ATLANTA, Ga. — There’s a PGA Tour A and a PGA Tour B schedule these days and it is evident in looking at where the pros who qualified for the Tour Championship by finishing in the top 30 on the FedEx Cup season-long standings teed it up this season.
There’s always been certain tournaments that attracted the best fields – that’s nothing new – but it has never been more pronounced than it is in the era of the signature events, which feature eight limited-field events with jacked up purses and inflated FedEx Cup points and often no cuts. Former longtime Wells Fargo Championship tournament director Kym Hougham once compared how players fill their schedule to college.
“You have your requirements and your electives. For years, there used to be four requirements – the majors – and the rest of the events were electives. You had four that were a given and then had 14 others to choose from.”
Now there’s eight signature events, the Players and three playoff events. That makes 16 requirements.
“The electives are vying for four or five spots,” Hougham said.
Some are electing to play even fewer than that. Viktor Hovland only played one non-major or signature event this season, the Genesis Scottish Open, which counts as a DP World Tour event for his Ryder Cup qualification. Asked if he may play more regular events next season, Hovland explained that this season he didn’t feel confident in his game and preferred to practice at home.
“I might,” Hovland said. “There are plenty of other tournaments I like to play. If I feel like my game is in a good spot I might just keep playing and add some non-Signature events. I’d love to do that, it just didn’t work out that way this year.”
Rory McIlroy, who said he expects to finish with 27 worldwide starts by the end of the year, said he’ll play fewer events next season.
“I’m going to try to cut it back to like 18 or 20 a year going forward, I think,” he said on Sunday after his round at the Tour Championship.
There are myriad reasons why players skipped tournaments, ranging from births to deaths to just being plain tired. Some players added starts to enhance their chances of making the Olympics, qualifying for a major, making the Aon Swing 5 to get into a signature event or helping their FedEx Cup chances. Sometimes a player has a sponsorship commitment. Some honored a commitment as defending champion. Others like Tom Hoge just like to play a lot of golf.
“Early in the year I played the entire West Coast chasing the top 50 so I could get in the Masters,” said Hoge, who played 11. “If I take a few weeks off, it usually takes me a week or two to get back in the groove so I like to play ahead of big events.”
But others found that the cadence of the schedule limited the number of times they played outside of the biggest tournaments. Justin Thomas, who wasn’t in the top 50 but ended up playing his way in or getting a sponsor exemption into all of the signature events, didn’t play a single tournament outside the majors and signature events after March.
“The way the schedule worked out we had signature event, major, signature event,” said Russell Henley, who played only three regular events. (He would’ve played the Wyndham Championship, where he has a great track record, but was dealing with the passing of his father.) “Just the way it was set up, I felt like it forced me to put all my eggs in the signature and major basket this year.”
The players who competed in the most regular events typically weren’t in the signature events to start the season. Billy Horschel needed to play 13 regular tournaments, including an opposite-field event (which he won), to make his way back to East Lake. Horschel said he would still play many of the regular events next season even though he’s in the signature events.
“It’s hard to get to Atlanta,” Horschel said. “With my record at events like the Wyndham Championship, I’d be crazy not to go there. Guys are going to realize that they need points and there are other places to get them.”
Matthieu Pavon and Robert MacIntyre both earned cards for finishing in the DP World top 10. Pavon played three regular events right out of the gate but after winning the Farmers Insurance Open in late January in his third start, he played just two more the rest of the season as he gained admission to the signature events. In contrast, MacIntyre didn’t notch his first win until June at the RBC Canadian Open (and then skipped his first signature event at the Travelers Championship to fly home to Scotland).
Before that, he even played two opposite-field events. In all, he played 17 regular events, the second most of any player to make the FedEx Cup finale, behind only Aaron Rai, who didn’t win until the regular-season finale at the Wyndham Championship and missed all the signature events.
“I think it will be pretty different,” said Rai, who also is in all the majors next season as well as the signature events. “You can’t really miss the signature events.”
He guessed he’d likely play 18 tournaments before the playoffs next season, which would mean dropping from 18 regular events down to six.
It’s difficult to make definitive statements based on one year of data of having signature events but it sure looks like the top players are taking fewer electives than ever, which makes it a tough time to be a regular tournament.
