Many golf fans have been distracted by off-course stories over the last 18 months. Some of these changes will have a dramatic impact on the upcoming fall season.
The Palm Springs Desert Sun, part of the USA Today Network, recently published an article by renowned golf writer Larry Bohannan about the changes that will be implemented after the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2022-23.
Here are some of them:
Fewer Players
As Bohannan mentioned …
This year, only 70 players will be competing in the FedEx St. Jude Championship – the first FedEx Cup playoff event. Previously, there were 120 players on the field. This was after the playoffs went from four to three events. Now there are only 70 players at the start of the regular season, which makes the two next tournaments more important than ever before.
Even fewer players are expected to attend other events
The BMW Championship will have a reduced field from 70 to 50.
Tour Championship will still have 30 players, but golfers must perform better in the two first playoff events in order to be considered for the Tour Championship.
No wraparound season
There wasn’t a lot of a solution to this issue, even though fans didn’t like the idea.
The winners of these tournaments will still receive official PGA Tour wins. The fall events won’t be included in the FedEx Cup chase. Golfers who want to improve their status in the 2024 season can use the fall events to do so.
There are some stars but not many
Although the fields are smaller than in the regular season, some big names will occasionally make an appearance.
In the past few years, some of the Tour’s biggest names not only appeared in the fall but also won some events. Rory McIlroy was one such player at the CJ Cup in October last year. We should see a few big names after the Ryder Cup and playoffs.
Houston Moves to Spring
Houston is now back in the spring portion on the PGA Tour’s schedule after the WGC-Dell Match Play was dropped from the schedule. Bohannan is wondering if other PGA Tours will follow suit.
It’s interesting to see how many events in the fall are aiming to get back on the FedEx Cup point chase.
