Just a couple weeks after making his Korn Ferry Tour debut, Cristian DiMarco is moving on up to the big time.
The 29-year-old son of three-time PGA Tour winner and former U.S. Ryder Cupper Chris DiMarco, carded five birdies and two bogeys and shot 3-under 68 at The Pulpit Club on Sunday to take medalist honors at the RBC Canadian Open qualifier. In doing so, he earned one of four open spots into the field of 156 and secured his first start at a PGA Tour event. [It was held on Sunday rather than Monday to make way for U.S. Open Final Qualifying.]
DiMarco, who played his college golf at University of South Florida and remains a Tampa resident, previously played on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica in 2019 and 2022, making just one cut each year, and PGA Tour Canada in 2023, where he also managed to make just one cut in five starts. But he recently Monday qualified for the KFT’s AdventHealth Championship and made the cut, finishing T-45.
A southpaw who putts right-handed, DiMarco earned a spot in the field at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (North Course) in Caledon, Ontario. DiMarco’s father, 56, who lost to Tiger Woods in a playoff at the 2005 Masters and to Vijay Singh at the 2004 PGA Championship, played in the RBC Canadian Open 17 times, including recording a T-9 in 1998.
Yi Cao and Josh Goldenberg both made five birdies and three bogeys and tied for second at 2-under 69. Like DiMarco, Goldenberg had never made a start even in a KFT event and started a job in March at investment bank Goldman Sachs. But with the qualifier being held on Sunday, he decided to give it a go. “A dream come true,” he told Moday Q Info’s Ryan French.
Eighteen-year-old Canadian amateur Matthew Javier, a Team Canada NextGen member, overcame a double bogey to shoot 70 and won a two-for-one playoff for the final spot over Toronto’s Mark Hoffman.
The RBC Canadian Open begins on Thursday. Robert MacIntyre is the defending champion.
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