Davis Lamb can laugh now. But it was not the case a couple of weeks ago, when he was trying to return home one of the most nerve-wracking trips of his life.
Lamb will be a PGA Tour rookie next season, and earned his card by finishing 20 – securing the last of 20 spots – on the list of points 2026 Korn Ferry Tour. He was this week’s guest Subpar podcast and discussed earning his card, what lies ahead and, of course, that anxious finish at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Virginia earlier this month.
Lamb was one under in his last round when he bogeyed the 13th, but got back to birdie 14. After parring 15, he looked at the ranking and saw that he was tied for 10th, which he knew was not good enough to make it into the top 20.
“I knew I needed at least one more (birdie); two more would have put me in a really good spot,” Lamb told Subpar. “Luckily I birdied 16 and 17 and got to 18 knowing that par would be an absolute lock (for my card), and I really sweated with a bogey.”
On the 18th, Lamb thought he cleared a fairway bunker, but when he got to his ball, he noticed there was a problem.
“There’s like six volunteers going over the bunker looking for my ball,” he said. “I’m like, you’ve got to be kidding me. There’s like a step of rough between the bunker and the fairway, and the rough on this course was the worst we’ve seen all year.”
Eventually he found his ball, but he could only hack it with a 7 iron. He had to get up and down from 40 yards to save par.
“All this week, I didn’t hit my absolute best, but I was absolutely grinding,” he said. “I just fully committed to the shot that I saw, I opened up the face a little bit and tried to hit a little bit of a cut there, and it took that dew bounce, jumped and grabbed it, and there was a lot of relief once the ball stopped rolling.”
He had just 2 feet, 8 inches for par, and he drained it to take the eighth by himself and earn that final Tour card. Oh, and one more thing: He thought he needed a par on 18 to earn his card, but it turns out a bogey and a tie for eighth had him just short of that as well. No matter, he had some extra practice with pressure situations.
You can hear everything interview with Lamb hereor look YouTube below.
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