On this episode of The Road to French Lick, we’re at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greenville, South Carolina, as Brendan Sweeney catches up on-site with Tyler Duncan and Ryan Ballengee. Ryan goes over the Visit Knoxville Open and the UNC Health Championship, and we hear from Pontus Nyholm and Trace Crowe, the winners of these events.
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
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’ve got two more firsttime winners in 2025 and we’re halfway through the season on the road to French Lake [Music] [Music] [Music] hi everybody welcome once again to the Road to French Lick a show chronicling the Cornferryy Tour i’m Ryan Bali this week’s episode we’re at the BMW Charity ProAm in Greenville South Carolina and Brendan Sweeney talks to Tyler Duncan as well as joins us on site from one of the better tournaments on the Cornberry Tour schedule certainly a unique one with the ProAm component down there in Greenville first we’ve got to go over a couple of tournaments since our last show and we’ll talk to the winners of those tournaments first let’s talk about the visit Knoxville Open one of the longest running tournaments on the Cornferry Tour schedule played once again in Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville and this was a great event once again this year last year Harry Higs won this tournament in dramatic fashion doing so in a playoff this year was also a dramatic playoff finish pontis Niholm wound up winning the tournament for his first Corin Ferry Tour win on 19 underpar he shot 265 over the course of the week in that 72 hole event to finish on a tie with Johnny Kefir who will be playing the PGA tour this week and play at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow 19 under that got them into a playoff they went back for a playoff hole on the par 518th at Holston Hills and like Harry Higs the year prior it was an Eagle that was very crucial in the end on 18th eagle made by Pontis Niholm was good enough to earn the win in one playoff hole that got him the victory $180,000 and very importantly 500 Cornferryy Tour points let’s hear from the winner from Sweden of the visit Knoxville Open Pontis Nihol well Pontis I guess let’s just start with the finish you let all the emotion out on the Eagle clutch just how did that feel to finally get your first quarter tour win in that fashion yeah obviously amazing i mean this is my fourth year playing out here and um haven’t been able to get it done and been really close a few times and that’s that’s stung obviously and then just missing that part in regulation obviously gut-wrenching and then going into the playoff and being able to finish off that way i I don’t really know how we celebrated but it’s just raw emotion yeah what was the mindset there you know you have that tough plot for bogey on 18 and then you go into scoring just where’s your head once you Yeah I mean obviously tough i I did such a good job all day of just staying pressing and didn’t really look at leaderboards knew I was playing well obviously and then kind of just let it get to me here on 18 a little bit on the green that was the first time all day when I kind of let my emotions take over and didn’t really go through my process on that on that short putt and um it cost me and then going into the playoff it was funny i was I was telling my caddy Josh cuz we were watching the Masters a few weeks ago and and Rory said something like after the 18th hole when he made bogey Harry came up to him and said “Pal this morning if if I would have told you we were going to be in the playoff you would have you would have taken that.” So that was sort of the mindset we were trying to have going into the playoff like I was five back going into the day didn’t really you know obviously play with SH yesterday and play so good uh thought I would have to shoot 8 n under to to sniff having a chance and um would have obviously taken a playoff this morning before even hitting a golf shot so that that was sort of the mindset and we got it done with Nolm’s victory in the visit Knoxville Open he jumped from 53rd in the Cornferry Tour point standings into fifth position but as you know things change every week on the Cornferry Tour and Nolm did not stay in fifth place for very long we moved from Knoxville Tennessee to Raleigh North Carolina for the UNCC Health Championship presented by Stitch played at Raleigh Country Club ko Onishi won this tournament last year in a very difficult scoring week that was not the case this time around especially for our champion Trace Crow who wound up winning by five shots on 21 under 259 no playoff needed whatsoever this thing was never really in doubt coming Sunday middle rounds of 62 and 64 put him in a position to win and as mentioned he wound up winning by five shots over Hank Lebiota player who won the first event of the year at Atllanta’s Paradise Island and for the bulk of the season to date has been the Cornferry Tour points leader also in second place is Davis Chatfield who’s in having a great year on the Cornferry Tour he was able to move up significantly in the point standings based on that tie for second and then Martin Lair the longtime PGA Tour veteran and multi-time winner on the PGA Tour he finished in a share of second place as this event was played opposite the memorial tournament a signature event on the PGA Tour lair did not have access to that event decided to play on the Coinferryy Tour instead and with the points that he earned from that event finds himself in 63rd position on the Cornferry Tour points list as a result of that tournament but the big win is for Trace Crow who puts himself in a great position to get to the PGA Tour in 2026 let’s hear from Trace Crow after winning UNCC health championship oh I mean just awesome you know I was really comfortable and like surprisingly calm today when I woke up you know I just kind of routine when I’m home i woke up played with my dog had some coffee with my wife and came out here and u got off to a good start again today and then it kind of calmed the nerves and uh yeah no it’s it feels great yeah just to have everyone out here and you know this traveling and doing this for a