PGA Tour starts its FedEx Cup Fall with a reduction in prize money and a new event in Utah

The numbers alone indicate a FedEx Cup Fall season worth $58.7 million in prize money as players try to secure their PGA Tour cards by finishing in the top 125, or perhaps qualify for two signature events if they finish in the top 60.

But there’s a reason for the increase in prize money from $56.6 million last year — there’s one additional tournament, the Black Desert Championship in Utah. Five of the seven tournaments in the fall have reduced the purse, some rather substantially.

While not unprecedented, a reduction in prize money is rare on the PGA Tour.

It starts this week with the Procore Championship at Silverado in Napa, California, a new title sponsor with a purse of $6 million, down from $8.4 million a year ago. Part of that is due to Procore signing on just two months before the tournament.

The Sanderson Farms Championship purse is $7.6 million, down from $8.2 million last year. The Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas also has a significant drop in prize money to $7 million, compared with $8.4 million in 2023.

The World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico is down $1 million to $7.2 million, while the RSM Classic at Sea Island is $8 million, down by $400,000 from a year ago.

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The Zozo Championship in Japan is the same at $8.5 million, though it was $11 million two years ago. The one increase was the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at $6.9 million, up from $6.5 million last year.

It’s to be expected with the top 50 in the FedEx Cup locked in and playing only sparingly the rest of the year, if at all. Scottie Scheffler isn’t likely to play until his title defense in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. Rory McIlroy is playing only on the European tour.

The tour said in a statement there is “more to play for than ever” in the fall in terms of prize money, access, eligibility and a chance to build momentum. Three winners last fall — Ludvig Aberg, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala — reached the Tour Championship.

“And while there have been adjustments to purse sizes at a some FedEx Cup Fall events, both playing opportunities and overall prize money have seen an increase,” the tour said.

On the rise

Luke Clanton is taking a break from his junior year at Florida State to resume what appears to be a rapid march to a PGA Tour card.

Clanton already has won the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the No. 1 amateur in the world, earning him a spot in the U.S. Open and British Open if he stays an amateur. He also has 14 points, needing only six more points to earn a PGA Tour card through the “PGA Tour University Accelerated” program for underclassmen.

Points are accumulated based on PGA Tour, amateur golf and college tournaments. Clanton has three top 10s — including a runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic — in his six PGA Tour starts this summer. He is playing on an exemption this week in the Procore Championship.

Players get one point for making the cut on the PGA Tour, an additional point if it’s a top 10.

How long he stays in school is still to be determined, but the 20-year-old Clanton said his main goal for now is atoning for the Seminoles’ runner-up finish in the NCAA championship.

LIV’s week of reckoning

The final LIV Golf League event of the year comes down to Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann competing for the individual title outside Chicago.

Equally compelling is what happens well below them.

Anyone finishing outside the top 48 is in the “Drop Zone,” meaning they could face relegation out of the league and would have to play their way back in through LIV’s promotions event. That list includes Branden Grace and wild-card players Hudson Swafford and Anthony Kim.

Players from Nos. 25 through 48 who do not have contract become free agents, with no guarantee of being picked up by a team. LIV has not disclosed which players have contracts. That list includes players like Harold Varner III and Pat Perez, who could fall into the “Drop Zone.”

If they fall out of the top 48, there is no clear path back to the PGA Tour. They would have to sit out at least one year before trying to go to Q-school, or opportunities to play would be the Asian Tour.

What’s in a name?

The PGA Tour has a habit of referring to tournaments with a long history by their current name. The best example was in 2016 when Dean & DeLuca was title sponsor at Colonial. Ben Hogan was referred to as a five-time winner of the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, even though his last win was 18 years before Dean & DeLuca opened its first upscale grocery store.

And now there is a reference to Tiger Woods.

According to the year-end statistics the tour produced, Scottie Scheffler had 41 consecutive rounds at par or better. That was the longest streak since Woods, whose 47 in a row began with the second round of the Byron Nelson Classic and ended with the final round of the WGC-American Express Championship at Valderrama.

American Express ended its title sponsorship of that World Golf Championship after 2006. It became the CA Championship, then the Cadillac Championship, the Mexico Championship and then went to Florida one year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the tour, the streak ended at the “WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession.” That would have been in November 2000.

Workday Inc. was not founded until 2005. The Concession did not open until 2006.

Delivering the news

Justin Thomas and his wife, Jill, are expecting their first child in late November. That much was obvious for anyone who saw his wife in the gallery during the PGA Tour postseason.

But what to say? Thomas doesn’t have a history of posting personal matters on social media. They weren’t hiding anything. He just wasn’t sure how to let people know.

The perfect avenue came amid disappointment of being left off the Presidents Cup team, his first time missing a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup since 2016.

Thomas wrote in an Instagram post that he was happy with some improvement, and getting to East Lake for the Tour Championship was important (plus it gets him back to Kapalua). He congratulated Scottie Scheffler. He understood not being picked for the Presidents Cup and said it will motivate him.

And then this: “It will be nice to have some time to work on things, foundation event, some R&R, and even become a dad at the end of November!”

He also said he would be getting ready for Maui. Still to be determined is how much or whether he plays in the fall.

“I’ll have to figure out what I’m going to do with my time. I’ll probably add an event somewhere this fall,” he said at East Lake. “So it’s just trying to stay somewhat competitively in it and not get too rusty.”

Divots

The PGA Tour Champions has as many South Korean winners this year (K.J. Choi, Y.E. Yang) as the LPGA Tour (Amy Yang, Haeran Ryu). ... Viktor Hovland picked up one win this year. He teamed with former Oklahoma State golfer Ian Davis to defend their title in the Oak Tree National Pro-Scratch Invitational in Edmond, Oklahoma. Hovland picked up $20,000 for the win. Talor Gooch and his amateur partner finished second. ... Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS analyst Tony Romo is trying PGA Tour qualifying again. He has signed up for the Q-school pre-qualifier — the first of four stages — in Newton, Kansas, on Sept. 18-20. ... St. Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp. is taking over as title sponsor for the PGA Tour Champions event in St. Louis with a three-year deal that starts next year.

Stat of the week

The U.S. Solheim Cup team has three players from the top 10 in the world with an average ranking of 25.8. Europe has one player from the top 10 with an average world ranking of 42.

Final word

“I play better when people are against me, because I want to prove them wrong.” — Charley Hull to Golf.com on why she likes playing the Solheim Cup in America.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf