PGA Tour will get the top-50 churn it needed, however did it get it proper?
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CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – There was a collective sigh of aid final weekend when Hideki Matsuyama closed out the FedEx St. Jude Championship, bringing an finish to what had been 17 months of turmoil.
It started in March 2023, a tense time for the PGA Tour. The highest gamers had been getting wealthy however, apparently, not wealthy sufficient. LIV Golf was poaching a few of its greatest needle-movers and threatening the Tour’s enterprise mannequin. And a large swath of the membership was sad, some even livid, with a brand new signature-event collection that promised to create an much more distinct class system.
As ordinary, Rory McIlroy was put in entrance of reporters to clarify the intricacies of the brand new program that may place heightened significance on being among the many prime 50 within the FedExCup – the rarified air that may assure entry to the most important occasions, the most important purses, the most important level totals.
On the time, there was affordable concern that the mannequin was making a closed store that went towards the very spirit {of professional} golf as the last word meritocracy. That capping the fields on the marquee occasions, every with elevated level totals, was merely insulating these gamers from poor efficiency whereas making it too troublesome for others to interrupt in.
The Tour’s aim was to match the same old turnover charge (34-38%), and its information staff crunched and re-crunched the numbers in hopes of recreating that typical churn among the many prime 50 with its new level breakdown.
All that was at stake was gamers’ careers.
In a quiet second at TPC Sawgrass, McIlroy stated, “They’ve completed hundreds of simulations. They’ve bought some nice know-how. I belief it. I’ll belief that till it provides me a motive to not. That is what it’s giving us. We don’t know if that is the proper system. Are there going to proceed to be tweaks to this to make it higher? In fact. At this level, we simply need to go along with it and see.”
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Kim performed his closing three holes in 5 over and completed outdoors the highest 50 in factors.
Those that narrowly missed qualifying for the 50-man BMW Championship ought to really feel equally.
Tom Kim misplaced in a playoff in a signature occasion and would have superior if not for a late collapse in Memphis.
Maverick McNealy was the 12th-best participant on Tour this season in strokes-gained: whole and is now watching from house.
Patrick Rodgers earned his most top-10s in a season (4) since 2015 and didn’t get by.
The margins are skinny. At all times have been.
For probably the most half, their near-misses weren’t due to a scarcity of alternative. Of the eight gamers who had been closest to the top-50 cutoff, seven performed in a minimum of seven signature occasions; McNealy, who bought in just one, was coming off an injury-plagued 2023 and got here into the brand new 12 months needing to meet a serious medical exemption. Zoomed out even wider: Of the gamers who completed Nos. 51-70 within the standings, 15 of them performed a minimum of 4 of the marquee occasions.
In different phrases, they nonetheless wanted to benefit from their golden alternative.
Rookie Jake Knapp (No. 59) gained in Mexico and was gifted entry into the 5 remaining signature occasions. His mixed common end in these tournaments: 56th. It was an analogous story for Taylor Moore (No. 64), who was in all eight signature occasions this 12 months. However his common end in these with a minimize: 45th.
“You need to have a very, actually good 12 months to make it into the highest 50,” Thomas stated.
So, how did this BMW area come collectively?
Ten of the 19 newbies within the prime 50 had been Tour winners in 2024, aiding the circuit’s case that it nonetheless prioritizes trophies. These victories unlocked instant entry into the marquee occasions for the rest of the season, an avenue that proved useful for, amongst others, Matthieu Pavon, Akshay Bhatia, Billy Horschel, Stephan Jaeger, Taylor Pendrith and Austin Eckroat. Even those that gained later within the 12 months, as soon as the premier occasions had been largely wrapped up – reminiscent of Robert MacIntyre, Davis Thompson and Aaron Rai – had completed sufficient beforehand to get throughout the road.
“I sit right here now and I’m an instance that when you play properly and also you benefit from the alternatives that you just get – whether or not it’s in some signature occasions otherwise you play properly within the majors the place there are extra FedExCup factors – you may get inside the highest 50,” Horschel stated. “Is it simple? No, it isn’t. It’s going to be exhausting, and it needs to be just a little little bit of a problem. Nothing needs to be handed to us by any means.”
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Max Greyserman is standing outdoors the clubhouse at Fort Pines, a bag slung over his shoulder, his work completed for the day.
The Tour rookie was one of many bubble boys final week in Memphis however, with a final-round 63, secured his spot among the many coveted prime 50. It capped a dizzying summer time stretch for a participant who, simply two months in the past, was nervous about merely retaining his card. Then he performed properly within the U.S. Open, completed second on the 3M Open and woulda-coulda-shoulda gained the regular-season finale in Greensboro.
Greyserman, 29, recalled listening to at rookie orientation all in regards to the signature occasions and swings and churn charges, however he was extra targeted on his personal schedule. As a first-timer on Tour, he was decided to play in each single event for which he was eligible, making an attempt to stockpile factors and possibly sneak his means into a couple of elevated occasions. That turned out to be a 23-tournament slate during which he hasn’t had two consecutive weeks off in additional than six months.
“It’s simply the best way the Tour is structured,” he stated, “that you just simply begin from behind.”
Not that Greyserman was complaining. Over the course of his rookie season, he grew to become aware of how there’s basically two excursions now – one for the haves, the opposite for the have-mores.
“You’re moving into much less occasions, you’re taking part in for fewer factors general, however on the flip aspect of that, you’re not taking part in towards Scottie (Scheffler), Rory and Xander (Schauffele) who routinely end inside the highest 10,” he stated. “It’s a stark distinction, and I really feel like there’s a special stage of golf for the highest guys.
“So, I believe the present construction is honest since you get the chance to not play towards the Scotties of the world and nonetheless accumulate factors. Do you begin from behind? Sure. However that’s simply the way it goes.”
And it’s what made his payoff into the BMW that rather more satisfying. Greyserman is one in every of simply two gamers (Rai) who made the elite area with out taking part in a single signature occasion this 12 months.
He did it his means. The exhausting means.
“I’m actually, actually pleased,” he stated, “as a result of final week modified all the pieces for me.”
Earlier than his torrid near the season, Greyserman was already making ready for the autumn. He’d made journey plans and supposed to join each occasion, hoping to climb the standings and, by the Nos. 51-60 factors class, achieve entry into a minimum of the primary two signature occasions of the brand new 12 months.
However now, together with his new standing, he’s rethinking all the pieces. He can go to Napa for a working trip together with his spouse. He can go play in Japan, if solely to gorge on sushi. He can play the Tour cease in Vegas at his previous house course.
There’s nonetheless loads of motivation: A win or top-50 world rating by the top of the 12 months will get him into the Masters (at present 51st). However a number of the strain to chase factors is off.
“My complete profession has been a rat race,” Greyserman stated, “and now, for the primary time, it’s not. Every part is so contemporary and new now.”
And it’s why it’s instructive to look again at how McIlroy framed the dialogue that day in March 2023. It was all about entry, he stated, and guaranteeing that, even when it’s now a bit more durable, the gamers nonetheless bought a good shot at altering their profession trajectories.
“And there’s one method to remedy that,” he stated. “It’s to shoot the scores and qualify.”
The Tour’s parlance has modified. The goalposts have moved. However 17 months later, that central tenet stays.
