Virginia Tech has produced a few PGA Tour golfers over the years including Tim Collins back in the 1970s. That legacy took off in the 21st Century with three-time PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner plus Brendon de Jonge who has earned over $11.5 million in earnings over the course of his career and was a member of the International team for the 2013 Presidents Cup.
That fraternity will be growing in just a few weeks at the PGA Tour's 2022-23 season opening Fortinet Championship after Trevor Cone earned his PGA Tour card today for the first time in his career.
.@tc0ne is #TOURBound! pic.twitter.com/R4S6na3fJf
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) August 14, 2022
Cone finished 22nd in the regular season portion of the Korn Ferry Tour standings with a T34 finish at The Pinnacle Bank Championship in Nebraska sealing the deal for his card. That top 25 overall regular season finish meant that he earned his PGA Tour card and now can simply play to improve his priority ranking among his fellow Korn Ferry Tour graduates which is important in accruing PGA Tour starts during the season especially in the fall.
Cone came close to a PGA Tour card back in 2018 after picking up a win late in the regular season at the Ellie Mae Classic but a lack of starts prevented him from finishing high enough in the standings to earn his card.
However, Cone wouldn't be denied in 2022 after he picked up his second career Korn Ferry Tour win in May at the AdventHealth Championship. Cone built on that by making in nine of ten starts after that including eight straight to end the regular season highlighted by a T13 at the Price Cutter Charity Championship two weeks ago and a T5 at the Utah Championship last week which pushed him into the top 25 at #20.
While the odds of him dropping out after that were low, Cone importantly made the cut to give him even more insurance to seal the deal on his first PGA Tour card.
Cone reaching the PGA Tour shouldn't be a surprise to anyone after he had an illustrious career at Virginia Tech.
He was a two-time All-American at Virginia Tech earning Third Team honors in 2014 and Honorable Mention honors in 2015 while also becoming the program's first individual ACC Men's Golf champion in 2015.
He finished his career with three victories plus 20 top 10 finishes while forming an impressive duo with Scott Vincent who has had plenty of success on the Asian and Japan Tours and is currently ranked in the top 100 in the world rankings. He also was ranked second all-time for lowest scoring average behind only Vincent after his career with the Hokies.
Given that success, it shouldn't be a surprise that the now 29-year old Hokie will be a PGA Tour member for the first time for the 2022-23 season.
Now, Cone will have his eyes set on not only earning his card but continuing to climb the ladder and become a mainstay on the world's greatest professional golf tour.
