Griggs closes strong to move on in KFT Qualifying; Newman, Gupta Hirschman advance

By Ken MacLeod

BROKEN ARROW – When Rory McIlroy misses a putt to win the U.S. Open, you can see how pressure affects even the game’s greatest.

Imagine knowing that every putt or chip or drive could determine whether you even have the opportunity to play the game you love for the next year, at least at the professional level you desire.

That’s what every contestant in the First Stage of Korn Ferry Tour qualifying faces, and through 72 holes of qualifying concluding Friday at Indian Springs Country Club, there were tales of heartbreak and joy as 20 golfers earned the right to advance to second stage.

For those who moved on, earning a coveted spot on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour is still a long shot. Second Stage events are next followed by the final stage. But for several players with local ties, the four days at Indian Springs were a huge success.

Former Oklahoma State golfers Hazen Newman of Las Vegas and Aman Gupta of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., advanced. Newman shot an 8-under 63 in the final round Friday to win the event at 17-under while Gupta finished with a 2-under 69 to earn one of the final spots at 4-under.

Former Oklahoma Sooner Grant Hirschman of Phoeniz came through with a final-round 68 to finish at 6-under and move on.

Carson Griggs of Sand Springs, who was 2-over through 36 holes and outside the cut line, turned it around with rounds of 66-65 to move to 8-under and finish tied for seventh.

In the what-if category is Jared Strathe of Owasso, who finished with a 3-under 68 to finish at 3-under overall, but was one shot back of the top 20.

“This is about as nerve wracking as a tournament can get for someone at our level,” said Griggs, who was coming off a summer of playing in All Pro Tour events, including one at Indian Springs that he said helped him prepare for this. “This determines where you are going to be playing for the next year, or at least partially. You can easily have one bad day and feel like it was almost a waste of a year. So it feels good to come out and perform like you’ve trained all year long to do.”

Griggs said his knowledge of Indian Springs helped especially in the first two rounds when his swing was off, but he found something late in the first round and by the third round was back to how he performed early this summer when he was among the APT leaders.

After the 66 Thursday moved him just inside the cut line, Griggs drained a 50-foot birdie putt on the first hole Friday, a long par-4 that the members play as a par-5 and a hole he struggled with in the APT event.

“For me today was about conservative targets and aggressive swings,” Griggs said. “Shooting 3-under on the front freed me up to not be so high strung over the golf ball. That’s what everybody hopes for is to take some of that weight off your shoulders as you’re playing. The tone was set on with that 50-foot birdie, that gave me a big confidence boost of ‘hey, we can do this.’ “

Griggs, whose father Guy caddied all four rounds and took some of the physical toll off him, said the course had improved tremendously, particularly the greens.

“It was just fantastic,” he said. “The greens were so much better  than they were a few months ago. You always love to go to a site where the course is playing the absolute best that it can.”

In a First Stage event in Nebraska, former Cowboy Rayhan Thomas was among the top 20 to move on. At another First Stage event in Arizona, former Jenks and Oklahoma State star Brendon Jelley shot 9-under to tie for seventh. There are nine other First Stage events to be concluded before Second Stage begins Nov. 19. The complete schedule is here.

Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying First Stage at Indian Springs Country Club