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A big weekend is ahead for Classical grad Patrick Welch at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Price Cutter Championship. 

Welch fired a second round 63 (9-under) on Friday and sits in solo third place overall at 14-under par for the tournament. 

“I hit a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens and I gave myself a lot of opportunities out there. Putter got rolling on the front, which was nice. Then the back was kind of the same thing. I didn’t really change too much, I just tried to get a lot of birdie putts and made a lot of them today,” said Welch after the round. 

Welch is playing this season on conditional status, meaning he is only guaranteed so many starts. And some of the starts he has gotten came last minute with little time to prep. 

“Last year I had full (status) and didn’t play too great but played decent enough to have some status. Then this year I’m just kind of looking at every event like this could be the last one. I mean, field’s moving and stuff, so I’ve had a little bit of leeway going into some events. But like this week, I’m not in the field next week, so I know this is an important week but I just wanted to keep to the same game plan and try and play as well as I could,” said Welch. 

With just a few weeks left in the regular season, Welch sits at 127th on the KFT points list meaning that if the season ended today (it doesn’t), he would not be guaranteed any status for 2026.  

“It’s just motivation because I feel like my game’s good enough to be out here. It’s just I think I missed four events and the four I missed I’ve been pretty close to getting in. I just kind of kick myself on maybe I could have done this better last year. So I’m just learning from last year and just trying to do as well as I can each day and handle it the best way I can. That’s pretty much it,” added Welch about the situation he finds himself in. 

However, this weekend could change everything – at least for the moment.

As of Saturday morning, solo third has Welch projected to go from 127th to 61st, well inside the top 100 and with a real opportunity to earn full status going forward. 

Welch says the key will be to stay positive and not let one bad hole turn into two or three. 

“Instead of looking at all the negative stuff that goes through the round, which might not be that much, I’ll look at a lot of the positive things that I did well throughout the day or tournament. So I just try not to beat myself up too much,” Welch told the media. 

Welch begins his weekend at 1:50 p.m. on Saturday in the second to last group. 

Scoring HERE

Welch’s 63 

Heading into round two, Welch had a quick turnaround after round one play was suspended late. 

Welch managed to finish his first round right at the horn to get himself extra rest, but it was still quick nonetheless. 

The former Oklahoma star opened his second round with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes to get off to a fast start. 

He then birdied the fifth, sixth and eighth holes to turn at a bogey-free 31. 

“There’s a lot of birdie holes out here. I mean, everyone knows that. But it’s not like I’m trying to force my way into a birdie, it’s just kind of hitting one shot at a time, just hit the best shot I can each time,” said Welch. 

On the back side, Welch made his lone bogey of the round on the tenth hole after missing the fairway off the tee and then three-putting. 

However, he bounced right back with an eagle on the par-5 11th hole to get back on track. 

Welch then birdied the 13th, 15th and 18th holes to get in the clubhouse at 63. 

The 63 was the second best round on the course in day two, behind only Chandler Blanchet, who leads the tournament at 20-under. 

Chatfield in 59th 

While this weekend appears to be all about Patrick Welch, Davis Chatfield is seven-under for the tournament. 

He sits in a tie for 59th overall after rounds of 72 and 65 over the first two days.