It took Taylor Dickson 81 events to be in position to win his first Korn-Ferry Tour event, but before he could lift the trophy at the Astara Chile Classic presented by Scotiabank, he had to play one extra hole.

The 2016 Winthrop grad defeated Trey Winstead with a par on the first playoff hole at Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago, Chile.

“It’s unbelievable. I didn’t know I would win this quick. I always knew I could, but believing and doing it or two different things,” said the first time winner. “Its surreal.”

Surreal was a good description of Dickson’s win. He started the final round trailing by 7-shots, behind third round leader Winstead. in tenth place.

Dickson shot rounds of 68, 67 and 70 to start the final round at 11-under par.

He closed out his final round with three birdies in his last four holes to post the club house lead at 17 under par.

“I put a pretty good round together. I had an eagle putt on the last hole, but the birdie was good enough to get in the playoffs. It got the job done,” he said.

Dickson won the playoff with a par and immediately jumped into the top-10 on the Korn-Ferry season standings.

Last year Dickson came within a spot of playing on the PGA Tour this season. The 2016 Winthrop grad got to the 31st spot on the Tour rankings before dropping back into the high 30s missing a chance at his card.

While he didn’t move up, his Q-School finish was enough to secure his status for the year on the Korn-Ferry Tour for the first time in his career.

“Coming in this year, I had full status for the first time, which is huge, so it’s kind of a weight off my shoulders … There’s still a lot of work to do, but I’m just so excited. This is crazy.” he said.

Coming close to earning his PGA Tour card provided Dickson with motivation for the year. Now with a win he has motivation and momentum.

“The goal is to get to the PGA TOUR and this will definitely help. Just even more motivation after this. I want to get a second win. I’m ready to go home get some work in and get ready for Savannah, ” concluded Duxon.

The Korn-Ferry Tour begins its US events in Savannah starting on April 4th.

Local Korn-Ferry Pro standings. 16 – Trent Phillips, 25 – Keenan Huskey, 35 – Garrett Reband, 58 – Tommy Gainey, 64 – Jonathan Byrd, 71 – Doc Redman, 98 – Kyle Stanley,

Local Pros in Fed/Ex Cup Standings 14- JT Poston, 59 – Andrew Novak, 86 – Carson Young, 94 – Lucas Glover, 121 Jacob Bridgeman, 150 – Trace Crowe, 154 – Ben Martin,

Astara Chile Classic scores https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour/tournaments/2024/astara-chile-classic-presented-by-scotiabank/H2024107/leaderboard