Getty Image / Ronald Martinez
The PGA Tour’s board met on Tuesday and approved ‘radical’ new changes. These new changes to golf‘s premier tour are now set to go into effect beginning in the 2024 PGA Tour schedule.
Eamon Lynch of Golfweek was the first to report on these ‘radical’ new changes, some of which are remarkably similar in style to LIV Golf Tour style events. Primarily, there will be no 36-hole cut in select events on the PGA Tour in 2024.
These changes will apply specifically to the PGA Tour’s new ‘designated events’ with larger prize pools and select fields. However, these changes will not apply to all of the designated/select events. The 4 Major Championships, the Players Championship, and the FedEx Cup Playoffs will remain unaffected.
The PGA Tour’s new designated events have minimum prize pools of $20 million. #1 ranked golfer in the world, Jon Rahm, just cleaned UP at these events during the West Coast swing of the PGA Tour.
Going forward, there will be restrictions on the sizes of the fields at these events as well as changes to the cut. But, unlike on the LIV Golf Tour, PGA Tour players will be able to ‘play their way into’ these events through qualification:
Some good in here (players being able to play their way into elevated events through non-elevated events), but it's mostly bad (small fields with no cuts).
Eliminating the Nick Taylors of the world from contending for elevated events is bad for context and removing the cut… https://t.co/wD6XDA7fUU
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) March 1, 2023
Having no cut after 36-holes will likely mean these events aren’t eligible for Official World Golf Rankings points. But that is something the PGA Tour can surely work out with OWGR. Furthermore, minimum prize pools of $20 million for field sizes of 70 to 78 players are a LOT more enticing than OWGR points.
Here is how the fields will look after the new PGA Tour changes go into effect:
Fields at designated events will be comprised of the top 50 players who qualify for the BMW Championship during the previous season’s FedEx Cup playoffs, plus the top 10 players not otherwise eligible on the current FedEx Cup points race. There will also be five places earned through performance in non-designated events.
PGA Tour approves radical schedule changes, reducing fields in elevated events and ending cuts https://t.co/4Bi7WULrah via @golfweek
— Eamon Lynch (@eamonlynch) March 1, 2023
Any player who wins on the PGA Tour automatically becomes eligible for any designated event on the PGA Tour *that season*. This ensures the best golfers on the tour at THAT TIME are eligible, and not players who are riding previous success and OWGR points.
The PGA Tour didn’t confirm these changes to Golfweek but Eamon Lynch says two sources ‘familiar with the details’ confirmed them to him.
Daniel Rapaport of Barstool Sports revealed changes to the PIP:
Here’s the memo sent to players by the PGA Tour outlining next year’s schedule.
Notice no mandatory participation. Also PIP shrinking from 20 players and $100 million to 10 players and $50 million. That $50 million being moved to FedEx Cup and Comcast Business bonus. pic.twitter.com/f6we0UrYyY
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) March 1, 2023