Cone finishes strong to win AdventHealth Championship golf tourney at Blue Hills C.C.

Trevor Cone didn’t let this opportunity slip away.

After leading the AdventHealth Championship through 36 holes but finding himself trailing after 54, the North Carolina native and Virginia Tech grad shot a 2-under 70 on Sunday to win the tournament by a stroke — 15-under — at Blue Hills Country Club.

Taylor Montgomery also shot a final-round 70 and finished at 14-under for runner-up honors in the $750,000 Korn Ferry Tour stop in Kansas City.

South African MJ Daffue carded an even-par 72 on Sunday to finish third at 14-under.

Cone closed by making birdie on the par-5 No. 18 hole — his field-leading 23rd birdie of the week. Earlier in the tourney, he’d eagled the par-5 first hole. He played good golf all weekend to earn his first Korn Ferry victory since 2018.

“The game’s been trending this way for a long time,” he said. “I just couldn’t put it all together. You start to doubt yourself a little bit after being three and a half years since the last win, and when you’ve only won once, some people may think it’s a fluke.

“Since then, I’ve been trying to prove to myself I can do it again, and it’s nice to get it done. I’m kind of at a loss for words.”

The man who entered Sunday’s ultimate round with the 54-hole lead, Wichita’s Sam Stevens, endured a tough final 18. With a Sunday round of 5-over 77, he dropped into a tie for seventh to close out the tournament.

Michael Feagles, who’d shared the lead through 18 with Cone and Daffue, shot a 72 Sunday and finished three back, tied for fourth at 13-under.

Steven Fisk had the round of the day, ending with a 66 after going 73, 71, 74 in rounds one, two and three, respectively.

The AdventHealth Championship, formerly known as the Midwest Classic and KC Golf Classic, opened Thursday with 156 golfers vying for a total prize pool of $750,000. The fieled was pared in half with a cut after Friday’s second round.

Top performers on the Korn Ferry Tour — such as last year’s winner, Cameron Young — earn promotion to the PGA Tour. Young was a Sunday revelation at the PGA Championship in Tulsa this weekend, just missing a playoff for the Wanamaker Trophy at Southern Hills.

With another $750,000 up for grabs, the Korn Ferry Tour makes its other annual visit to the region next month for the Wichita Open Benefiting KU Wichita Pediatrics at Crestview Country Club in Wichita.

Final results:

Trevor Cone (500), $135,000 65-67-70-70—272

Taylor Montgomery (300), $67,500 66-70-67-70—273

MJ Daffue (190), $45,000 65-71-66-72—274

Grayson Murray (123), $31,125 70-67-70-68—275

Michael Feagles (123), $31,125 65-69-69-72—275

Kevin Roy (100), $25,875 68-67-69-73—277

Jeremy Paul (83), $21,469 71-69-70-68—278

Josh Teater (83), $21,469 68-70-72-68—278

Kyle Westmoreland (83), $21,469 68-67-70-73—278

Sam Stevens (83), $21,469 69-67-65-77—278

Tain Lee (70), $17,738 68-71-67-73—279

Michael Kim (59), $14,906 68-70-74-68—280

Brent Grant (59), $14,906 69-74-68-69—280

Chandler Blanchet (59), $14,906 70-70-70-70—280

Brandon Crick (59), $14,906 69-68-70-73—280

Scott Gutschewski (49), $11,250 69-69-73-70—281

Erik Barnes (49), $11,250 69-72-70-70—281

Jose de Jesus Rodriguez (49), $11,250 71-69-70-71—281

Alexandre Rocha (49), $11,250 67-70-72-72—281

Akshay Bhatia (49), $11,250 71-67-70-73—281

David Lingmerth (42), $8,813 71-70-71-70—282

Augusto Nunez (42), $8,813 70-68-71-73—282

Tag Ridings (33), $6,387 75-69-70-69—283

Chase Parker (33), $6,387 71-71-71-70—283

Will Gordon (33), $6,387 75-67-71-70—283

Garett Reband (33), $6,387 73-69-70-71—283

Philip Knowles (33), $6,387 74-69-68-72—283

David Kocher (33), $6,387 68-71-72-72—283

Austin Eckroat (33), $6,387 69-73-67-74—283

Alvaro Ortiz (33), $6,387 71-67-70-75—283

Steven Fisk (22), $4,688 73-71-74-66—284

Cody Gribble (22), $4,688 73-70-74-67—284

Brandon Harkins (22), $4,688 71-71-74-68—284

A.J. Crouch (22), $4,688 69-73-72-70—284

Christopher Petefish (22), $4,688 70-70-73-71—284

Paul Haley II (22), $4,688 72-71-70-71—284

Seonghyeon Kim (22), $4,688 69-68-72-75—284

Nick Voke (16), $3,878 70-71-73-71—285

Peter Kuest (16), $3,878 72-70-72-71—285

Marcelo Rozo (16), $3,878 70-67-75-73—285

Luis Gagne (16), $3,878 71-71-71-72—285

Harry Hall (16), $3,878 71-71-70-73—285

Jake Staiano (12), $3,525 72-72-70-72—286

Tee-K Kelly (12), $3,525 73-71-70-72—286

Tanner Gore (12), $3,525 71-70-72-73—286

Matt McCarty (12), $3,525 69-74-70-73—286

Blake Dyer (8), $3,255 74-70-73-70—287

Michael Visacki (8), $3,255 72-70-75-70—287

Nelson Ledesma (8), $3,255 74-69-74-70—287

Luke Guthrie (8), $3,255 71-71-73-72—287

Thomas Walsh (8), $3,255 71-70-73-73—287

John Chin (8), $3,255 72-72-69-74—287

John Augenstein (8), $3,255 68-74-72-73—287

Quade Cummins (8), $3,255 68-75-69-75—287

Zecheng Dou (6), $3,135 70-73-73-72—288

T.J. Vogel (6), $3,135 71-73-71-73—288

Martin Flores (6), $3,135 73-70-72-73—288

Mark Anguiano (5), $3,090 71-73-73-72—289

Andrew Yun (5), $3,090 72-71-72-74—289

George Cunningham (5), $3,090 73-71-70-75—289

Conner Godsey (5), $3,038 71-73-77-69—290

Martin Contini (5), $3,038 70-73-75-72—290

Spencer Ralston (5), $3,038 71-73-73-73—290

Nicolas Echavarria (5), $3,038 68-74-74-74—290

Sean O’Hair (4), $2,978 73-71-75-72—291

Rafael Campos (4), $2,978 73-71-74-73—291

KK Limbhasut (4), $2,978 73-70-75-73—291

Andy Spencer (4), $2,978 77-67-71-76—291

Ted Potter, Jr. (3), $2,925 73-70-77-72—292

Albin Choi (3), $2,925 71-72-77-72—292

Tom Whitney (3), $2,925 70-72-76-74—292

John VanDerLaan (3), $2,895 71-71-76-75—293

Ryan McCormick (3), $2,880 73-66-76-79—294

Jonathan Brightwell (3), $2,850 70-73-75-77—295

Xinjun Zhang (3), $2,850 72-71-74-78—295

Daniel Chopra (3), $2,850 71-72-73-79—295

Alex Chiarella (2), $2,820 72-68-80-78—298

Zack Sucher (2), $2,805 72-72-79-77—300

This story was originally published May 22, 2022 at 5:59 PM.