Andrew Kozan, Rick Lamb Could Cap Improbable Week with Career-Altering Paydays at Honda Classic

After making the 36-hole cut, both players are set up to change the course of their careers if they can navigate 18 more holes at PGA National.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Some call Saturday on the PGA Tour moving day, but for Andrew Kozan and Rick Lamb it's more like a day of jubilation.

Kozan received the last sponsor’s exemption on Sunday before tournament week via a phone call from tournament co-chairperson Gary Nicklaus.

Lamb endured a 16-for-1 playoff for the last spot in the Monday qualifier on Tuesday morning when he converted a 40-foot eagle on the first playoff hole at Banyan Cay Resort and Golf.

Both survived the 36-hole cut. Now they have one round to make an mark on their careers.

“I wanted to finish last night, I was excited to get the round over and get ready for the weekend, but I mean it coming down 18 we couldn't see the balls at all, the other guys I played with were just outside the cut line, so I guess they just kind of wanted to get out of there,” Kozan said of his decision to postpone his second round in the dark and return Saturday. “So, I made the decision to come back this morning and it worked out.”

An early-morning par meant Kozan, a 23-year-old Korn Ferry member, would get 30 minutes for breakfast and then a tee time back out on the golf course. He played as a single, first off the tee, and he shot a 2-under 68 to rocket up the leaderboard into 20th place. He could collect more than $100,000 if he maintains his current position for 18 more holes.

His largest Korn Ferry check has been $30,000, courtesy of a 63-66 weekend at the 2021 Korn Ferry Q-School.

“This is my sixth week in a row, so you would think maybe being a little more tired, especially come the weekend, not getting a whole lot of sleep, but still had a lot of energy, especially this week, a lot of fans, a lot of friends and family that are out here, supporting me, kind of pushing me along,” said Kozan, a Palm Beach Gardens resident. “So, after the finish yesterday kind of went into a little more aggressive mode today. Nothing to lose, pars aren't going to do too much, just got to make some birdies, and kind of slowly move up that leaderboard going into tomorrow.”

Unlike Kozan, Lamb played two full seasons on the PGA Tour in 2017 and 2018, with a best finish of T3 at the John Deere Classic, ironically shooting 63-66 on the weekend in Moline, Illinois.

A past winner on the Korn Ferry Tour at the 2016 LECOM Health Challenge, in a two-hole playoff, Lamb’s eligibility is currently limited to a past champion status on that tour, which means very few starts.

Sitting at 3-over, 1 shot off the cut line, the 31-year-old native from South Bend, Indiana, needed to birdie the par 5, 18th hole to make the cut on Friday and when he made the 10-footer on the last hole, Lamb was guaranteed to play the weekend for the first time since last year’s U.S. Open, where he finished T46.

“My whole idea is I’m probably going to chase more PGA Tour Monday’s because if I play good on Monday and play good during the week does more for me to play well out here than there (Korn Ferry Tour),” said Lamb, who played college golf at the University of Tennessee. “There’s a chance I might get a sponsor’s exemption into one of the Korn Ferry events either in Knoxville or Nashville.”

On Saturday Lamb shot an even-par 70 to move up from T53 to T35.

Kozan and Lamb are taking different approaches, but both now have their best chance at short-term achievement.

Kozan’s family was a member at PGA National for a time when he was a kid, and when the grandstands were constructed months before the event, he would wonder what it might feel like to play during tournament week.

Now, both Kozan and Lamb will experience a Sunday on the PGA National – Champion course, with the stands filled with fans and where even-par or better can bring them their biggest paydays. If either player sneaks into the top 10, they'd earn a spot in next week’s Tour event in Puerto Rico.

“You always want to go out and play as close to the event as you can with the stands up just to feel like you're playing the event,” Kozan said. “So it's a dream come true this week.”