Nicholas soars to the win with an eagle on the 18th

An eagle in the last hole helped James Nicholas win his first Korn Ferry Tour title at the Astara Golf Championship. A final round 66 saw him finish on 19-under 265, to finish two strokes ahead of Norman Xiong.

“I can’t, I can’t believe it. I was talking to my wife last night, we were at the Italian place down
the road and we were like, I’ve always been so scared to talk about winning, being scared I’d
jinx myself, but we actually talked about it last night.

We said it’s actually OK to talk about it and we’re out here to win, we’re out here to get a PGA TOUR card, and if you finish second it’s 300 points. My head’s all wrapped up in the points because I want to be on the PGA TOUR, the highest level in golf. But this means so much,” said an ecstatic Nicholas.

He had three bogeys (Nos. 4, 12 and 14) but countered it with with six birdies (Nos. 2, 5, 6, 8, 13 and 16) before the massive 13-foot eagle putt at the par-5 18th to close out.

“To make eagle on 18 when I was literally shaking on the tee shot, the second shot and the putt, it’s incredible,” he added.

His first Tour title in his 69th career start on Tour eclipsed his his previous career-high finish of T3 at the Compliance Solutions Championship in October 2025. He played 29 holes on Sunday due to play being suspended during the third round for inclement weather.

Xiong, who had to settle for second spot, carded seven birdies against two bogeys to card a final round 5-under 66 for his his best finish at the Astara Golf Championship in his fourth appearance.

Korn Ferry Tour winner Carson Young finished third, a further stroke behind, went bogey-free his last 54-holes and carded a final-round 6-under 65, highlighted by an eagle on No. 10.

Leaderboard