Power Rankings: Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship

One down, two to go.

The first two of 25 PGA TOUR cards were awarded last week at the first Korn Ferry Tour Finals event. Will Gordon defeated Philip Knowles and MJ Daffue in a playoff to claim the first Finals 25 promotion as he earned 1,000 points. Knowles and Daffue collected 490 points each for sharing second and will join Gordon on the big stage next season.

The threshold to achieve one of the remaining 23 opportunities in the Finals 25 will require around 220 total points over the course of the three events. Read more here.

After a trip to Boise and Hillcrest Country Club to kick off the Finals, the second event returns to the Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University. Jack Nicklaus' 2005 redesign of the 1938 Alister Mackenzie original will provide the challenge as it has since 2007. The 16th edition will feature 145 players looking to kick the door down or inch closer to access to the PGA TOUR.

Defending champion Adam Svensson smashed the tournament scoring record but will not return to defend his title. Svensson comfortably regained his playing privileges as he finished in the top 100 of the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List.

The Finals brings an elevated prize purse of $1 million, with the winner enjoying $180,000 plus 1,000 Korn Ferry Tour points for all three events.

Scarlet Course

POWER RANKINGS: BAKER'S DOZEN

The Buckeye State and fans will welcome the Korn Ferry Tour Finals for the ninth consecutive Finals iteration. The 2019 edition led off the Finals and was won by Scottie Scheffler. We know how the rest of that story turned out!

The 2020 Finals didn't exist and the event was played as a "regular season" event. The Korn Ferry Tour played a two-year combined schedule (2020-2021) in wake of COVID-19 complications. The Finals 25 returned last year as the second of three events and Svensson took care of his future.

Last week presented clues about who is up for the challenge of obtaining those final 25 cards.

This week will provide an entirely different challenge.

In Boise the top nine golfers were all 20-under or better. To hit the top 60 the requirement was 10-under. Before last year's scoring explosion where the top 26 were double digits under par, the previous SIX EDITIONS COMBINED had 21 players crack that threshold.

Sitting at 7,444 yards and par-71 suggests lumber off the tee to be able to attack the massive greens. Keeping the ball on the proper tier of the slick Bentgrass greens will improve chances to keep bogeys off the card. With big targets off the tee and into the greens, mistakes will be amplified. The par-5 holes will provide a chance to clean up the card. The par-3 holes will be the ones being cleaned up as three of the four check in at 220 yards or deeper. The "baby" is just 202 yards.

The 2021 edition was the 29th most difficult and that was the first time since 2012 the Scarlet Course did not rank in the top 10 most difficult.

Time to grind out pars and keep it between the lines!

Heavenly summertime conditions continue in the Midwest as sunshine and temperatures in the mid 80s will be on the menu. Only Sunday could possibly break the 85 degree barrier and the chance of rain isn't a very good one with 25 percent being highest probability.

Last Week - Albertsons Boise Open

No. 13 - Min Woo Lee - Opened with 63, cashed T26
No. 12 - Dean Burmester - T4
No. 11 - Yannik Paul - Opened with 64, MC.
No. 10 - Chris Gotterup - T18
No. 9 - Thomas Detry - T4
No. 8 - Kiradech Aphibarnrat - T56
No. 7 - Justin Lower - T26
No. 6 - Michael Kim - T26
No. 5- Austin Eckroat - T50
No. 4 - Mac Meissner - MC
No. 3 - Hurly Long - MC
No. 2 - Justin Suh - T37
No. 1 - Taylor Montgomery - T4

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out through Twitter or email me mikeglasscott@gmail.com.