A lot of things you thought you knew about the PGA TOUR just changed. Well, not just this second, but over the last few weeks with more in the upcoming months. It’s all in an effort to secure the place of the PGA TOUR as the most elite, competitive golf organization on the planet. To understand this new system, you’ll need to know these numbers: 125, 70, 50, 30, 20 and 15.
First, the top 125 PGA TOUR players in FedEx points at the end of this season will still be exempt for the next season. Exempt means they are guaranteed a PGA TOUR card. But the way it’s determined will change slightly starting with this year’s FedEx Playoffs.
Here’s the big change: The top 125 won’t get to enter the Playoffs. Just the top 70. That is about half of the number that previously played. Or oops! If your favorite pro ends up at No. 71 or 72. He doesn’t get to participate in the Playoffs, but he still has a good chance to retain his card for the next season, during which he can maybe get back to that top 70 position.
In the FedEx Playoffs, there are some changes.
The first playoff event will be the FedEx St. Jude, and that’s the one where only the top 70 will be eligible. That is just under half of the number that previously played, which was 125. Anyone who makes that top 70 is guaranteed a PGA TOUR card for the next year, meaning they can play in any event, including invitationals and events with the biggest purses.
Then, the next two Playoff events are cut to top 50 for BMW and top 30 for TOUR Championship. The BWM was previously 70 players. So that’s 20 more who will be going home early, but they are still in good shape for the next season.
If your favorite makes the top 30 and the TOUR Championship, he’s good for the next two years, even if he did not have an exemption for a victory. That’s a big change. Two-year exemptions have not been given for anything but victories in the past. However, in recent years, we have had several rookies, some non-winners and the occasional veteran get to the top 30 in a season. This modification encourages stars to stay with the PGA TOUR.
The other thing all these changes do is to amp up the competition a lot. Golfers have to perform to stay on the PGA TOUR. No lollygagging. No taking a while to tweak a swing unless they have five-year PGA TOUR exemptions for winning majors or THE PLAYERS.
Now, here’s the get out of jail free card. After the TOUR Championship, those who did not make the top 70 will be able to add to their point total in the fall tournaments to upgrade their status. Nobody has announced how that will work as yet, so there are questions, particularly for those who are in the 50- to 70-point list. Could they get bumped out of their spot? Probably not, but there are unknowns at this juncture.
Regardless, the fall events will allow those placed 71 and above to improve their point position for the following season by playing in the fall events. We don’t know if those at 70 and better on the list will be able to add to theirs, but no one has said they can’t. It is sure that guys who are in the 126-150 slots will do their darnedest to unseat players in the 70-125 group. If you like full contact golf, this is as close as it gets. Every point will matter when it comes to having a chance to play the following season.
This is not altogether different from the days before FedEx points when it was top 125 in money or before the all-exempt tour, when it was top 60 were guaranteed a place to play, period. In those years, players lower in status would play in the fall to add to their money list total and move up to get a better shot at entering tournaments in the next season. Same idea here.
End of season tournaments may allow some who are in the 126-175 or so to move into the top 125 and secure a card and a better chance at entering tournaments. Right now, the lower priority a guy has, the harder it is for him to enter an event. We don’t know what will happen with jostling in this category, but some are going to go away unhappy with their performance at the end of the season.
Advancing in points during the fall is made harder by the fact that the Zozo and CJ Cup are limited field events that invite a specific number of players. In addition, two of them have many exemptions for golfers on the Japan Tour (Zozo) and the Korean Tour in (CJ Cup).
When the dust settles, what happens is the top 70 get a guaranteed slot in every PGA TOUR event, including invitationals and events with the biggest purses. They are set. Once a player is in the top 70, he’s good for the next year. If he doesn’t stay there, he has problems.
Then, starting next January, the future seasons will begin with the calendar year. There is no more wrap-around season. No more sort of starting in September and then going to the following September. (Thank goodness!)
In addition to the top 70 becoming the new benchmark, there is another change in the pecking order, too.
Lifetime Status
Lifetime status comes sooner if you are a prolific winner. In the past, a player had to have 20 victories and play for 15 seasons on the PGA TOUR to get lifetime status. Lifetime means he can enter any regular, non-invitational PGA TOUR tournament, even if he is lower than the top 70. Davis Love III, for example, is in this category, although it’s hard to believe any tournament would ever say no to him.
Now, if a player wins 20 times, he doesn’t have to wait for the 15 years. Let’s call this the Rory McIlroy rule, but it could just as easily be the Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus or the Arnold Palmer rule.
McIlroy joined the PGA TOUR in 2010 although he’d been a pro in Europe for a few seasons before that. He reached that magic number 20 in the fall of 2021 with a victory at the CJ Cup. He’s gathered up three more since then. But the 15-year criteria wouldn’t give him lifetime status until 2025. Now, he has it. Deservedly so.
To compare to legends in the game, Woods had 20 PGA TOUR victories by the middle of 2000, and he started his career in the fall of 1996. So that’s 20 victories in less than five years. Jack Nicklaus won 20 times in his first six years on the PGA TOUR. Arnold Palmer won 20 between August of 1955 and June of 1960.
There are 14 more golfers who have 20 or more PGA TOUR victories who are still alive. Can you name them? Two of them have flown the coop. They’re on another tour that we don’t talk about here in PVB!
(Answer: Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Vijay Singh, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Dustin Johnson, Gary Player, Raymond Floyd, Davis Love III, Lanny Wadkins, Hale Irwin and Greg Norman.)
