The PGA Tour is facing significant changes in 2023 – both for the better and worse.
Three major changes in the coming year are the introduction of elevated events, the ending of the wrap-around and a re-invented autumn season that concludes with a Q School with PGA Tour cards.
Let’s begin with the elevated events. This is in direct response to LIV Golf’s challenge. The top players of the PGA Tour met in Wilmington at the BMW Championship in August and came to the conclusion they needed to play more against each other. They agreed to play in 13 higher events in 2023, plus the four majors. However, they can only miss one to get their Player Impact Program bonus money.
There has been a tiered system to the Tour. Certain tournaments have always attracted more players because they were higher up in their minds or had more FedEx Cup points. Other reasons include better courses, prestige, smaller fields, no cuts, and better purses. It is now more obvious in black and white. RBC Heritage is confident that it will be in the Honda Classic, which will be its greatest field. But not so.
Tour commish Jay Monahan and TV executives at the higher events can now promote the presence of the best players by having them all committed to participating in the same events. The best players will show up more often, which will delight fans. On the other hand, tournament directors for non-elevated events now have a more difficult job and fields could be less watered than usual in some weeks.
The 2022-23 wraparound season will conclude as before with the FedEx Cup being awarded at the Tour Championship in late August. Instead of qualifying the top 125 for the first Memphis playoff event, the FedEx Cup will be awarded to only the top-70 Fed Ex Cup players after the Wyndham Championship. This is a major change that will make it more difficult for players to participate if they’re looking in. In the past, 70 was the cutdown number for the BMW, which is the second playoff event. However, that number will drop to 50 in 2023. East Lake will not be affected: The top 30 finishers from East Lake will move on to Atlanta’s Tour Championship.
Although it is not clear how the fall schedule will work, there will be no FedEx Cup Points for the new season. This will allow exempt players to compete in 2024 without worrying about being left behind in the FedEx Cup race.
The playoffs are not for those who don’t qualify. They will play in the fall, although it isn’t clear how many events will be included on the fall schedule. 71-125. Expect lower fields and great theater as players try to regain their playing privileges for the 2024 season, which will run from January through late August. The Tour will explain how it works sometime in the first quarter 2023.
One last thing to be excited about is the fact that the top five finishers at Q-school and ties will earn PGA Tour status starting in 2023. Since 2012, Q-school has provided a direct route to the major leagues for the first time. This will be attractive to top college talent who turn pro, and will offer another route to play for Tour riches without having to spend time on the Korn Ferry Tour.
