A $1 million finish: Wichita golfer Sam Stevens nets his largest PGA Tour payday yet
Wichita native Sam Stevens recently earned his largest payday yet on the PGA Tour, as the 28-year-old’s professional career continues to blossom.
Stevens, a Kapaun Mt. Carmel graduate, took home a $1.01 million check from a runner-up finish at the Farmers Insurance Open this past weekend. He vaulted up 13 spots on the leaderboard during the final round, courtesy of a 4-under round of 68, the low score of the day, to finish with a 7-under total after 72 holes and one stroke behind Harris English.
It was the first time Stevens has cleared $1 million in prize money on the PGA Tour, as the check accounts for 20% of his career earnings since he earned his Tour card in 2022. The second runner-up finish in 70 career starts on the PGA Tour also earned Stevens entry into his first Signature event, as he will tee off at 10:35 a.m. Thursday at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and have the opportunity to gain even more points in the FedExCup standings.
“Obviously there’s a big opportunity there,” Stevens told Golf.com about gaining entry to the exclusive event. “They have a lot of points, and we won’t get into the amount of points that the Signature Events have, but take advantage of the opportunity, hopefully, and keep playing well. You know, each event kind of is individual, so hopefully if I get into the event next week I can reset and get hot early and stay hot.”
Stevens began the final round last Saturday in 15th place, but birdied two of the first three holes and then rolled in a 43-foot birdie putt on No. 7 to charge up the leaderboard. He finished his round more than an hour ahead of the final group, as he could do little but watch English par out to finish one stroke ahead of him.
Stevens finished nearly seven strokes below the field average (74.8) for the final round and nearly topped a competitive field that included Hideki Matsuyama and Ludvig Aberg, two of the top-10 golfers in the world.
The strong finish also vaulted Stevens up to No. 75 in the world rankings, where he is ahead of notable names such as Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler.
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