Collin Morikawa is a part of a powerful crop of PGA Tour fall winners.
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We’re 4 occasions into the PGA Tour’s new seven-event FedEx Cup Fall collection of tournaments.
It’s a stark distinction to the final 10 PGA Tour seasons which featured a wrap-around season, which compelled extra golfers to make begins in the course of the fall in order to not fall behind within the FedEx Cup factors race for the next yr.
Nonetheless, this PGA Tour season has technically included two fall seasons because it transitions again to a calendar yr schedule. As an alternative of those occasions counting towards subsequent yr’s FedEx Cup standings, there’s a new points list for these occasions record that’s tacked on to everybody who completed outdoors the highest 50 in the course of the FedEx Cup season.
This week serves as considerably of an intermission since two occasions have been trimmed from the schedule, leaving this week, after the Zozo Championship in Japan and earlier than Mexico’s World Huge Expertise Championship, as a uncommon break within the PGA Tour grind.
Now that we’re simply previous midway on the debut of the FedEx Cup Fall, listed here are 8 ideas in regards to the new part of the PGA Tour schedule.
8 ideas on the FedEx Cup Fall
1. Robust crop of winners: Whereas Sahith Theegala opened the primary FedEx Cup Fall occasion together with his maiden victory, every of the three different fall winners have been both already or grew to become multi-time PGA Tour winners. That stated, Theegala can also be one of many PGA Tour’s brightest younger stars, making the Tour Championship and contending a number of instances throughout a powerful rookie season in 2022. Regardless of a barely down FedEx Cup season in 2023, the place he did not advance out of the BMW Championship, he’ll now begin 2024 with momentum from his first professional win.
In the meantime, Listing, Kim and Morikawa all ended one-year-plus winless droughts, Kim and Morikawa each establishing themselves as two of the highest gamers on the PGA Tour after up-and-down years in 2023.
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2. Stars sit out: What do Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler all have in widespread? All have but to make a begin within the FedEx Cup Fall.
Nonetheless, that was a part of the purpose. Since no participant who made it to the BMW Championship can enhance their standing for 2024 (they’re already exempt into all eight signature occasions) they will skip fall occasions and never begin from behind in January when the 2024 FedEx Cup season begins.
3. There’s motion within the “Subsequent 10”: One of many incentives to play the autumn for gamers who have already got standing secured for subsequent season, however aren’t within the prime 50, is entry into the primary two of 2024’s Signature occasions, the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am and the Genesis. These gamers will probably be made up of Nos. 51-60 on the FedEx Cup Fall factors record.
To this point, three golfers have performed their method into Pebble and L.A., Ben Griffin, J.J. Spaun and Luke Listing. Each Griffin and Spaun have been simply on the surface of the highest 60 to start the autumn, 63rd and 62nd, respectively, whereas Listing was 119th after the Tour Championship and used his win to catapult himself to 59th.
In the meantime, Brandon Wu, Davis Riley and Hayden Buckley are heading the improper route. After ending the primary FedEx Cup Playoff occasion within the prime 60 within the standings, all three have now fallen outdoors.
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4. Huge names are nonetheless not in Signature occasions: As of now, Matt Kuchar, Keith Mitchell, Joel Dahmen, Adam Scott, Shane Lowry, Akshay Bhatia and Ludvig Aberg would all not qualify for the primary Signature occasions. Justin Thomas is 72nd within the FedEx Cup Fall standings, leaving him on the surface wanting in as effectively, nevertheless, he may nonetheless qualify for Signature occasions if he hangs onto his No. 25 Official World Golf Rating. The highest 30 within the OWGR qualify for Signature occasions.
5. 2024 Tour playing cards are being earned: Ludvig Aberg doesn’t want to complete within the prime 125 of the standings to maintain his card for subsequent season, however he’s doing it anyway. Due to a T2 end on the Sanderson Farms Championship, Aberg, who was one hundred and thirty fifth after the tip of the PGA Tour common season, jumped all the best way to 99th within the Fall Standings. By advantage of his prime end within the PGA Tour College rankings, Aberg is already exempt for 2024.
4 different gamers have moved into the highest 125 within the final 4 occasions: Scott Stallings, Troy Meritt, Henrik Norlander and Erik van Rooyen. Stallings, like Aberg, additionally has secured PGA Tour standing for 2024 thanks to creating it to the Tour Championship in 2022.
6. 2024 Tour playing cards are being misplaced too: MJ Daffue, Patton Kizzire, Zecheng Dou, Jimmy Walker and Austin Smotherman have all performed their method out of 2024 Tour status, though they nonetheless have three occasions to alter that, as do others behind them. Nonetheless, these gamers have mixed to make simply six of 15 cuts this fall.
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With the change to a calendar yr schedule, the autumn has develop into a seven-event dash to maintain PGA Tour cards, drawing out one of many extra thrilling PGA Tour storylines.
7. Tiger’s “different” PGA Tour debut: The PGA Tour has been watching Tiger Woods as an expert golfer for the higher a part of three many years now, however beginning subsequent week, Woods can have a brand new influence on the Tour.
With the World Huge Expertise Championship altering venues this yr, El Cardonal at Diamante will mark Woods’ first design to host a PGA Tour occasion. The resort on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula was additionally Woods’ first design to be accomplished.
8. The RSM can have extra intrigue: Like yearly (besides 2020) since 2015, the RSM Basic at Sea Island in Georgia will once more be the ultimate official PGA Tour occasion of the calendar yr. Nonetheless, in contrast to years previous, the stakes will probably be a lot increased. Like how the Wyndham Championship used to have added stress as professionals had putts to make each the playoffs and hold their Tour playing cards, the latter half now strikes to the RSM Basic.
If historical past holds, the chase of conserving PGA Tour playing cards will make the RSM a must-watch occasion in a method it has by no means been earlier than.
