Chris Baker talks to guests at his golf clinic at Hickory Hills Golf Club in Brownstown on July 29. He is competing in the Pinnacle Bank Championship this weekend in Omaha, Nebraska.
Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
With the Korn Ferry Tour playoffs beginning next week, Brownstown native Chris Baker is in need of a solid performance this weekend at the Pinnacle Bank Championship at The Club at Indian Creek in Omaha, Nebraska.
Last week at the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank, Baker shot 2-under, but he missed the cut. That pushed Baker’s ranking from 68th to 73rd in the Korn Ferry Tour regular season points list.
The top 75 from that list will qualify for the Korn Ferry Finals, a three-tournament series to determine 25 more PGA Tour cards based on performance in those three tournaments. The series features the top 75 from the Korn Ferry Tour and players 126 to 200 from the PGA Tour.
Baker currently has 318 points this season. Tain Lee, ranked 74th, has 309 points, and the cutoff is currently at Martin Flores, ranked 75th, with 307 points.
So what does Baker need to do to ensure he makes the top 75? As long as he makes the cut this weekend in Omaha, the former Brave should be safely above the cutoff.
Missing the cut last weekend dropped Baker five spots. That doesn’t mean a missed cut this weekend would do similar damage, but it all depends on what the players surrounding Baker’s standing also do. The 2004 Brownstown Central High School graduate surely doesn’t want it to come down to that.
When Baker visited Hickory Hills Golf Club two weeks ago to put on a free clinic for his hometown, he said he feels confident about qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
“It has been an interesting year so far. I’m right there. Couple good weeks to finish the year, it’ll be no problem,” he said. “Playing good, feeling good, body is healthy and doing a lot of good things.”
The week right before Baker came to visit Brownstown, he had a top 20 finish at the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr. Pepper after shooting a -15.
Baker will be teeing off at 7:45 a.m. today in Omaha. He will be in a group with Harrison Endycott and George Cunningham. The same group will tee off at 1:10 p.m. Friday. From there, Baker hopes to shoot well enough to make the cut and play both Saturday and Sunday.
All four days of the Pinnacle Bank Championship will be available to watch on the Golf Channel.