Former Air Force Academy golfer — and ex-Fort Collins resident — Tom Whitney will take lead into weekend at The Ascendant; Connor Jones of Westminster uses his considerable experience at TPC Colorado to vault into top 20 in Korn Ferry Tour debut
By Gary Baines – 7/11/2025
BERTHOUD — Tom Whitney got a taste of competing in “The Show” full time last year, and he’d love to give it a second chance.
The only problem is, PGA Tour cards don’t grow on trees, and it’s even tougher to earn them now than when the former Air Force Academy golfer first earned his promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour, late in 2023.
The good news is, despite not having a great Korn Ferry Tour season by his standards in 2025, Whitney has put himself in ideal position to make up a lot of ground this weekend at The Ascendant presented by Blue at TPC Colorado.
In fact, the man who until 2017 was a resident of Fort Collins will take the lead into the third day of the $1 million tournament. Whitney played 24 holes on Friday and posted a 5-under-par 31 on his final nine, giving him back-to-back 5-under 67s overall. That leaves him with a one-stroke advantage with two days remaining in the weather-interrupted event.
There’s a long ways to go, but should Whitney post the first victory of his Korn Ferry Tour career this weekend, he’s projected to jump from his current 76th place in the season-long points standings all the way up to 17th. That’s a very important figure because just the top 20 on the points list after the Korn Ferry Tour Championship — set for Oct. 9-12 in French Lick, Ind. — will earn PGA Tour cards for next season.
That figure is down from the previous top 30 — used in the 2023 and ’24 seasons — and from 50 (top 25 in the regular season and top 25 in the KFT playoffs) system that was utilized from 2013-22.
The bottom line is, the standard to make the grade — if a Korn Ferry Tour player hopes to earn a PGA Tour card — is tougher than it’s been for quite a while.
“I’ve seen it on the other side (meaning the PGA Tour) and know what to expect; there’s a lot less pressure (now),” Whitney said on Friday. “I know I’ve gotten there before and I can do it again.”
Whitney has competed in The Ascendant five times before, and hasn’t performed particularly well — with a best finish of 42nd place and missing the cut twice — but obviously things have been different so far this year.
Whitney extricates himself from the back bunker on the 16th hole.
For the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour season, his only top-20 finish was an 11th place, but that came in the last KFT event, the Memorial Health Championship two weeks ago. He’s made 12 cuts in 17 events so far.
“My game’s been really steady across the board this year,” he noted. “I’m making more cuts than I usually do. I finally have the momentum of finishing 11th in the last event in Springfield (Mo.). So the game’s been there; I just need to manage the more frequent and bigger mistakes and I’ve done that for the last two days.”
Due to the lightning delays on Thursday, Whitney had to complete his final six holes of round 1 as well as all 18 of the second round on Friday. He shared the lead going into the day, then kind of treaded water for his first 15 holes on Friday — which he played in even par, with a healthy wind gusting early in his long day. But he got cranked up on his final nine — the front at TPC Colorado — as he made three birdies, an eagle and no bogeys.
The eagle came on the drivable par-4 sixth hole, which played 346 yards on Friday. Whitney drove the green, gave the hole a scare, and ended up about 12 feet away, and he drained the putt for his eagle. Whitney also drove it just off the green on the 352-yard third hole.
“I kept the big numbers away; I’ve only had a couple bogeys out there so far,” he said. “I feel like I’m pretty in control of the game.”
Whitney has made just two bogeys in 36 holes.
All in all, it’s been very satisfying, given that Whitney used to call Colorado home before moving to Texas in December 2017.
“It’s fun,” he said. “You could call it a home event having lived in Colorado for almost 12 years in total. I definitely have a home crowd vibe around me. I had my three oldest kids with me and my wife following, and a handful of friends. I can feel a healthy amount of support out here.
“I’d say this is probably our third or fourth time that we’ve driven up as a family and spent a lot of time in Colorado over these two weeks.”
In his rookie season on the PGA Tour last year, Whitney played 27 tournaments and made 10 cuts, with an 11th place and a 13th place being his best showings there.
So what did he learn by competing at the highest level of golf?
“A lot of it was patience,” he said. “I hit it well all year and had a putting slump for 10 tournaments right in the middle where I think I had nine cuts missed of those 10. I wouldn’t say I really played bad last year. When you can’t make putts, it makes golf very difficult no matter how good you hit it. And then of course you’re learning 25 new courses, new cities, locker rooms, where to go, where to park. It is a lot of work your rookie year, so I’d like to get back there and have a little more freedom.”
Whitney’s best finish in 133 career Korn Ferry Tour starts is a second place in the Club Car Championship in March 2023, the year he finished 21st on the season-long money list and posted six top 10s.
The only golfer with major Colorado ties who has made a serious late run at the title at The Ascendant was former University of Colorado golfer Jeremy Paul, who tied for third place in 2022. Whitney would like to join him as a local contender at TPC Colorado — and perhaps even get over the line with a victory.
Play was suspended due to lightning at 6:02 p.m. Friday, with half of the field still with holes to play in round 2. Action is scheduled to resume at 6:45 a.m. on Saturday. After completion of the second round, the field will be cut from 156 to the low 65 and ties. Round 3 is expected to begin at about 11 a.m.
