A New PGA Tour Season Is Almost Here, and the Era of Signature (and Non-Signature) Events
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Golf rarely sleeps but—wait for it—a big two-week break is upon us. That doesn’t mean the outside noise that has dominated the game for the bulk of the past two years won’t still hover around through the holiday period.
With a Dec. 31 deadline looming for the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, it remains possible that there could be some news during this time, unless the parties agree to postpone talks into the new year.
But between-the-ropes action ceases until The Sentry, the first PGA Tour event of the 2024 schedule and also the first signature event of eight that will be played throughout the season. Two weeks from now, around the strike of the clock, players will already be showing up or on their way to Kapalua on Maui.
And the event will have a different look and feel. It is no longer just for players who won the previous year on the PGA Tour. It also includes those players who finished among the top 50 in the final FedEx Cup standings.
The difference between the Sentry and the seven other signature events is there is no stipulation for being ranked among the top 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking and there is no entry via a mini-points list or the FedEx Cup list (it is the first event) as there will be for subsequent tournaments.
Justin Thomas is a prominent player who will miss the first couple signature events in 2024.
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Justin Thomas is among the most prominent players on the outside looking in. He won’t be going to the Sentry for the first time since qualifying for the 2016 event.
Because he is not in the Sentry, Thomas will play the American Express Championship two weeks later. It is a non-signature event that is also expected to see Scottie Scheffler playing. (Defending champ Jon Rahm, as is the case for Sentry, is ineligible due to his move to LIV Golf.)
Among Thomas's goals is to qualify for the next signature event, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, as well as the Genesis Invitational. At No. 25 in the OWGR he might be safe, but if not he can get in via the FedEx list or a sponsor’s invitation, of which there will be four.
"Hopefully I should be good to get into Pebble, Phoenix, L.A.," Thomas said. “I’d like to so I don’t have to suck up to Tiger for an exemption. That would be nice on many fronts."
Thomas was referencing the Genesis Invitational, where Woods is the tournament host and would undoubtedly give Thomas a spot if he were not otherwise qualified.
But Thomas's plight is interesting as to how it might impact the non-signature tournaments. There is a fear that they will become "also-ran" tournaments because a majority of the top players will compete in the signature events and might not need to play the others.
Thomas disputes this theory to some degree.
"It probably depends on who you ask," Thomas said. "To be honest, my schedule isn’t overly different than it has been for a while now. At the beginning of the year, it’s different not being in Kapalua. But as I go through the year, it’s not very different.
"I totally understand—I hate to use the word 'concern,' because I feel that definitely is a negative. Kind of gives it a negative connotation. But everybody still has a great opportunity. Whatever algorithms the Tour came up with, the points system and winning a Tour event is going to put you in a great position, and it’s going to help you a lot in the FedEx Cup and it’s going to create some storylines as the season continues."
Thomas was referencing the controversy over the difference in points between a signature event (700 to the winner) and a regular event (500 to the winner) and how that will impact the season.
The fear is that the majority of the players in the top 50 will stay there due to the perpetuating nature of winning points in (nearly) every signature event, with five of them having no cuts.
Regular tournaments will have full fields with fewer points.
Why would someone play a regular event when they can make do with the bigger ones?
"Phoenix is a great example," Thomas said. "I’ve played Phoenix really well and I think it’s a great golf course and I’m not going to miss it because it’s not an elevated event. I want to go to a golf course that I feel like I have a chance to win and that I like. I’ve done that at Tampa (the Valspar) in the past. I really, really like that golf course, and I think I have a great opportunity to win there.
"I’m not sure what’s going to happen (in 2024) but a lot of guys if they have success there or they like it, they are probably more likely to make it work in their schedule versus just throwing it away because it’s not an elevated event."
This will be a closely-watched development throughout 2024 and it will be interesting to see how many events players compete in outside of the signature tournaments.