Unfortunate Error Allows Wrong Tour Player Into Professional Event

Every point is important on the Korn Ferry Tour, especially when the golden ticket lies in a spot on the PGA Tour.

Getting starts on the Korn Ferry Tour is crucial and, at the Pinnacle Bank Championship, an error from the circuit meant Rayhan Thomas missed the tournament, despite the fact that he should have been in the field.

First reported by Monday Q Info’s Ryan French, MJ Daffue, who currently sits in a share of fourth at nine-under following rounds of 67 and 66, shouldn't have been in the field in the first place.

Daffue, who plies his trade between the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour, had been playing on the latter but failed to register enough points after a medical exemption.

Medical exemptions work by the player having a certain amount of starts to earn a certain amount of points and, following a T58 at the ISCO Championship, Daffue hadn't earned the required points.

Because of this, the South African opted to enter the Pinnacle Bank Championship, but was in the field under the wrong exemption category.

The exemption category Daffue was under was the 'PGA Tour Members Not Exempt for Current PGA Tour Event (126-150)'.

In reality, he should have been under the 'Reordered With Points Next 25 & Ties QT, 2-10 Americas' category, which would have put him as a fourth alternate.

So, where does Thomas come into this, you ask? Well, as it turns out, the error meant that, when Scott Gutschewski withdrew prior to the start of the tournament, he was replaced by Runchanapong Youprayong, who should have already been in the field.

With Youprayong moving into the event, Thomas was bumped to first alternate, but should have been in the field via Gutschewski's withdrawal, as Youprayong should have already been listed.

Speaking about the incident to GolfChannel.com, Thomas stated: "The Tour is trying to find a way to rectify it, and I’m sure that we’ll come to an agreement and figure it out.

"I’m pretty confident that things will be made right. I think the Tour has good intentions. Obviously, they made a mistake, and they were regretful about it. Now, I’m back in Oklahoma, trying to get ready for Boise.

"In my head, regardless of MJ getting in or not, I just didn’t play good enough to get into the field, so I need to play better, and hopefully Boise will be a good chance for me to move up the rankings a little bit."

Sitting 107th in the Korn Ferry Tour standings, Thomas has one top 10 this season and made seven cuts in 20 events.

The Pinnacle Bank Championship is the penultimate event of the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour regulation season, so the start for Thomas would have been crucial, especially as the top 75 qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in two months time.