Sam Harned put his clubs away and took a break from golf…
This was after playing in First Stage, Second Stage and Final Stage of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament last fall. Sam Harned, who is from Rocklin, needed to get away from the game and take his mind off of it for a few weeks.
“I took a long break off at golf after playing finals. It just kind of beat me up a little bit and was golfed out a little,” Harned said in a recent interview by phone. “Because, sometimes with golf being the mental challenge that it is, you beat yourself up a lot. So, I’ve just got to kind of bring myself back to, I belong here and right now I do have a lot of confidence moving forward. So, I’m excited to just start that whole journey.”
Harned secured Korn Ferry Tour status through 2023 as an Additional Qualifying Tournament Finalist. The Korn Ferry Tour, owned and operated by the PGA Tour, “identifies and develops players ready to compete and win on golf’s biggest stage. In 2013, the Korn Ferry Tour became the path to the PGA Tour with all 50 available PGA Tour cards coming through the Tour as well as the season culminating at the Korn Ferry Tour finals,” according to www.kornferry.com.
This is the second year that Harned, who played college golf at the University of Nevada, has been to the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament. According to www.pgatourqschool.com, the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament “is the premier way to gain status on the following year’s Korn Ferry Tour. Each year, several worthy players take their shot at advancing through pre-qualifying, First Stage and Second Stage at various sites across the country all leading up to Final Stage. Players who advance to Final Stage are assured a Korn Ferry Tour card for the following season, and the top 40 finishers (and ties) at Final Stage are assured a healthy number of starts in the first part of the following Korn Ferry Tour season.”
Harned finished 134th at the Final Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, Nov. 4-7, 2022, at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club, in Savannah, GA. He had rounds of 76, 75, 68 and 74 for a 9-over-par 293 total. Two rounds were played at Marshwood Course and two rounds were played at Magnolia Course. The 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament determines membership and Priority Ranking for the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour.
“My status, kind of in the simplest of terms, is I have a membership,” said Harned. “I won’t get into any of the events based off my priority ranking. The Monday qualifiers is kind of nice. I get exempted into the Mondays. But if I get into an event and play well that week, I’ll get put into the reshuffle. So, there’s plenty of opportunities to fully get status. I’ve just kind of got to hopefully Monday qualify in one of the first few events and get a kick start.”
- Sam Harned played very well in the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament last year.
- He tied for 18th at the Second Stage of qualifying, Oct. 18-21, at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, CA.
- Harned had rounds of 66, 72, 71 and 73 for a 6-under-par 282 total. There were 23 players who advanced in the qualifier.
- He tied for 17th and was one of 23 qualifiers to advance from First Stage of qualifying at The Bridges Golf Club, Sept. 27-30, in Gunter, TX. Harned had rounds of 68, 70, 71 and 70 for a 9-under-par 279 total.
“Final Stage wasn’t my greatest week with the golf game. It was really nice to kind of be done and just put the clubs in the closet for a little bit and just enjoy some outside time. It’s all a journey, as you know, with golf,” he said.
It’s a journey that Harned, 26, hopes leads him to the PGA Tour one day. He would like to join two other Sacramento-area players who play on the PGA Tour, Cameron Champ, a three-time winner, and Austin Smotherman.
“I would love to be a part of that group right there,” said Harned, who would one day like to have his PGA Tour card. “It’s pretty cool to just keep playing, playing something that I love and to hopefully do it for a very long time. It’s pretty special to get out on the golf course, even going to play for fun, just knowing that this is what I want to do, and this is what I’m doing.”
Over the years, Korn Ferry Tour Q-School has grown to the point where, according to www.pgatourqschool.com, it is now separated into four stages – Pre-Qualifying, First, Second and Final Stages.
Since turning professional in 2021, Harned has played in mini-tour events, Monday qualifiers, Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying, the Forme Tour, and other events.
“It’s pretty cool, as it has definitely given me a lot of opportunities, which is really all I can ask for,” said Harned. “And so, at this point, it’s just trying to live out the dream. There’s a lot of opportunities to make it work.”
He plays out of Somersett Golf and Country Club, a par-72, 7,252-yard layout designed by Tom Kite, in Reno, NV. He also works in the golf department, in outside services, at Somersett.
“It’s pretty nice. I‘m able to work in the morning. As soon as I’m off work, it’s right to the (driving) range, the course and all that. So, living my best life,” he said.
When the course is closed due to snow and other weather-related issues in the winter time, Harned uses an indoor practice facility at Somersett. He took about a month off from golf after the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.
