In a four-page memo sent to players Monday, the PGA Tour outlined the adjustments to eligibility starting next year and confirmed that the designated events award substantially more FedExCup points than “full-field” tournaments, beginning in 2024.
Starting next year, there will be 16 designated events, including the four major championships, The Players Championship, three FedExCup playoff events and eight other tournaments that have not yet been announced. To qualify for those eight other events, players must finish inside the top 50 on the previous season’s points list.
The top 10 players from the current season’s points list will also be eligible for the designated events, as will the top 5 players from each “swing” between designated events. Officials plan to “minimize isolated weeks” between full-field events and designated events, like this year’s Honda Classic, which was wedged between the Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and use those “swings” to create avenues for players to play their way into the bigger tournaments via mini points lists.
Current year tournament winners and any player inside the top 30 in the world ranking, provided they are a Tour member, will also qualify for the designated events, which will have fields of 70 to 80 players and feature no cut. There will also be four sponsor exemptions who must also be members.
The memo also shed light on what the fall will look like.
“All players 51 and beyond [on the final points list] will carry their FedExCup points from the regular season and first playoff event and continue to accumulate points through the fall to finalize eligibility [for the next season],” the memo read.
The top 125 players on the points list through the final fall event will be exempt into all full-field events and The Players the following season, as will the top 10 players from the DP World Tour points list, the top 30 players from the Korn Ferry Tour season finale, and the top 5 and ties from Q-School.
As first reported by GolfChannel.com, the memo also confirmed that there will be more FedExCup points awarded at designated events, with 700 points going to the winner compared to 500 points to the winner of a “full-field” event. The winner of a major championship and The Players will earn 750 points.
According to information provided to players at a meeting earlier this month at The Players, designated events will award more than twice as many points as non-designated events through the top 20, with the example given of a 10th-place finish at a designated event earning 175 points compared to the same finish at a “full-field” tournament earning 75 points.