Tuesday night saw the PGA Tour Board approve a radical new schedule for 2024. It will have fewer participants in designated events and eliminate the 36-hole cut.
The field size for designated events will be reduced from 70 to 78 players, with no half-way cut. These changes won’t apply to all elevated events – majors, Players Championships and FedEx Cup playoff tournaments are unaffected.
Two sources confirmed that the Golfweek was modified.
In an effort to guarantee the appearance of top golfers and to make sure they get more, designated events were created this year. Each event has a minimum purse of $20 million. The field size for 2023 was not changed due to the speed with which designated events were created, as a response to LIV Golf’s threat. This will not apply to the Tour’s return to a calendar year schedule in 2024.
Those in the rank-and-file will be concerned by the reduction of field sizes. They will perceive it as denying them playing opportunities. One top player spoke under condition of anonymity to say that the plan will allow members to play their own way into designated stops, and not create an elite star-rich environment.
Source: “We want top players, and hot players.”
The top 50 players who qualified for the BMW Championship in the previous season’s FedEx Cup playoffs will be eligible to compete at the designated events. Five places will be awarded for performance in non-designated events.
The goal is for the calendar to follow a pattern: two designated events, followed by three non-designated tourneys, and then two more designated. The five top-earners at the non-designated stops will earn their place in the next designated event. Every designated event would be open to any player who has won on Tour.
The Official World Golf Ranking will also be considered, with a particular focus on the top thirty. This is to allow top players who are returning from injury or otherwise not eligible for designated events. Sponsor exemptions will still be available, but with more specific criteria on who can receive one. Although such exemptions are controversial features of designated events, this free pass is the best way for Tiger Woods to play in any event he wants.
Multiple simulations were run by tour executives to show how a season might play out in order to maintain sufficient churn. Top players suggested that there should be fewer fields and no cuts. However, their criteria would have ensured that 80% of the players would remain in the higher events season after season. According to the board, only 60% of the eligible players for designated events will remain in the next season’s structure.
The spokesperson for the PGA Tour declined to provide details about the plan to Golfweek. Tour members will receive a memo explaining the changes later Wednesday.