“Right now, it’s just kind of like the last-minute fine tuning and all that,” he said. “The golf game is there. It will be just kind of knocking off a little rust. With the mental side, I’ve just got to realize that my game is good enough, that I’ve made it to where I am now.”
He earned conditional status on the Forme Tour in 2021.
The PGA Tour, according to a report at www.pgatour.com on April 22, 2021, announced the creation of the U.S.-based Forme Tour for current PGA Tour Canada members as a result of restrictions and other COVID-19-related issues at the U.S.-Canadian border. For 2021, PGA Tour Canada members were given access to the Forme Tour, allowing them the ability to compete in a series of U.S.-based events between June and September.
“I got conditional status with that. And then just with COVID, it turned into the Forme Tour for that year. I played pretty well in Q-school and got decent conditional status. It was kind of the whole Monday qualifying situation for me there, too. My first year as a pro, it was kind of cool to call myself a member of a tour. But it just didn’t happen with really playing opportunities. So, you keep your head on it,” he said.
Harned played in four of the Monday qualifiers for the Forme Tour. “I didn’t play well enough to shoot the low number, so I didn’t play in any actual events,” he said. “Just with turning pro and with my financial situation, I just kind of stuck with the Forme Tour stuff and then I saved all my money to do Korn Ferry Q-school (in 2021). I got to second stage there before missing out.”
At the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, Harned played in First Stage, at Bull Valley Golf Club, in Woodstock, Illinois. There were 19 qualifiers, with Harned tying for 12th place. He had rounds of 71, 69, 74 and 72 for a 2-under 286 total.
He advanced to Second Stage and played at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, CA. He did not qualify after shooting 2-over-par 290 and tying for 52nd, with rounds of 72, 70, 78, 70. Only 19 players advanced.
Ties to Sacramento area.
Harned played his junior golf at Whitney Oaks Golf Club in his hometown of Rocklin.
He was with First Tee – Greater Sacramento. According to its website, firstteesacramento.org: “At First Tee, kids and teens are learning to play golf along with life lessons and leadership skills. And it’s making a difference. Our programs are having a positive impact on participants, their families and their communities.”
First Tee — Greater Sacramento Junior Tour provided Sam Harned with the opportunity to play a lot of tournament golf at different courses in the area. It’s a year-round competitive golf tournament program for boys and girls ages 12-18, with juniors being able to play and compete on over 24 different area golf courses, from March through November, according to firstteesacramento.org.
Sam Harned is very thankful and appreciative of the support he has received from Ken Morton, Jr., the Vice President of Retail & Marketing for Morton Golf Management LLC. Morton is with the ownership team at Morton Golf. Morton Golf Management oversees facilities and operations at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex, William Land Golf Course, Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course and Bing Maloney Golf Complex.
“I hope to represent the community very well, just doing the best I can for as long as I can play golf,” said Harned. “I can’t thank Ken Morton enough for making a lot of things happen. Ken has been a big idol to me. I’ve got long, long ties with him. Having supportive people in Sacramento, especially like Ken, it means the world. “Sacramento is my home. The people around there are just amazing. We have such good golf around the area and there’s great people involved within the golf community.”
Playing College Golf
Harned was not recruited coming out of Rocklin High, where he graduated in 2015.
“I tried, sending emails out to literally any and every school that I could think of. I’d either get no response back or a coach nicely saying that I’m not good enough play on the team,” he recalled.
Sam Harned did not give up on golf or trying to play in college.
He walked on and made the team at University of Nevada, Reno. He received a scholarship, was a three-year team captain, and also became one of the top golfers in school history.
“I always wanted to play college athletics. Being a kid and playing golf, it was really the one sport in which I knew I kind of could continue to play,” he said. “I continued to work. And I knew that, even if I never got to play college golf, I was going to try to play moving on. “I learned a lot of things through college golf. I was fortunate to make it and that turned into four outstanding years. It’s definitely the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing now.”
Sam Harned graduated from Nevada, earning degrees in business and marketing.
He accomplished a lot during his four-year collegiate career at Nevada:
- He broke the single season scoring average record (70.21).
- He is ranked third all-time in school history for career scoring average (72.32).
- He won two individual events, at the Badger Invitational in Wisconsin and at The Goodwin, at Stanford.
- He helped Nevada win four team events.
- He played in three NCAA Regionals.
- He was twice named to the All-Mountain West team.
- In addition, Sam Harned qualified for the U.S. Amateur in both 2019 and 2020. He advanced to the round of 32 during the 2020 U.S Amateur at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.
Harned’s girlfriend, Victoria Gailey, plays on the Nevada women’s golf team.
Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019, after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016.
MARTY JAMES
martyjames.sports@tmorton
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