PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan: Vacationers will get Signature Occasion standing once more

CROMWELL, Conn. — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan met with the media at TPC River Highlands on Wednesday and revealed that the Vacationers Championship will obtain Signature Occasion standing once more in 2025.

These tournaments characteristic elevated purses and restricted subject sizes, hovering round 70 gamers. This 12 months’s Vacationers Championship marks the eighth and last Signature Occasion of the 2024 season.

“This occasion will probably be a Signature Occasion in 2025,” Monahan mentioned. “That is the 18th 12 months with Vacationers, and we now have an settlement; they’re in a 10-year settlement by way of 2030.”

Vacationers first sponsored this match in 2007, when Hunter Mahan gained his first occasion on the PGA Tour. Since then, it has turn out to be a fan favourite amongst tour professionals, who cite the golf course and hospitality as the reason why.

“It’s good to be again. I really feel like that is all the time a enjoyable match to return play,” mentioned World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on Wednesday.

Photograph by Andy Lyons/Getty Pictures

“The group actually rallies across the match. The followers are all the time large. The golf course is often all the time in nice form. The clubhouse. The way in which the match treats us as gamers is all the time large. So it’s a very simple, enjoyable week for us to return play, and glad to be again right here.”

Caddies even obtain courtesy automobiles this week, a rarity on the PGA Tour. However that’s not all. The highest gamers on the PGA Tour obtain loads of different facilities.

“They do such a tremendous job for us, our caddies, and our assist workforce,” added Xander Schauffele.

“When you have a look at the vary, it’s obtained the little umbrellas, we now have a espresso stand, a lounging space, there’s the inexperienced truck there with the pizza. So it’s such a soothing week coming after the U.S. Open and I believe all of us actually recognize that.”

With this in thoughts, the Signature Occasion mannequin—new for 2024—has drawn loads of criticism. In March, Lucas Glover known as these tournaments a “cash seize,” including that he “doesn’t like the concept in any respect.”

“Why do the signature occasions have [a maximum of] 80 gamers, and solely 50 make the reduce? Our greatest signature occasion subsequent week is 144 gamers with a full reduce. The signature occasion,” Glover mentioned in March, referencing The Gamers Championship.

“I simply don’t see what was so unhealthy out right here that we needed to do all this. Let’s elevate some purses to verify we preserve some guys round, however now we’ve eradicated plenty of enjoying alternatives for some actually good gamers.”

Monahan acknowledges this too, as many gamers, similar to Min Woo Lee, who has had a powerful 2024 season, didn’t qualify for the Vacationers this week, despite the fact that Rory McIlroy withdrew.

“Nothing’s good, nothing ever is, however whenever you have a look at the place we’re at this time and as we shared with our board [on Tuesday], we really feel like we’re delivering to our followers precisely what we got down to do, and that’s to get our prime gamers competing collectively extra typically, and to create essentially the most aggressive schedule we are able to probably create,” Monahan mentioned in regards to the Signature Occasions.

Photograph by Raj Mehta/Getty Pictures

“Whenever you have a look at our full-field occasions, and also you have a look at the energy of the sector, whether or not it’s prime 50 or prime 125, our energy of the sector at full-field occasions is up 35 %.”

The Signature Occasions have undoubtedly supplied alternatives for the most effective gamers to compete towards each other. Look no additional than who has gained the seven Signature Occasions this season: Scheffler has gained three. Wyndham Clark triumphed at Pebble Seashore with a record-breaking 60. Hideki Matsuyama shot 61 at Riviera to return from behind and steal the Genesis Invitational, after which Rory McIlroy gained the Wells Fargo Championship. Chris Kirk additionally gained The Sentry, the primary match of the 12 months. That’s a reasonably sturdy whos-who of the PGA Tour.

Plus, these wins got here towards very sturdy fields. The highest 50 gamers from final 12 months’s FedEx Cup standings gained entry into every of those tournaments in 2024. Then, the PGA Tour established the Aon Subsequent 10 and Aon Swing 5 to assist spherical out these limited-field occasions. Whoever wins an occasion on the PGA Tour in 2024 additionally features entry, whereas every match has sponsor exemptions they use to spherical out the sector. These exemptions have been vastly scrutinized, as PGA Tour Coverage Board members appear to take a justifiable share of these. Look no additional than Webb Simpson, who once more acquired an exemption to play this week.

However, this match all the time delivers. Gamers usually go low on this golf course, as TPC River Highlands, the shortest course on tour, yields loads of birdies. It additionally produces nice drama, because the match has had six playoffs since 2007. One stroke has determined the consequence six different occasions, too.

So, contemplating all of this, it is sensible for the tour to make the Vacationers Championship a Signature Occasion in 2025, regardless of a few of the criticism the general mannequin has acquired.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. You’ll want to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.