Brandon Wu eyes victory in his Korn Ferry Tour season debut

Brandon Wu had to wait a little longer than expected to make his Korn Ferry Tour season debut.

But he’s certainly making up for lost time.

The 23-year-old Stanford product leads the Price Cutter Charity Championship by three shots entering Sunday’s final round at Highland Springs Country Club in Springfield, Missouri. It’s the first KFT start of the year for Wu, a conditional member, who originally was supposed to compete on a sponsor exemption three weeks ago at TPC Colorado before a positive COVID-19 test forced him to withdraw.

“I definitely wanted to take advantage of this opportunity,” Wu said. “… I felt like if I went out and played well that I would definitely have a chance to win. I’ve played well the first three days and hoping for one more good one tomorrow.”

Full-field scores from the Price Cutter Charity Championship

Wu, who missed the cut two weeks ago at the Workday Charity Open in what was his fifth PGA Tour start of the season, followed his second-round 63 with a bogey-free, 4-under 68 Saturday to reach 18 under. A win would not only give him full membership for the remainder of the KFT’s super season, which now runs until August 2021, but it also would bump him inside the top 25 in points.

“In a weird sense, everyone’s a little hungrier out here,” Wu said. “You have all these different sorts of people playing on this tour, whether it’s their first year or they’ve been out here a little bit, but you know, everyone’s competing pretty hard and trying to make it to the PGA Tour.”

Wu’s closest challengers are Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, Daniel Sutton and Michael Arnaud, all at 15 under, followed by a group four shots back that includes Davis Riley, already a two-time winner this season who could earn a PGA Tour promotion with a victory this week.