The eyebrows of Golf Twitter collectively raised overnight when Ryan French, author of the popular Monday Q Info Twitter account, pointed out that Vijay Singh had entered the Korn Ferry Challenge, scheduled for June 11-14. It’s the restart event for the Korn Ferry Tour and the three-time Major winner’s debut (at age 57) on the secondary US circuit. French obtained a copy of the field list from a player who will also be competing in the event:
The new Korn Ferry Event that will reopen the season has:
34 PGA Tour Wins
13 Euro Wins
5 Asian Tour Wins
2 Sunshine Tour Wins
4 Champions Tour Wins
and Roughly $100 Million in worldwide Career earnings…in the field…by guys named Vijay Singh pic.twitter.com/UONKyeIN6y
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) May 7, 2020
To the surprise of no one, social media has not responded kindly. The common take is that Singh, who has made more than $US70 million in his career on the PGA Tour, should not take a potential pay cheque from a player who may need it more, especially given the world’s current situation. On the other hand, Singh is one of the most competitive players the game has ever seen. One could argue he’s simply looking to get those competitive juices flowing once again. And since he’s not eligible for the Charles Schwab Challenge on the PGA Tour that same week, the inaugural Korn Ferry Challenge is his only alternative.
Brady Schnell, a 35-year-old journeyman who has spent much of his career grinding on the Korn Ferry Tour, isn’t happy. The 2018 Wichita Open winner took to Twitter to call out Singh when he saw the news, and he didn’t exactly hold back:
https://twitter.com/brady_schnell/status/1258451030116691969
Schnell wasn’t done there, later calling him “selfish” and a “complete turd” in two replies:
https://twitter.com/brady_schnell/status/1258468744742883329
https://twitter.com/brady_schnell/status/1258464123190251520
In another reply, Schnell said, “I can promise you I’m not alone,” implying that there are other Korn Ferry pros who share his stance but did not express it in the way Schnell did on social media. If any of them do, we doubt it’ll be as fiery as some of these tweets.
To be clear, Singh has not actually confirmed he’s playing in the event, but given his name is on that list and the fact the event is being held at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye Valley course in Singh’s backyard, it’s easy to connect the dots.
