The PGA Tour has provided good news to those players who may be staring at losing full Tour status this year with confirmation all current exempt players will retain full membership for the 2020/21 season.
PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan first discussed this and other news among members of the Players Advisory Committee who were linked on Tuesday via a phone hook-up.
The Tour then released a statement to all Tour members earlier today (Thursday) outling the changes in what will be just 13 events remaining in the 2019/21 season, and that’s if the June 11th commencing Charles Schwab Challenge takes place in Texas.
If so, it will mean the Tour has lost some three months of competition that includes 10 tournaments cancelled and the remaining 11 moved to other dates.
The Tour, in its email to players, indicated everyone will be exempt for the September 1oth commencement to the 2020/21 season with the hosting of the Safeway Open in California.
For the likes of American Harris English, who started the season with conditional status in finishing between Nos. 126 and 150 the previous season and has posted five top 10s and is No. 24 in the FedExCup,it means he will regain full Tour membership for the next season.
It is also great news for Ireland’s Seamus Power who has played in just seven 2019/20 events, made the cut in four but is lying well down in 201st place on the FedexCup standings.
As for the developmental Korn Ferry Tour, no one will graduate to the PGA Tour after the season. The Tour was working on rewarding the top 10 players, such as allowing them in opposite-field field events for next season.
All of this is contingent on golf resuming June 11-14 at Colonial, the restart of a season that would include only one major championship.
The PGA Championship is tentatively set for August 9-12 in San Francisco. The US Open was pushed back to September, the Masters was moved to November and The Open Championship was cancelled.
That means six majors will be played next season.
This season still offers a $US15 million prize to the winner of the FedExCup.
The two playoff events outside Boston and Chicago would award triple points instead of quadruple points.
In other changes:
- The field for the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua will include everyone who wins a PGA Tour event in 2020, along with players who reach the Tour Championship. That means whoever finished in the top 30 in the FedEx Cup gets into at least three majors in 2021, along with a trip to Maui.
- The tournament in the Dominican Republic originally was cancelled and then moved to September, the same week as the Ryder Cup. Because it is not opposite a World Golf Championship, the winner will receive full FedEx Cup points and a trip to the 2021 Masters.
- For the rest of this season, Monday qualifiers that can be held will only provide two spots instead of four.
