00:00James, let's rack it back all the way to the top of this list for a man that we have affectionately dubbed the Keef Dog, which, by the way, this is that's my second favorite part of these interviews every year is just coming up with absurd nicknames for the Corn Fairy Tour graduates.
00:13So Johnny Keefer, a.k.a. the Keef Dog here on The Smiley Show, was looking back at his results the past couple of years, and I want to take it all the way back to 2024 when he's playing on the PGA Tour Americas where he wins the this might be my favorite full tournament name that I've seen on pro golf.
00:30The Centerport Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open in August of 2024, and then as part of that, earns promotion to the Corn Fairy Tour, and then in 2025, vaults into the top 100 on the official world golf ranking with a win at Veritex, the Veritex Bank Championship on the Corn Fairy Tour with that win multiplier from that PGA Tour Americas win.
00:51Then plays in two majors in 2025, the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, wins again at the end of July at the NB5 Invitational, gets another win multiplier, and he gets all the way up to 56th in the world playing on the Corn Fairy Tour, and then goes on to finish 2025 inside the top 50.
01:09So he's in the Masters in 2026.
01:13What I want to ask you with regards to Johnny is, looking back at all these three Corn Fairy Tour classes we've looked at,
01:21is this potentially the most talented guy or maybe the most in-form graduate we've seen of those three classes making his way onto the PGA Tour?
01:31I think so.
01:34Pearson Cootie is another one, like we just talked about, that was kind of a superstar.
01:39Kiefer got off to a slow start.
01:41I don't even think he was in the top 25 of the world amateur golf rankings before he turned pro.
01:46He had to birdie the last hole of the NCAA Championships just to get the last spot for PGA Tour Americas and get status.
01:55So we never saw this coming.
01:56And then you said, like, America's, look, it's a glorified mini-tour.
02:01We know it's a feeder tour to the Corn Fairy Tour.
02:03But he did it.
02:05Well, his scoring average was 66 out there.
02:07As you said, like, being able to get as many divisor points, even where the world golf ranking is these days,
02:15and it's a little, you know, there's a lot of conjecture into what it actually is and how much it really weights.
02:22But what he did out there was insane scoring statistics.
02:25And it's hard to equate that.
02:26Look, he's the first player in history to ever win the points list on PGA Americas and the Corn Fairy Tour.
02:32I was pretty chuffed when I come up with that stat because I did some diving.
02:37No one else has ever done that.
02:38Now, there's a lot of guys that never played in Canada and then played Corn Fairy.
02:43Like, a lot of – all the superstars usually bypass that part of their –
02:48Scotty Scheffler didn't do PGA Tour Americas?
02:50No.
02:50That's a shocker.
02:52But Michael Brennan – Michael Brennan didn't have a chance to do that, obviously.
02:56And, look, Kiefer, but as far as talent goes, for me, a guy that's already –
03:03he's kind of proven himself on the PGA Tour a little bit.
03:06Like, he was right there at RSM.
03:08He played well before.
03:10The year he was on Americas, he went out and played the Pro Corps.
03:13I think he finished 12th.
03:15He played in the couple majors this year where I wanted to see more from him,
03:19but he got engaged the night before the PGA Championship.
03:22So, a lot going on in there.
03:24You know, the young lug, it's life there.
03:26And I think for the U.S. Open, he qualified 7-for-1 in a playoff
03:32to get into the U.S. Open, made the cut there.
03:34So, there's some signs.
03:38I'll go out as far as saying this is a crazy one.
03:40I know this is my hot take, but I think he's –
03:44obviously, he's on the U.S. Ryder Cup team in a couple years.
03:47That's my hot take.
03:50Alongside – now, this is even crazier – Michael Brennan.
03:53So, it's huge.
03:56Now, I know –
03:56Youth movement.
03:58No one's going to listen to me unless it comes true,
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