In his second-to-last Korn Ferry Tour event, ideally — in his world — ever, Frankie Capan III notched his first victory on the Tour on Sunday.The North Oaks native entered the final round of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio with a two-shot lead, and fired a 1-under round of 70 to finish the tournament at 13-under par and hold off a slew of chasers for a 2-stroke victory.
The victory is Capan’s fourth top-five finish on the Korn Ferry Tour this season.
“I’ve come close a few times,” he said. “It really feels nice just to kind of get the monkey off my back if you so say.”
Capan earned $270,000 for the victory and 600 points in the season-long standings, which moves him up to No. 5 on the points list. The top 30 after the next event — the Korn Ferry Tour Championship — earn an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour. Capan locked that up last week. And captured another big prize on Sunday.
This weekend provided further evidence of his evolution from his first year as a pro golfer — a strong campaign in which he finished 51st on the Korn Ferry Tour — to Year 2. Capan has previously cited how much he learned from that inaugural season that featured a number of ups and downs. He put the information to good use Sunday.
Capan was in pole position on the back nine when the weather took a drastic turn for the worst. Winds started to howl. It was not ideal for a golfer trying to get a lead to the clubhouse.
“Yeah, it wasn’t my favorite thing to happen, I didn’t want it to start blowing 30 miles an hour out of no where. I thought Greenie, my caddie, and I had a good number for the club we picked there (on the 11th hole). Then I had that 30-mile-an-hour gust and it seemed like if I clubbed up it would be too much because it would stay under the wind,” Capan said. “So unfortunately looked like my shot was a couple yards from being pretty good. Yeah, it wasn’t exactly my favorite thing to happen. And the other thing, too, is we’re playing a hole that’s straight into the wind and the guys in front of us who are just trailing get like had a 30-, 40-mile-an-hour downwind on the par 5. I was kind of thinking, ‘OK, they can definitely birdie — at least birdie, definitely eagle that hole and then boom, they’re right there,’ and I have this tough shot here around this tree into what basically felt like a hurricane.”
But Capan — who will be Minnesota’s first fully-exempt PGA Tour card holder in more than a decade when he tees it up in 2025 — persevered through the difficult conditions, making swings and putts when they were required. That included a lengthy par putt on the 17th hole that kept him two shots in front and effectively sealed the title.
“Once I made that — I didn’t look at the scores really at all. I had a number that I wanted to get to in my head and unfortunately wasn’t able to get there. Thankfully it was still enough,” he said. “But I kind of had a feeling walking up after I hit my tee shot on 18 that no one got to 12. Just based off my caddie, based off his body language I could tell that that was a really big putt on 17. I knew it at the time, so it was pretty cool to make one like that. I haven’t had many putts that were as important as that. Just knowing I can make a putt like that downhill sliding right to left under a lot of pressure is fun.”
It’s a good memory to file away heading into next season, where more pressure-packed putts are sure to present themselves on the top pro men’s golf tour. All signs point to Capan being ready for the challenge.
“I mean, I’m just really happy and blessed to be standing with you here today and just really excited with how my game has progressed from last year to this year and just kind of continuing as this year has gone on. I’ve seen a lot more consistency and see myself up in the mix a lot more, so it’s been a lot of fun,” Capan said. “I mean, these are the moments that we work for. I think I did a lot of learning last year. I failed a lot, so I learned a lot. Yeah, it was great. I mean, I think for me it’s more just kind of putting the pieces together and kind of trying to figure out how they all fit. Was able to get them to fit pretty nicely this week. Yeah, it’s been great. It feels tremendous to be here.”
