A.J. Ewart - Image Credit: Brad Ziemer/BC Golf
SURREY — The road to the Korn Ferry Tour just got significantly more challenging for A.J. Ewart.
The Coquitlam native started his first round of the season-ending Fortinet Cup Championship in promising fashion, but struggled on his back nine at Morgan Creek Golf Course. The result was a three-over 73 that left him needing a solid round Friday to survive the cut.
“Things turned a little bit on my back nine,” Ewart said. “I had a couple of bad breaks with mud-balls, combined with a couple of poor swings and compounding some errors. That leads to a poor back nine. I felt like I hit good shots, but just didn’t get rewarded.”
After losing in a playoff at last week’s Times Colonist Victoria Open, Ewart entered the PGA Tour Americas’ flagship event 12th on the Fortinet Cup points list. He needs to move into the top 10 to earn one of 10 Korn Ferry Tour cards that will be handed out on Sunday.
To make that happen, Ewart likely needs at least a top-10 finish. Thursday’s start makes that an even more daunting task. “I am going to try and hold my head high,” Ewart said.
“There’s still a lot of golf left to be played, so go out tomorrow, have a good round and see where that puts me and try to get back into the mix. I am proud of how I fought today when I was getting punched and kicked in the face. I battled it out.”
Ewart started his round on Morgan Creek’s back nine and played well right out of the gate. He narrowly missed converting two good birdie looks on the 10th and 11th holes and then birdied the 12th and 13th holes to get to two-under early in his round.
Ewart made the turn at two-under after a terrific par save on his ninth hole, Morgan Creek’s par 4 18th. His tee shot found the right fairway bunker and settled near the lip. Ewart was forced to wedge out to about 100 yards and then knocked his third shot inside five feet and made the putt for par.
But his back nine on Morgan Creek’s front side was a disaster. He made five bogeys in a six-hole stretch to finish the day three-over and tied for 87th. The field will be cut to the top 60 and ties after Friday’s second round.
Jay Card III of Shelter Island, N.Y. leads by one after opening with a course record, six-under 64. Morgan Creek is playing as a par 70 this week with the second and 17th holes, both par 5s for the public, playing as par 4s.
Richmond’s Chris Crisologo, the only other British Columbian in the 114-player field, opened with a one-under 69 and is tied for 41st. Crisologo sits 86th on the points list and must move inside the top 80 to remain exempt in 2026.
Click HERE for first round scoring.