The PGA Tour revealed on Wednesday its plan for a re-imagined fall season that includes seven events already familiar to players/fans and will determine who keeps their PGA Tour cards for the following year.
Beginning this year, only the top 70 players off the FedEx Cup points list at the end of the regular season in August qualify for the PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoffs (and guarantee their full playing status for the following season). The top 50 players on the points list after the first playoff event advance to the second event and are exempt into 2024’s “designated” events, a series of eight still-to-be determined tournaments with limited fields, no cuts and $20 million prize money payouts.
Those who finish outside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup points list will retain their points from the regular season as they compete in the autumn and try to stay inside the top 125 at the end of the newly named “FedEx Cup Fall” or play their way into the top 125 if they weren’t inside at the end of the regular season. The seven events will offer a full allotment of FedEx Cup points with more than $56 million in prize money available as players try to lock in their status for the 2024 season.
Winners of fall events will continue to seem similar benefits to events during the regular season, including a two-year tour exemption and invites to the Masters, PGA Championship, the Players Championship and Sentry Tournament of Champions.
In addition, 10 players, not previously eligible, with the most season-long FedExCup points through the FedExCup Fall will earn exemptions into the first two designated events that follow the Sentry Tournament of Champions, thus providing a path for players outside the top 50 on the regular-season points list to get into these $20 million tournaments.
As for the fall schedule itself, it remains mostly the same from previous years. It begins in Napa, Calif., at the Fortinet Championship the week of Sept. 11-17, followed by two weeks off—one empty on the tour calendar, the other filled by the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome. The tour returns in October with the Sanderson Farms Championship, Shriners Children’s Open and Zozo Championship. Following another week sabbatical, the tour’s final three full-field events are the World Wide Technologies Championship (which has moved to Los Cabos from Mayakoba), the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and the RSM Classic.
The tour ends with its “challenge” season, which are exhibitions at the Hero World Challenge, the Grant Thornton Invitational and the PNC Championship.
One notable change is the Houston Open, which was held the past few seasons in the fall. However, the tour announced that the event will be part of the regular season in 2024 with a date still to be announced. Also missing from past fall schedules is the CJ Cup, although its future status is unclear.
The World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, which has not been contested since 2019, will not be played in 2023. Given the WGC-Match Play will not return, coupled with the advent of the designated-event series, it is likely that tournament will no longer be held, at least in its previous configuration.
The 2024 PGA Tour schedule is expected to be released sometime this summer.
Sept 11-17: Fortinet Championship, Silverado Resort, Napa,California
Oct 2-8: Sanderson Farms Championship, C.C. of Jackson, Jackson, Mississippi
Oct 9-15: Shriners Children’s Open, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada
Oct 16-22: Zozo Championship, Accordia Golf Narashino, Chiba, Japan
Oct 30-Nov 5: World Wide Technology Championship, El Cardonal, Los Cabos, Mexico
Nov 6-12: Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Port Royal, Southampton, Bermuda
Nov 13-19: RSM Classic, Sea Island Golf Club, St. Simons Island, Georgia