living can get lonely and you don’t have family on the road and to have everyone out here and to even win and just an unbelievable feeling yeah so excited to excited to get this one done this one’s been circled all year so after the visit Knoxville Open and the UNCC Health Championship we now take a look at the top five in the Cornferry Tour point standings remembering that the top 20 players at the end of the Coinf Fairy Tour Championship presented by United Leasing and Finance will earn 2026 PGA Tour cards johnny Kefir remains number one on the points list he’ll be playing in the RBC Canadian Open this week on the PGA Tour instead of the BMW Charity ProAm for a first crack at the PGA Tour this season although he did get to play in the PGA Championship which was a huge opportunity for him but he remains number one on the points list 1,374 total points sh Kim remains second on that list at 1,268 points hank Lebiota remains in third but gets closer to SH Kim with that tied for second place finish at the UNCC Health Championship he’s at 1,256 points davis Chatfield who was also part of that three-way tie for second in Raleigh he moves up to fourth position from 11th now at 848 points and Trace Crow the winner in Raleigh he moves up all the way to fifth position on the points list at 792 points just to give you some perspective toward the bottom of that top 20 on the points table about halfway through the season here on the Corn Fairy Tour Pearson Cudy is in 20th position right now at 521.8 points so we talked about this earlier in the year the possibility of the number that minimum number of points to get to to be in the top 20 and get a PGA Tour card for 2026 we thought a few weeks ago that number was going to be closer to about 1,200 points well as we get closer and closer to the second half of the season and now are in fact in that second half of the year certainly of the regular season it does look more and more like that thousand number is about right if he gained everything out here you would say Pearson Cody would need about 1,50 points to guarantee himself a spot on the PGA Tour next year where he’s sitting in 20th position come the end of the year we’ll see who that person is and we’ll see exactly how many points that is but a little bit more than a,000 a little bit less than 1,200 seems about the right number 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 RWS 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 this week’s guest on the road to French Lake is Tyler Duncan he is a representative of the French Lake Resort out in Indiana home to the Cornferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing and Finance he is also a Purdue guy wearing the logo of the golf courses out there in West Lafayette he talked with our Brendan Sweeney at the BMW Charity ProAm in Greenville South Carolina about his season and what he’s looking forward to the rest of the way td how you doing buddy i’m doing well how are you great great well fill us in since the last time we talked how’s the Cornferryy Tour been treating you uh it’s been good yeah um I played a few PJ Tour events mixed in and played you know a good amount of the Cornferry events so far um I’ve had some good finishes and um I feel like the games is trending where I want to just trying to touch up on a few things and um see what happens this week what’s it What’s the difference between being on the on the on the show the big tour and then coming back down here or is it the the intensity level has to be just amped up cuz now you’re fighting to get back on there right yeah yeah it’s definitely amped up um the perks on the PGA Tour there’s just so much out there that that you kind of take for granted especially being out there for several years um so coming back down here and um really motivates you to to get back out and grind and put in the work and the time and um and do everything you can to get back out there got it um Pacers are looking pretty darn good they are yeah I was looking at the schedule um game three and four back in Indie next week and I’ll be home um no US Open for me this year so hopefully try to get my way in the um arena how is Let’s go let’s Let’s talk a little bit indiana Fever you’ve been following Caitlin Clark at all oh yeah yeah i haven’t been to a game i tell everyone I’m like I really need to go to a game i want to get in there and watch and and see that atmosphere cuz I know the effect she’s had on women’s basketball and the WNBA and you see all the numbers playing in different arenas because they’re selling out everything um it’s just so awesome the effect she’s had on you know the WNBA and for her to be in India it’s awesome and um can’t wait to uh hopefully meet her out at Crooked Stick soon i was trying to explain to somebody that Indianapolis is like the top I think 21 market in in as far as populated people or you know as as far as the 25th it’s 25th 21st market I should say but the passion of the fans in Indiana people who don’t get it especially we’re talking about hoops I mean you grew up you grew up in in in South Central Indiana you know what it’s like so someone from the outside what could they expect of of like the six man coming to some of these rallies yeah um just I would think the biggest rivalry game you’ve been to is just kind of a normal you know basketball game in Indiana um growing up a big IU and Bobby Knight fan and just watching those games and you know my grandpa was a huge fan and kind of got me into that and then going to Purdue and we had um Jean Katy and then um all those guys growing up and so it’s basketball is just unbelievable in Indiana there’s nothing like it cool well we wish you the best of luck this week and we’ll catch up to you soon yeah sounds good brandon Sweeney joins me he is at the BMW Charity ProAm this week’s cornfairy tour event Greenville South Carolina they’ll be talking to all the stars uh who are competing in the ProAm portion of the event some of the players of course and we’ll have that for you here on the road to French Lake but Brendan we got two events that have happened since our last show we had the visit Knoxville Open with Pontis Niholm winning in a playoff and then denying Johnny Kefir a second win this