By Tony Webeck

Sydney’s Harrison Endycott has taken a major step towards promotion to the PGA TOUR with a commanding five-stroke victory at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Huntsville Championship in Alabama.

Five clear of England’s Ben Taylor at the start of Sunday’s final round, Endycott went out in two-over 37 but his position atop the leaderboard was never truly in question.

Birdies at 14 and 16 established what was essentially an unassailable lead, a closing birdie from 12 feet at the final hole the punctuation mark on a 72-hole total of 16-under and a life-changing maiden professional victory.

Twice a runner-up on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, Endycott moves from 103rd to 12th on the Korn Ferry Tour points ranking, the top 25 at the end of the regular season earning PGA TOUR status in 2023.

The Korn Ferry Tour is the primary pathway to the PGA TOUR and the top five on the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit after this week’s NT PGA Championship at Palmerston will receive entry into final qualifying school at the end of the year.

Currently in his third season on the Korn Ferry Tour, Endycott’s win emphasises the importance of the PGA of Australia’s alliance with the PGA TOUR as a way of providing direct access to golf’s greatest events.

“I am just so excited for Harrison and what this win represents for his career,” said PGA of Australia CEO Gavin Kirkman.

“I only had lunch with Harrison a few weeks ago during my trip to the US and you could see that he was a little frustrated with his results this season.

“But golf is a game that can turn around quickly and it was fantastic to see him win in such dominant fashion.

“The Korn Ferry Tour is such an important pathway for our young players and I hope we will see even more teeing it up on that tour in 2023.”

It was an emotional victory for the 25-year-old from Avondale Golf Club.

He lost his mother to ovarian cancer in 2015 at just 19 years of age and a year later was a member of the victorious Australian team along with Cam Davis and Curtis Luck at the Eisenhower Trophy.

He joined the professional ranks in 2017 and in his first start of 2018 lost in a playoff to Simon Hawkes at the Vic Open at 13th Beach.

Determined to play his way onto the PGA TOUR, Endycott earned status on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and after two seasons and six top-10s gained status on the Korn Ferry Tour. His previous best finish was a tie for fourth at the 2021 Visit Knoxville Open and his best result thus far in 2022 was a tie for 19th at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic.