who won, ADDC from Illinois, Austin hit, uh Kyle West Morland who had a great top 10 finish this week as well. So uh there’s a lot of things happening in the playoffs and we’re looking forward to Oklahoma. Obviously, I I checked out flights for that. There’s no way I’m spending nine hours commuting each way to go watch these guys. So, I’ll check them out on TV and phone in from there. So, it uh it should be exciting. Hopefully, the weather uh you know, it’s that time of year where, you know, it could be sunny and 80 or 50 and raining. So, we’re it’s going to be interesting to see what Oklahoma has. So, as you know with French Lick and I I’ve from what I understand in Oklahoma, having never been actually in Oklahoma, but I’ve watched the Patriot Golf Club on TV for a collegiate event, uh the the wind can play an enormous factor very quickly at both places. So, don’t expect uh a lot of beautiful, calm, easy conditions for four straight days for these players. Yeah. And I think there’s actually like 10 or 12 guys that have Oklahoma roots that are on the Corn Fury Tour. So yeah, should be a good hometown cruise for a couple of these guys. But uh I tell you what, last week um we lost some guys uh with with the cut and um it it’s interesting that last year um we were both waiting for Doc Redmond and Sam Bennett to get their cards. Yep. And now they’re done for the year. It just shows you, you know, what could happen out there and in a short amount of time. And you know, Doc has a child. Um, he’s off for a couple weeks here and there and they just never got back on track. And we never really heard too much from Sam Bennett. And last year it was a shoein that he was going to go and uh and I think he finished what 32nd, something like that. Yeah, if you just play it a couple I think three strokes better over the course of those four days, he winds up getting a card and he’s on the PGA tour and who knows what happens from there, but instead plays another season on this tour, gets knocked out the second stage of the finals and now his entire professional career is in jeopardy. Yeah. And then a couple other guys that that we won’t be seeing for the rest of the year, you know, Will McGurt, Bobby Diaz, Patrick Cobber, and uh Rian Gibson. Um all have touched their toes in the PGA Tour. And unfortunately, they’d end up make it to the to the cut for for Oklahoma coming up. So, it’s top 120 going in there. And uh we’ll see what happens. But there’s a couple guys that are outside of the top 120 or that are from the you know 120 to 70 mark that have to play well this week coming up or in two weeks coming up. James Nichols, uh, who had an outstanding, you know, first into Bahamas. Uh, he was almost leading, uh, cruising on the 16th hole, Yanks and nine, tail spins after that. Cole Hammer, uh, Luke Guthrie, uh, Dan McCarthy, these guys got to step it up. And if they don’t miss make the cut, they’re they’re done, too. So, we’d love to have them all in French Lick, but they got to perform to make it. And even if you do get cut next week or you know you don’t get into the the cornfair tour championship presented by United Leasing Finance, if you’re 76 through 100th, you get at least conditional status on the tour next year. So you’re not automatically thinking about Q school, you’re not thinking about I have no place to play, you at least have something to fall back on. So even if you’re going to be one of those 45 players who get cut after the compliance solutions championship, you still have something worthwhile chasing for next year. Got it. And then if you look at the top of the list, like the guys who have their cards right now, who are guaranteed their cards, their PGA status is based upon how they finish on the Corn Fury Tour. So they need to go full throttle just to get better better positioning for next year. Next year is going to be interesting. You got 20 20 guys or 25 guys heading down from PGA Tour who need a place to play. Either they’re going to Europe or they’re going to the Cornferry tour. So uh it should be it should be an interesting year coming up in 2026. But, uh, as we we see the end of the finish line of 25, um, it looks exciting. I mean, lives will be changed. Either you’re going to stick around and you’re going to play golf the rest of your life or you’re going to be selling umbrella somewhere in in Topeka, Kansas. Who knows? We’ll figure it out. Well, with that in mind, uh, in two weeks, we can see each other at uh, at French Lick. Everything’s built out. Everything’s ready to go. It’s going to be awesome. uh the test of the year, test of the lifetime for a lot of these guys, trying to get a PGA tour card or or just trying to make sure their career takes the next step that it needs to take. So, uh Brennan, looking forward to it in a couple weeks. We’ll talk again after everything in Oklahoma and we’ll we’ll set the stage for what should be an awesome week. All right, Ryan, thanks buddy. Talk to you soon. That’ll do it for us this week on the road to French Lake. Thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it. We have one more tournament before the season ending court fairy tour championship presented by United Leasing and Finance at the Pete Die course at the French Lake Resort out in Indiana and that is the compliance solutions championship played at the Patriot Golf Club in Oklahoma. We’ll have a show for you after that tournament setting the stage for the top 75 players who qualify for the season ending tournament and those who have guaranteed themselves PGA Tour cards for 2026 heading into the final event of the year. or Brandon Sweeney and everyone at the French Lick Resort. I’m Ryan Bingy. For everyone at Golf Newset, thanks so much for watching. We’ll see you next time on the Road to French Lick. You’ve arrived at French Lick Resort here in Indiana. Two hotels you have to see to believe. Legendary golf by Pete Dye and Donald Ross. Our little corner of the world is like nowhere else. Your French lick getaway starts now at frenchlick.com.