Pro-Scratch Invitational a fun tuneup for KFT playoff run for new Oak Tree Gang

By Ken MacLeod

When Robert Streb dryly mentioned that the $20,000 check he took home for winning the Oak Tree National Pro-Scratch Invitational Friday with amateur partner Danny Mitchell was the biggest check he’s cashed this year. he was not kidding.

The former Edmond North and Kansas State star who has been struggling the past two years on the PGA Tour and now Korn Ferry Tour had won just $42,731 in 18 KFT events to rank 141^st on that tour’s money list.

Though the 38-year-old Streb has won over $13 million and is a two-time PGA Tour winner, he’s running out of exempt status. But like other players who enjoyed the camaraderie at one of the nation’s top club events, he has a final chance to make amends.

The Korn Ferry Tour playoffs start this Thursday at the Simmons Bank Open at the Vanderbilt Legends Club just outside Nashville. They continue the following week at the Scarlet Course at Ohio State University, where Streb has had great success in the past. And the third leg of the playoffs, at which only the top 120 on the money list by then will be invited, is right here in Oklahoma, at The Compliance Solutions Championship at The Patriot in Owasso, Oct. 2-5.

Streb, who rolled in seven birdies on his own ball in Thursday’s first round as he and Mitchell shot 11-under in the first round, eventually winning at 17-under, will need to play like that in the playoffs to be in the top 70 once the field moves to the Korn Ferry Tour Championship  Oct. 9-12 at the French Lick Golf Resort, which is a Pete Dye course about as diabolical as Oak Tree National. The top 20 after that event will earn PGA Tour status for 2026.

Streb has played The Patriot previously in the Patriot Cup. That makes him unique among the Korn Ferry Tour players who played in the Pro-Scratch.

Joining Streb for the four-week playoff run and their current KFT ranking were Logan McAllister (25), Kevin Dougherty (27), Zach Bauchou (30), Blaine Hale Jr. (40), Patrick Welch (54), Josh Creel (81), Rayhan Thomas (116) and Rhein Gibson (128).

Of those we caught up to after the round, none had previously played the Patriot but all were looking forward to the playoffs and the chance to secure PGA Tour status.

“That’s how golf is, it takes a few good weeks to change your life,” McAllister said. “Hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll be able to do that.

“My game feels good. I’m excited to be able to have the opportunity to do something special over the last month and a half.”

Welch, a former teammate of McAllister’s at Oklahoma who recently moved into a house in Oklahoma City, also said he felt good about his chances for moving up. He and amateur partner Jimmy Ingles placed second in the Pro-Scratch at 13-under, shooting rounds of 63-66. Third place went to Max McGreevy and Dillon Rust at 12-under.

For the PGA Tour pros in the event such as McGreevy, Austin Eckroat, Taylor Moore and Quade Cummins, the fall will also hold intrigue as they look to solidify their 2026 status through the seven-event fall series.

How many golf clubs in the country outside a few enclaves in south Florida and Arizona can put together the kind of field that OTN does annually for this event?

“That’s something that needs to get noticed a little more than it does,” said Cummins, who enters the fall series at 145 on the FedEx Cup points list at the end of his rookie season needing to move up ideally into the top 100. “A lot of great pros are playing out of here. Now it’s up to us to go out and show that on the tours.”

The new version of the Oak Tree Gang has a ways to go to catch their elders. Players like Bob Tway (8), Gil Morgan (7), Danny Edwards (5), Scott Verplank (5), David Edwards (4), Doug Tewell (4), Mark Hayes (3) and Willie Wood (1) combined for 37 PGA Tour wins, one major (Tway at the 1986 PGA Championship) and one U.S. Amateur (Verplank at the 1984 U.S. Amateur at Oak Tree National).

The new gang is largely just getting going. Eckroat has two PGA Tour wins, Streb two, Chris Gotterup two, Taylor Moore one and Talor Gooch had one before joining LIV Golf where he has won five times already. If you count Viktor Hovland, the two-time defending champion of the Pro-Scratch along with Ian Davis, the number goes up considerably as he has seven.

Those interested in watching the young Oklahoma pros in the KFT playoffs, tickets for the Compliance Solutions Championship are on sale now at www.compliancesolutionschampionship.com