One of many most important drivers of the PGA Tour’s not too long ago introduced eligibility modifications was the assumption that if in case you have a Tour card, it’s best to be capable to, for essentially the most half, know your schedule.
This 12 months, that was not the case for most of the gamers low within the reorder class of the Tour’s precedence record, primarily the underside half of the Korn Ferry Tour graduates and all 5 Q-College qualifiers, most of whom missed out on seven of the 12 months’s first 10 tournaments.
Whereas the proportion of KFT grads who stored their card ended up above common, at 50% (15 of 30 together with Grayson Murray, who died in Might however received the Sony Open in January), 13 of the underside 15 gamers in precedence from KFT/Q-College to begin the season misplaced their full standing by failing to complete within the high 125 of the ultimate FedExCup standings, together with all 5 Q-College grads. And all however two of these 13 guys did not preserve even conditional standing.
2024 PGA Tour Reshuffle Class Ultimate Recap.
Reshuffle class confirmed up fairly effectively this 12 months in comparison with historic norms… 48% general retention fee for the DPWT/KFT/QSchool classes. DPWT sub group did very effectively (6 of 9). KFT group did good additionally: 14/15 of 30 (relying… pic.twitter.com/KF6v7X0zTs
— Robopz (@Robopz) November 26, 2024
Because the Tour transitions to a leaner circuit in 2026, subsequent 12 months will likely be even more durable for the incoming crop of KFT/Q-College grads, who once more will begin the season prioritized behind the ten DPWT grads. Not solely will they battle to get into early-season open occasions such because the Sony Open, WM Phoenix Open and Cognizant Traditional, however they may discover different tournaments – perhaps American Specific and the pre-Masters run of Valspar, Houston and Valero – harder to earn spots in as everybody performs extra to make the highest 100, which would be the new cutoff to take care of totally exempt membership.
this season’s remaining FedExCup standings, solely 10 of the 42 DPWT/KFT/Q-College grads within the reorder class completed within the high 100, with 4 of them being winners – six of these gamers completed between Nos. 81-100. It may’ve been even fewer had Rafa Campos, No. 30 in KFT final 12 months, not received the Bermuda Championship within the penultimate occasion of the autumn.
“It’s loopy that I really feel like I’ve performed higher than being a hundredth on the factors,” stated Chandler Phillips, who ended No. 94, “however hey, what, no matter, ?”
Here’s a snapshot of how every of the DPWT/KFT/Q-College graduates carried out in 2024:
| Participant | FEC end | Precedence | Begins | Wins | Prime-10s | MC |
| Robert MacIntyre | 17 | 6 | 25 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| Matthieu Pavon | 17 | 7 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Max Greyserman | 48 | 17 | 26 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Jake Knapp | 64 | 21 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Patrick Fishburn | 81 | 27 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 12 |
| Rafa Campos | 82 | 38 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 17 |
| Victor Perez | 83 | 2 | 22 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Rico Hoey | 86 | 12 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Ryo Hisatsune | 93 | 9 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| Chandler Phillips | 94 | 18 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Mac Meissner | 106 | 28 | 25 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Joe Highsmith | 110 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| Chan Kim | 112 | 10 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Jacob Bridgeman | 113 | 22 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Ben Silverman | 115 | 13 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Ryan Fox | 118 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Chris Gotterup | 119 | 31 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| David Skinns | 122 | 20 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| Sami Valimaki | 123 | 5 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Hayden Springer | 127 | 43 | 26 | 0 | 4 | 13 |
| Pierceson Coody | 131 | 14 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| Alejandro Tosti | 137 | 11 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| A. Dumont de Chassart | 139 | 19 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| Hint Crowe | 148 | 40 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| Jorge Campillo | 154 | 8 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Jimmy Stanger | 159 | 23 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Ryan McCormick | 161 | 35 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| Tom Whitney | 164 | 29 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Thorbjorn Olesen | 170 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Parker Coody | 174 | 33 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| Roger Sloan | 178 | 37 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Alexander Bjork | 179 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Paul Barjon | 181 | 16 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 22 |
| Wilson Furr | 184 | 32 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Norman Xiong | 187 | 24 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Kevin Dougherty | 189 | 30 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Harrison Endycott | 201 | 39 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Blaine Hale Jr. | 202 | 41 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Nicholas Lindheim | 212 | 25 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Josh Teater | 214 | 34 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Raul Pereda | 218 | 42 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Scott Gutschewski | 223 | 36 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
The excellent news is as soon as 2026 arrives, lack of full-field begins shouldn’t be a difficulty for any PGA Tour member apart from doubtlessly Phoenix.
There’ll simply be fewer members, a change that has most of the Tour’s rank-and-file upset.
Maverick McNealy, who received the RSM Traditional on Sunday, stated a day earlier that he would’ve preferred the Tour to have elevated the scale of the signature-event fields.
“That is my private opinion, however I’ve a tough time defending signature-event fields of 72 gamers if we’re going to restrict the variety of gamers which have a card,” McNealy stated. “I believe 120 is an attractive quantity, I believe it’s very aggressive. I believe a lower is an integral a part of our sport and I believe it could be actually cool to play signature occasions at 120 gamers over the 72. With eight tournaments, that’s 400 extra taking part in alternatives. It simply looks as if a layup to me. There’s a bunch of arguments why 72 is the quantity. None of them have satisfied me but, however that’s my private opinion.
“Cash and factors to replicate the power of subject. However I simply hope that the choice they’ve made is admittedly what’s finest for the Tour. There’s at all times going to be winners and losers in each determination. I simply hope that the Tour as a complete wins.”
