Strong Sunday round in last stage of Q-school gives Fort Collins’ Dillon Stewart one of the final exempt spots on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour; Littleton native Chris Korte ends up a shot short of exempt status
By Gary Baines – 12/14/2025
Dillon Stewart has become accustomed to close calls when it comes to his quest to earn Korn Ferry Tour status.
With a victory on PGA Tour Americas this past summer, the Fort Collins resident put himself in position to nail down one of the 10 KFT spots available via the season-long Americas points list. Alas, he just missed out, finishing 12th in points.
Then on Sunday, when he finished the final stage of Q-school in Ponte Vedra, Fla., Stewart sat right on the bubble to earn some exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour.
The good news this time for the 2023 CGA Amateur champion is that he did manage to nail down some exempt status for 2026. With finishers No. 6-45 and ties on Sunday landing that status, Stewart tied for 42nd place. That gave him the secondary KFT status available through Q-school. The top five finishers (with ties played off) earned PGA Tour cards, while the next 25 and ties will be subject to the third reorder of KFT status, which comes after the 14th event of 2026. Then the remaining players in the top 45 — including Stewart — will be subject to the second reorder, which takes place 10th event of next year.
The bottom line is the former Colorado boys state high school champion and 2024 Sinclair Rocky Mountain Open winner will have KFT status for the first time in his young pro career.
Stewart closed with a 3-under-par 67 on Sunday to check in at 4 under overall for the 72-hole event. He previously posted scores of 68-71-70.
Stewart is a former Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado boys player of the year who won the 2018 individual title in the Junior America’s Cup, which features some of the top junior golfers from the western U.S., Canada and Mexico. He also led Colorado to its first team title ever in the boys JAC. Also that year, he became the first Colorado boy to win the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, and also earned a second AJGA title. In addition, Stewart captured the 5A state high school individual championship and led Fossil Ridge to its first team title in boys golf.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Regis Jesuit High School and University of Denver graduate Chris Korte dropped back in the final round and will have conditional status on the 2026 KFT. The former CGA Amateur and CGA Match Play champ missed exempt status by a single stroke as he finished in 54th place — a shot behind Stewart. Korte, who has Monday qualified for four PGA Tour events in the last 14 months, went 68-68-69-72 to end up at 3 under par in his second consecutive trip to the final stage of Q-school.
As for two players who have played on the PGA Tour in recent years, they’ll have to make do with the status they had coming into the final stage. Former Air Force Academy golfer Kyle Westmoreland placed 92nd on Sunday and will be exempt on the KFT again after finishing 34th on the 2025 KFT points list. And former University of Colorado golfer Jeremy Paul ended up 139th on Sunday. After placing 135th on the FedExCup Fall points list as a PGA Tour rookie in 2025, Paul will have conditional PGA Tour status in 2026, along with his full KFT card.
Former TPC Colorado regular Dan Erickson, who played in 2025 on the DP World Tour and HotelPlanner Tour, will have conditional status on the KFT in 2026 — albeit a fair amount lower on the list than Korte.
Results for all the players with significant Colorado ties at the final stage of PGA Tour Q-school in Ponte Vedra, Fla.:
42. Fort Collins resident Dillon Stewart 68-71-70-67–276
54. Littleton native Chris Korte 68-68-69-72—277
92. Former Air Force Academy golfer Kyle Westmoreland 68-69-73–210
124. Former TPC Colorado regular Dan Erickson 72-70-68-75–285
139. Former CU golfer Jeremy Paul 74-67-74-72–287
Former Lyons resident Tyler McCumber WD
For all the scores from the final stage of Q-school, 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