Colorado golfers win – and lose – from snafu at PGA’s Black Desert Championship

Chris Korte of Littleton in this weekend’s Black Desert Championship

By Jim Bebbington

Three Colorado professional golfers were affected by a mistake made during the Monday qualifier for this weekend’s PGA Tour stop in Utah, the Black Desert Championship.

In last Monday’s qualifer, Chis Korte of Littleton won one of four qualifying slots by shooting 8-under par and tying for lowest round. Korte is a University of Denver alum who lives in Highlands Ranch and has played in 45 professional tournaments since turning pro in 2018.

The problem is that, according to numerous reports, neither Korte nor another top finisher, John Sand of Washington, should not have been given automatic entry into the Monday qualifier. According to Monday Q Info’s Ryan French, the two were among four players who should have been instructed to play in a pre-qualifying tournament first, before moving on to Monday’s final qualifier.

The error was caught before Monday play began, but all four were permitted to compete anyway.

By taking two of the top four slots, they bumped out of contention two other golfers with Colorado ties – recent PGA Tour retiree Jim Knost and Kevin Stadler of Denver. Both Stadler and Knost finished in a four-way tie for fifth place, one shot back from the top finishers.

Knost took to social media Monday to say the PGA should let them into the Black Desert Championship anyway.

“Yikes. Shot -6 today, got beat by 2 of these players,” Knost wrote. “And had a flat tire this morning. What a weird day. How about a spot in the field PGA Tour?”

The stakes are no joke: the tournament will award $1.35 million to the winner and pros who play well in it earn valuable Fall FedEx Cup points which can open doors to them for some of the most lucrative 2025 tournaments.

The Black Desert Championship is scheduled to begin Thursday morning and as of Wednesday neither Knost nor Stadler are listed in the field.