The PGA Tour Is Set to Begin Its New Fall Calendar, and for Many Players the Stakes Will Be High
For the first time in more than a decade, the PGA Tour will not start a new season in September. Rebranded as the FedEx Cup Fall, the seven events that will begin with the Fortinet Championship are a continuation of the season that just concluded at the Tour Championship.
If that is confusing or lacking in sense, well, there are a few explanations.
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The PGA Tour 2022–23 season did conclude Sunday at the Tour Championship, but in reality, it was just the conclusion of the year for the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings.
That means all of the players who made it to the BMW Championship are set. They are exempt for all eight of the Signature events as well as any other regular event in 2024.
It also means that those players who finished outside of the top 50 can use those fall events to improve their position—but it will have no impact on the 2024 season. Got it?
Essentially, the Tour is using the fall to give playing opportunities on the back end of the schedule rather than the front end, and rewarding those who finished high enough in points by allowing them to skip the remaining events without impact.
For those outside of the top 50—and the top 125—there remains plenty at stake.
Finishing among the top 125 players means full exempt status for next season. So anyone from approximately 90th on down is in some peril of losing their position to someone who comes from outside of the top 125.
There is also an opportunity to play their way into the first two Signature events following the Sentry—the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational, the limited-field tournaments with $20 million purses.
The PGA Tour is keeping players’ points totals from 51 and beyond intact, and those who end up 51–60 will be exempt for those first two events. The players that currently hold those positions are Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Hardy, Taylor Montgomery, Alex Smalley, Thomas Detry, Stephan Jaeger, Brandon Wu, Beau Hossler, Davis Riley and Hayden Buckley.
Others outside the top 50 include Justin Thomas (71) and Adam Scott (72). Thomas has entered the Fortinet Championship.
Here’s a rundown of the events, including those that are unofficial.
Fortinet Championship (Sept. 4–17), Ryder Cup (Sept. 29 to Oct. 1), Sanderson Farms Championship (Oct. 5–8), Shriners Children’s Open (Oct. 12–15), ZOZO Championship (Oct. 19–22), Worldwide Technology Championship (Nov. 2–5), Butterfield Bermuda Championship (Nov. 9–12), RSM Classic (Nov. 16–19).
The RSM caps a stretch of six consecutive weeks of official tournaments that are part of the FedEx Fall.
After Thanksgiving, Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge (Nov. 30 to Dec. 3) and the Grant Thornton Invitational (Dec. 7–10)—a new mixed team event with LPGA pros—completes the schedule. The PNC Championship (Dec. 16–17), which Woods has played each of the past three years with his son, Charlie, is part of the PGA Tour Champions schedule.
The PGA Tour Q-School (Dec. 14–17) will for the first time in more than 10 years give direct access to the PGA Tour with five spots being offered.