Centurion - South African golfer Dylan Naidoo will be aiming to use his time on the Korn Ferry Tour as a stepping stone towards greater success, and his ultimate goal of playing on the US PGA Tour.
The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the PGA Tour, and could pave the way for Naidoo to the upper echelons of world golf.
The 24-year-old who turned professional in 2019, told IOL Sport that securing a PGA Tour card is his main objective.
“Going to play on the Korn Ferry Tour and aiming to qualify to play on the PGA Tour is definitely part of my plan,” said Naidoo.
“Much as Korn Ferry is a development tour, it’s a high level of golf played there – a real step up. The quality of golfer there is outstanding. In my view, the top 50 on the order merit are all good enough to play on PGA Tour, and as we know the top 25 will get to do just that."
“I see this time as a good yardstick measurement for me. There’s a lot of innovation and this level is on the forefront of golf. So I’ll be picking the guys brains, spending time with my fellow players. I’ll certainly be playing some rounds with one of my good friends, Alvaro Ortiz who was my college teammate at the University of Arkansas – it will be good for me.”
“It is a serious challenge. I am aware it is going to be extremely difficult.”
Naidoo is coming off a trio of solid results on the Sunshine Tour, after finishing 12th, 23rd and 15th in his last three starts.
Despite the encouraging results, Naidoo feels he is close to improving dramatically. Given the higher quality competition he will face on the Korn Ferry Tour, he will need to be firing on all cylinders if he is to produce similar results abroad.
“The quality of golf I’m playing is better than the results I’m showing. My scoring is good. It’s a good start. I know how important is from an order of merit perspective, with the change having been made from the money list system to a point system, so these events count more.”
Naidoo left for the US on Monday, and his first event will be the Live and Work in Maine Open from June 23 to 26. Naidoo, however, will have to play in the Monday qualifier to make it into the tournament.
From there, Naidoo will play in four tournaments over the following five weeks and he will be hoping to produce some strong results during that window.