When play stopped Friday evening, two players trailed Whitney by one stroke — Nicolo Galletti of Phoenix (69-66), who posted two top-5 finishes on the Korn Ferry Tour last month, and 18-hole co-leader Ross Steelman of Johns Creek, Ga. (9 under through 31 holes).
Neal Shipley gets ready to hit his shot on the par-3 16th hole on Friday.
Several players in the top-10 in the season-long rankings are not far out of the lead — Emiliano Gonzalez (-8 through 36 holes), Pierceson Coody (-6 through 36), Neal Shipley (-5 through 36) and Johnny Keefer (-5 through 36).
Connor Jones Surges Up Scoreboard in KFT Debut: Connor Jones doesn’t have a large sample set to go by, but so far he’s doing just fine in PGA Tour-affiliated events — at least judging on the basis on cuts made.
The Westminster resident and former CGA Player of the Year made the cut last year in his PGA Tour debut, finishing 65th at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. And on Friday, in the first Korn Ferry Tour event of his career, Jones not only made the cut, but he vaulted into the top 20 at the midway point of the $1 million Ascendant presented by Blue.
Connor Jones acknowledges the applause after a tap-in birdie at No. 16.
Jones had a marathon day — by tour standards — playing 31 holes on Friday after only completing five on Thursday due to the two lightning delays. But despite facing some strong winds early in the day, the 23-year-old went 6 under for those 31 holes and his bogey-free 5-under-par 67 in round 2 left him at 5 under overall and in a tie for 17th place going into the weekend.
“It was weird only playing like five holes yesterday,” Jones said. “I tried to just act like I was playing 36 today. I’ve never done that where I’ve only played four or five holes in one day. But I was pleased with today, for sure.”
While Jones admitted he was “definitely nervous” starting the day, helping matters was the fact that he has so much experience playing at TPC Colorado. He estimates that just during his college days at Colorado State, he probably played the course 75 times — in many instances in college qualifiers but also in a college tournament once.
In fact, one of Jones’ individual college victories came at TPC Colorado — in the TPC Colorado at Heron Lakes Collegiate in 2022.
It’s “absolutely” an advantage, the 2024 Elite Amateur Series winner said. “We’ve had some tournament reps, some qualifying (here). I think I’ve seen all the pins. I think this course is visually kind of intimidating in some spots. I think it’s easier because I’ve played here so much.
Obviously this is a little bigger stakes (than before), but I did feel comfortable.”
On Friday, that took the form of a substantial rally. Jones was 2 over par through the first 10 holes of the tournament, but has gone 7 under par and bogey-free since.
Asked his expectations going into the week — after Monday qualifying with a 63 at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie — Jones said, “I know I’m playing well so I wanted to go out there and keep doing what I’m doing. I think if I play well I can hang (with the Korn Ferry Tour players). I wanted to go play well for me, and see where that put me.”
Jones has his friend Walker Franklin caddying for him this week.
Helping the cause this week has been Jones’ longtime friend from The Ranch Country Club, Walker Franklin, a strong player in his own right. Franklin is caddying for Jones this week.
“Having Walker on the bag, he keeps it real light for me,” Jones said. “And he’s real good at all the math and stuff (with no rangefinders allowed to be used during competition this week). We’re so focused on trying to get the (yardage) number because we’re not used to that. It takes us a little time. We were on the clock a bunch today. We were so focused on getting ready and hitting as fast as we could.”
Former Air Force Academy golfer Kyle Westmoreland is almost certain to miss the 36-hole cut.
Here are the scores for players with significant Colorado and area ties competing in The Ascendant:
T1 (-10). Former Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney 67-67—134
17 (-5). Connor Jones of Westminster 72-67–139
44 (-2). Former Littleton resident Chris Korte 73-(-3 through 5 holes of R2)
44 (-2). Cheyenne native Josh Creel 70-(Even through 12 holes of R2)
61 (-1). Former Colorado Christian University golfer Sangha Park 73-(-2 through 6 holes of R2)
72 (E). Zahkai Brown of Golden 71-(+1 through 5 holes of R2)
99 (+2). Former Air Force Academy golfer Kyle Westmoreland 74-72–146
147 (+7). Amateur Brayden Forte of Aurora 77-(+2 through 5 holes of R2)
For all the scores from The Ascendant, CLICK HERE.
The American flag flew atop the pin at the 18th hole on Friday, which was Folds of Honor Friday at TPC Colorado.
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2025 Ascendant Presented by Blue: The Essentials
What: The seventh annual Ascendant presented by Blue, a Korn Ferry Tour event.
Where: TPC Colorado in Berthoud.
When: Championship rounds Thursday-Sunday.
Course Set-Up: TPC Colorado will be set up at roughly 8,015 yards and play to a par-72. That includes the 773-yard par-5 13th hole.
Cut: The 156-player field will be cut to the low 65 players and ties after 36 holes.
Trophy Presentation: On 18th green on Sunday, July 13, at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Purse: $1 million, with the winner receiving $180,000.
Junior Activity Area: Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Located between the first green and 14th hole.
Tickets: For ticket information, CLICK HERE. Kids 15 and under admitted free with a ticketed adult. Active-duty U.S. military and retirees — as well as first responders — and their families receive free admission when a valid military ID is presented at a ticket sales window.
Additional Information: For more information regarding The Ascendant presented by Blue, CLICK HERE.
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