Adrien Dumont de Chassart in position to make Korn Ferry Tour history at Wichita Open
Adrien Dumont de Chassart is in position to join rarefied air in the Korn Ferry Tour on Sunday in the final round of the Wichita Open.
Less than three weeks after wrapping up an All-American career at Illinois, the 23-year-old Belgium native is poised for the second straight victory to start his professional career.
After winning his pro debut last week at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, Dumont de Chassart opened up a four-shot lead over the field at the Wichita Open with a 7-under round of 63 on Saturday to move to 19-under entering the fourth and final round at Crestview Country Club’s North course.
If Dumont de Chassart closes out his second straight victory, he would become just the second player, joining Ben Kohles in 2012, in the 34-year-old history of the Korn Ferry Tour to win their first two starts.
“It will be a little different (playing with the lead), but I’ve just got to go out there and just shoot a low score again,” Dumont de Chassart said. “There’s a lot of people that are going to take it deep (Sunday), so I’ve just got to do a good job of that (Sunday). If I do that, that should do the job. It’s one step at a time.”
It’s been an electric start to his pro career for Dumont de Chassart, who has shot 67 or better in all seven rounds so far on the Korn Ferry Tour. He hasn’t slowed down this week in Wichita, registering a tournament-high 21 birdies to bolster back-to-back rounds of 64 followed by a 63 score on Saturday.
He earned membership on the Korn Ferry Tour by finishing No. 3 in the PGA Tour University rankings and could be one victory away from automatically earning his PGA Tour card if he closes out a win on Sunday.
“I’ve had seven really good rounds in a row and I’ve got to take advantage of those because it’s not always going to be like that,” Dumont de Chassart said. “I’ve just got to take advantage of those and just play solid golf.”
Dumont de Chassart charged into the lead with a superb back-nine, stringing together four straight birdies and then closing with another birdie on No. 18 to highlight a 5-under back-nine score of 30.
He holds a four-shot advantage over Martin Flores, Chandler Phillips, Ricky Castillo and Kyle Jones, while six other golfers sit five shots back.
Dumont de Chassart will tee off in the final group with Flores and Phillips at 12:13 p.m. Sunday.
“I feel like this week I played a little more conservative than maybe some other guys, maybe because I don’t hit it as far,” Dumont de Chassart said. “So I’m just going to stick to my game plan and just hit on the right side of the hole and make some putts.”
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