season and then we had Trace Crow winning in a bit of a runaway at the UNCC Health Championship so two very different outcomes but we still have not had a repeat winner so far on the Cornferry Tour season yeah I tell you what it’s been pretty exciting you know another cool thing about the this season uh 2025 all 10 of the uh of the players champions are all under the age of 30 so you’re seeing like a like a insurgence of young people coming up which is pretty exciting yeah but uh we’re here at the BMW uh celebrity program uh TD Senate is the uh sponsor and it’s been really positive out here uh what a beautiful setting this place is they’re at two different golf courses and then uh just getting the vibe everybody coming in from out of town yeah I have a buddy of at Thoren Blake Club and uh I think past president I think he’s current president of the club and they’re really proud to host this event every year along with Carolina Country Club they’ve got a proamp component of this for the first three rounds every team plays one round on each course then there’s a cut for the final round at Thornblade Club and then Sunday’s all professionals which I think is a kind of cool way to do it in that you have the ProAm tournament but the last day is all about the pros trying to get to the PGA tour yeah and it’s exciting too especially with the celebrity aspect of it all it’s the only uh celebrity prom that the Cornfury Tour has to offer out there and there’s a lot of local celebrities uh from the Carolinas but there’s some some pretty pretty good national guys larry the Cable Guy is here once again who uh sponsors a Brandon Cricggs bag which is which is pretty neat that’s a good story right there we spoke to him last year um but the the whole town has got a great vibe to it uh the Upland part of South Carolina is just beautiful territory and we’re smack dab in between the um the two great rivals of the uh USC Gamecooxs and the Clemson Tigers so be careful what you say uh and who you say it to because they tend to get a little testy around here i would imagine there’s some more orange than kind of garnet or whatever the color is for the the Gamecocks but you tell me in Greenville uh I’m just taking a neutral stance my daughter went to Clemson so you know where my allegiance lies and with a name like Sweeney in Clemson it tends to go far until they look at the spelling so that’s all we got to offer on that one but uh it’s been a great week uh uh spoke to uh uh Cooper dosey uh la yesterday and Tyler Duncan and and today we got some good lineup set up be speaking with Ryan French uh and uh Brian Kendrick from XM radio so uh should be a good day easy commute from from Orlando and uh looking forward to a great champion coming up this at the end of this week all right so we’re at the halfway point of the season right we don’t have a multiple time winner so far this year johnny Kefir is going to play on the PGA tour this week he’s got a chance at the Canadian Open great opportunity for him sh Kim is second yank had Hank Leota who won the season opener he was third coming into last week he finished tied for second he’s still third but he’s 12 points away from second place he had Davis Chatfield who was 11th now he’s fourth he was part of that group of three guys who was tied for second and then you’ve got the winner Trace Gro who just won in Raleigh he’s now fifth so we’re basically halfway through the year we don’t have a dominating player does it feel like out there that the players kind of got a sense that there’s still a whole lot of opportunity because we don’t have a Tim beating we don’t have a Matt McCarti that we had last year at least so far well I tell you what it’s really interesting and we saw it a couple weeks back with Bryson Nimmer who came out of nowhere with a win and now he’s you know he’s in the top 20 on his points so it just goes to show you that any week uh 10 different champions this year so far and any week it could really change somebody’s life and uh get them you know status for this year and next year but it’s also a pathway to the PGA Tour so yeah I think I everybody is there’s so much talent out here Ryan it’s just insanely crazy and we saw it yesterday with um you know the golf’s longest day with the guys you know from the cornfairy tour making it on you know making it to the US Open bobby Diaz our our good buddy and and Jame Nichols um Zack Bashau um they all made it to the show for the US Open and it just shows you how good these guys really are and how like just in a week it could just change on a dime so yeah the one thing I think everyone’s got to keep in mind is that with 20 cards this year instead of 30 Yeah yeah winning an event doesn’t necessarily get you most of the way even very far toward getting that PGA Tour card you got to do more than win it’s a little bit of a different game than it used to be and I think that makes this more exciting yeah and I tell you what the point you know being reduced from 30 to 20 players uh on this tour but not only you know going from 125 to 100 on a PGA tour that means next year those guys be dropping down so you know the competition is just going to get tougher and tougher every year every week we can say that so yeah we’re looking forward to it it’s going to be a great week here in South Carolina and uh hopefully uh we get a new champion you never know well Brendon thanks as always appreciate it that’ll do it for us this week on the road to French Lake thanks so much for watching we appreciate it we’ll be back with another show after this week’s event the BMW Charity Pro in Greenville South Carolina thorb Blade Club and Carolina Country Club are the dual hosts for that tournament with the tournament finishing at Thorn Blade Club on Saturday and Sunday we have plenty of room to run still in this season on the Cornferryy Tour and we’ll be here to bring it all to you we’re very excited about all that as we lead up to the corner Tour Championship out at French Lake Resort in French Lake Indiana for Brendan Sweeney everyone at the French Lake Resort I’m Ryan Bellingy thanks from everyone here at Golf Newset we’ll see you next time on the road to French Lake 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