How many non-signature events and majors the top 30 played in 2024
| Player | Non-major, non-signature event starts | Total number of 2024 starts |
| Scottie Scheffler (4) | AmEx, WM Phoenix, Houston, Schwab | 19 plus Olympics |
| Xander Schauffele (4) | AmEx, Farmers, Valspar, Zurich | 20 plus Olympics |
| Hideki Matsuyama (5) | Sony, Farmers, WM Phoenix, Valero, Scottish | 19 plus Olympics |
| Keegan Bradley (6) | Sony, Farmers, Valspar, Schwab, 3M, Wyndham | 22 |
| Ludvig Aberg (4) | Sony, Farmers, Valero, Scottish | 19 plus Olympics |
| Rory McIlroy (5) | Cognizant, Valero, Zurich, Canadian, Scottish | 19 plus Olympics |
| Collin Morikawa (5) | Farmers, Valero, Zurich, Schwab, Scottish | 21 plus Olympics |
| Wyndham Clark (4) | AmEx, WM Phoenix, Houston, Scottish | 20 plus Olympics |
| Sam Burns (4) | AmEx, WM Phoenix, Valspar, Canadian, 3M | 21 |
| Patrick Cantlay (3) | AmEx, Farmers, Zurich | 19 |
| Sungjae Im (8) | AmEx, Farmers, WM Phoenix, Cognizant, Schwab, John Deere, Scottish, Wyndham | 25 |
| Sahith Theegala (8) | Sony, Farmers, WM Phoenix, Houston, Zurich, Canadian, Scottish, 3M | 24 |
| Shane Lowry (7) | AmEx, Farmers, WM Phoenix, Cognizant, Zurich, Canadian, Wyndham | 20 plus Olympics |
| Adam Scott (6) | WM Phoenix, Valero, CJ Cup, Schwab, Canadian, Scottish | 19 |
| Tony Finau (7) | AmEx, Farmers, Mexico, Valspar, Houston, Schwab, 3M | 22 |
| Ben An (6) | Sony, WM Phoenix, Cognizant, Valero, CJ Cup, Scottish | 22 plus Olympics |
| Viktor Hovland (1) | Scottish | 16 plus Olympics |
| Russell Henley (3) | Sony, Cognizant, Valero | 19 |
| Akshay Bhatia (13) | Sony, AmEx, Farmers, WM Phoenix, Cognizant, Valspar, Houston, Valero, Schwab, Canadian, Rocket, 3M, Wyndham | 26 |
| Robert MacIntyre (17) | Sony, AmEx, Farmers, WM Phoenix, Mexico, Cognizant, Puerto Rico, Valspar, Houston, Zurich, CJ Cup, Myrtle Beach, Schwab, Canadian, Rocket, Scottish, Wyndham | 25 |
| Billy Horschel (13) | Sony, AmEx, Farmers, Phoenix, Cognizant, Valspar, Houston, Valero, Puntacana, Zurich, Schwab, Scottish, Wyndham | 23 |
| Tommy Fleetwood (3) | Valero, Canadian, Scottish | 19 plus Olympics |
| Sepp Straka (7) | Farmers, Cognizant, Valspar, Zurich, Schwab, John Deere, Scottish | 23 |
| Matthieu Pavon (5) | Sony, AmEx, Farmers, Cognizant, Scottish | 19 |
| Taylor Pendrith (15) | Sony, AmEx, Farmers, Mexico, Cognizant, Valspar, Houston, Valero, Puntacana, Zurich, CJ Cup, Canadian, Rocket, Barracuda, 3M | 24 |
| Chris Kirk (5) | Sony, AmEx, Cognizant, Schwab, Rocket | 21 |
| Tom Hoge (11) | Sony, AmEx, Farmers, Phoenix, Cognizant, Houston, Zurich, CJ Cup, Schwab, Scottish, 3M | 26 |
| Aaron Rai (18) | Sony, AmEx, Farmers, WM Phoenix, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Valspar, Houston, Valero, Corales Puntacana, Zurich, CJ Cup, Schwab, Canadian, Rocket, John Deere, Scottish, Wyndham | 25 |
| Christiaan Bezuidenhout (8) | AmEx, Farmers, WM Phoenix, Cognizant, Valspar, Valero, Schwab, Wyndham | 23 plus Olympics |
| Justin Thomas (3) | AmEx, WM Phoenix, Valspar | 19 |