With top-25 finishes in Bogota, Colorado native Chris Korte and former Air Force golfer Tom Whitney earn another start on Korn Ferry Tour
By Gary Baines – 2/8/2026
Two players who have lived in Colorado for a good portion of their lives and played their college golf in the state didn’t have the Sunday they wanted at the Korn Ferry Tour stop in Bogota, Colombia after being in contention going into the final round. But considering their conditional status on that circuit to start this year, how they performed overall for the week brought a nice consolation prize.
Chris Korte — who grew up in Littleton, graduated from Regis Jesuit High School and the University of Denver, and who has won two CGA open-age majors — and former Fort Collins resident and Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney posted top-25 finishes on Sunday at the Astara Golf Championship in South America.
With a 25th-place showing, Korte made a cut at a KFT event for the first time in his career (just four starts) — though he has placed 16th in a PGA Tour event. As for Westmoreland, with an 18th place, he matched his best KFT finish since June.
But beyond that, Sunday’s finishes are important given that both Korte and Whitney don’t have fully-exempt status on the KFT in 2026. The top 25 finishers and ties in events such as the one in Bogota earn spots in the next Korn Ferry Tour start. In this case, that’s the 119 Visa Argentina Open Feb. 26-March 1, which presents another opportunity for a good finish and to improve their status.
Whitney posted rounds of 70-63-70-72 to tie for 18th in Colombia. Korte earned his Argentina spot with nothing to spare as he went 71-65-67-73 to end up 25th. Joining Korte in 25th place was former University of Colorado golfer Jeremy Paul (74-62-70-70), who was a rookie on the PGA Tour last year and is exempt on the KFT in 2026. Whitney earned $12,257 on Sunday and Korte and Paul $7,045 each.
Tom Whitney. (file photo)
Former Air Force Academy golfer Kyle Westmoreland, the defending champion, tied for 41st this week (69-69-73-67). American James Nicholas (68-65-66-66) won the tournament by two strokes.
For all the scores from the Astara Golf Championship, CLICK HERE.
— Elsewhere in high-level pro golf on Sunday, part-time Colorado resident Scott Vincent (15 under par for four rounds) tied for 13th place out of 57 players at LIV Golf’s 2026 opener, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. SCORES. … Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Wyndham Clark, who played the final seven holes of his second round in 5 under par to make the cut on the number in the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open, carded rounds of 73-68-68-69 to finish 35th in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he lives much of the year. SCORES
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com