FARMINGTON — Ogden native Connor Howe has had a hit-or-miss golf season on the Korn Ferry Tour, professional golf’s equivalent of Triple-A baseball.

Coming into this weekend’s Utah Championship at Oakridge Country Club down in Farmington, the Weber High School and Georgia Tech University graduate had missed the cut in his last five tournaments following a 17th-place finish at the Wichita Open in June.

But not only did Howe make the cut in Farmington, he also gave himself a big boost for the remainder of the season.

Howe carded a bogey-free, 7-under-par 64 in Sunday’s final round with one eagle, finishing 15-under overall and tied for 36th place in the tournament.

Howe eagled the par-5 No. 2 hole Sunday morning and made four more birdies to move to 6-under at the turn. He cooled off significantly on the back nine, but crucially didn’t drop any shots as he shot 64.

It was a sorely needed good outing for Howe, who improved his odds of qualifying for the end-of-season playoffs.

The top 156 players in the season standings qualify for the Boise Open in three weeks, the first of four end-of-season KFT playoff events.

Howe sits at No. 155 in the standings with two regular-season tournaments left in Nebraska and New Jersey that he could play in.

One of his biggest issues this season has been consistency and stringing four good rounds together in one tournament. All of his scores at the Utah Championship were under par: 68 (3-under), 67 (4-under), 70 (1-under) and 64 (7-under).

“For a while there, I was really struggling off the tee, so I wasn’t hitting a ton of fairways,” Howe told the Standard-Examiner after Thursday’s first round. “(I’m) starting to hit it better off the tee now, so I’m not having to use my short game as much; I can attack more and have better looks at birdies.”

Howe had a gallery of about two dozen people — family, friends and more — following him all weekend while playing at a golf course about 25 minutes from where he grew up.

“It’s weird, it’s a little weird. I mean, I’ve played here in junior golf growing up and with buddies out here. But yeah, it’s weird. But it’s also great to be close to family and they were all out there supporting — family and friends. It was a really cool experience,” he said after Thursday’s first round.

His twin brother, Hunter, who golfed at Weber State and the University of Utah, was his caddie.

Hunter has caddied for Connor for several weeks this season and it appears to have been a fairly easy arrangement to set up.

“Yeah, I mean, just go knock on the bedroom door next to me and say, ‘Hey wanna caddie?’ So it’s nice,” Connor Howe said.

Connor is in his second year as a pro golfer and is starting to adjust to the demands of the tour.

“It’s kind of what everybody says — I think it’s a combination of the wedges and putting. Guys out here that play well week in and week out, they’re making a lot of putts inside 10 feet. So you gotta take advantage when you have putts in that range,” he said.

After graduating from Georgia Tech in 2023 with two all-conference selections and a business administration degree on his resume, Howe played on the Canadian Tour last year, finished 20th in the season standings, then did well enough in some early season Korn Ferry Tour events earlier in 2024 to get into some more KFT tournaments.

“I think when I first turned pro, it’s exciting. You can be a little nervous, but I quickly realized these guys out here, it’s not like they hit the ball any different or any further. So it’s nothing I’m super foreign to,” Howe said. “But they’re all just very good at saving pars and making a lot of birdies. It’s a lot more of an attacking mindset; you just kind of go out there and hit the pedal to the floor. I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned.”

The attacking mindset served him well on a wet, spongey Oakridge course that lent itself to birdie opportunities on every hole. He finished the tournament ranked 17th in average driving distance, at 338.6 yards.

Though he only hit 50% of the fairways off the tee, he hit 75% of greens in regulation, an example of an improving short game that gave him chances to salvage wayward tee shots.

Howe is listed as an alternate for next week’s Omaha Open, so his KFT season could continue or end depending on how the field shakes out.

But something he said after Thursday’s first round may still apply to his season situation.

“We’re a long ways from the finish. I’m just gonna try and go make as many birdies as I can and just keep my head down, and we’ll look up at the end and see where we stand,” Howe said.

Indeed, there’s plenty of golf remaining. After all, Howe’s just 24 years old.

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