The top 10 players in points outside the current top-50 after the fall events will be "locked in" for the first two Signature events after The SentryGetty Images
The PGA Tour’s reimagined fall season, the “FedExCup Fall,” begins today with the Fortinet Championship, which is the first of seven events that will end the 2023-24 season but also "launch the Tour into a new era," according to Garry Smits of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. The tournaments, which are "worth full FedExCup points," also matter to eligibility not only for the calendar-year FedExCup season in 2024 but for the “Signature events” next season. The players between No. 51-70 on the current FedExCup points list have "already clinched their PGA Tour cards for 2024" but are competing in the FedExCup Fall for 10 spots in the "first two Signature events following The Sentry." The top 10 players in points outside the current top-50 after the fall events will be "locked in." No. 71 and beyond are also "competing for Signature Events" but also to "either stay within the top-125 or get inside that bubble for next season." Smits noted the top 50 players on the FedExCup points list are already locked in for all eight Signature Events and will not earn additional FedExCup points for finishes in the fall. Their points also will not be redistributed (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 9/13).
READY FOR PUMPKIN SPICE: GOLFCHANNEL.com's Rex Hoggard wrote since the introduction of the World Golf Championships there have "always been tournaments tiers on Tour," but the signature events have "etched a very clear line, with those on the outside looking in playing for far fewer FedExCup points, prize money and world ranking points." It is why the FedExCup Fall "feels more compelling than ever." Although "not technically part of the FedExCup season," the fall, which culminates with the RSM Classic in late November, will have an "outsized influence on when and where many players compete in 2024." There will "be a finality to this fall that’s been missing" since the Tour created the wraparound schedule. But "how that finality impacts players and whether it resonates with fans remains to be seen" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 9/13). THE ATHLETIC's Brody Miller noted the next eight events "carry significance in spite of so few understanding all the little nooks and crannies of the exemptions and qualifications for tournaments next season." Miller: "This fall carries more intrigue than any before. Big-name golfers like Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Billy Horschel and Shane Lowry all finished outside the top 70 this season. Sweeping changes to the tour over the last year have meant actual consequences for those who fell off. And now they have to earn their way back into big events" (THE ATHLETIC, 9/13).
