One of many most important drivers of the PGA Tour’s lately introduced eligibility modifications was the idea that when you have a Tour card, it’s best to be capable of, for probably the most half, know your schedule.
This 12 months, that was not the case for lots of the gamers low within the reorder class of the Tour’s precedence listing, primarily the underside half of the Korn Ferry Tour graduates and all 5 Q-College qualifiers, most of whom missed out on seven of the 12 months’s first 10 tournaments.
Whereas the proportion of KFT grads who stored their card ended up above common, at 50% (15 of 30 together with Grayson Murray, who died in Could however gained the Sony Open in January), 13 of the underside 15 gamers in precedence from KFT/Q-College to begin the season misplaced their full standing by failing to complete within the prime 125 of the ultimate FedExCup standings, together with all 5 Q-College grads. And all however two of these 13 guys didn’t maintain even conditional standing.
2024 PGA Tour Reshuffle Class Closing Recap.
Reshuffle class confirmed up fairly properly this 12 months in comparison with historic norms… 48% total retention charge for the DPWT/KFT/QSchool classes. DPWT sub group did very properly (6 of 9). KFT group did good additionally: 14/15 of 30 (relying… pic.twitter.com/KF6v7X0zTs
— Robopz (@Robopz) November 26, 2024
Because the Tour transitions to a leaner circuit in 2026, subsequent 12 months will probably be even harder for the incoming crop of KFT/Q-College grads, who once more will begin the season prioritized behind the ten DPWT grads. Not solely will they battle to get into early-season open occasions such because the Sony Open, WM Phoenix Open and Cognizant Traditional, however they may discover different tournaments – possibly American Specific and the pre-Masters run of Valspar, Houston and Valero – tougher to earn spots in as everybody performs extra to make the highest 100, which would be the new cutoff to take care of absolutely exempt membership.
this season’s last FedExCup standings, solely 10 of the 42 DPWT/KFT/Q-College grads within the reorder class completed within the prime 100, with 4 of them being winners – six of these gamers completed between Nos. 81-100. It may’ve been even fewer had Rafa Campos, No. 30 in KFT final 12 months, not gained the Bermuda Championship within the penultimate occasion of the autumn.
“It’s loopy that I really feel like I’ve performed higher than being a hundredth on the factors,” mentioned Chandler Phillips, who ended No. 94, “however hey, you understand what, no matter, you understand?”
Here’s a snapshot of how every of the DPWT/KFT/Q-College graduates carried out in 2024:
| Participant | FEC end | Precedence | Begins | Wins | Prime-10s | MC |
| Robert MacIntyre | 17 | 6 | 25 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| Matthieu Pavon | 17 | 7 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Max Greyserman | 48 | 17 | 26 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Jake Knapp | 64 | 21 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Patrick Fishburn | 81 | 27 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 12 |
| Rafa Campos | 82 | 38 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 17 |
| Victor Perez | 83 | 2 | 22 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Rico Hoey | 86 | 12 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Ryo Hisatsune | 93 | 9 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| Chandler Phillips | 94 | 18 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Mac Meissner | 106 | 28 | 25 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Joe Highsmith | 110 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| Chan Kim | 112 | 10 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Jacob Bridgeman | 113 | 22 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Ben Silverman | 115 | 13 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Ryan Fox | 118 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Chris Gotterup | 119 | 31 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| David Skinns | 122 | 20 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| Sami Valimaki | 123 | 5 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Hayden Springer | 127 | 43 | 26 | 0 | 4 | 13 |
| Pierceson Coody | 131 | 14 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| Alejandro Tosti | 137 | 11 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| A. Dumont de Chassart | 139 | 19 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| Hint Crowe | 148 | 40 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| Jorge Campillo | 154 | 8 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Jimmy Stanger | 159 | 23 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Ryan McCormick | 161 | 35 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| Tom Whitney | 164 | 29 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Thorbjorn Olesen | 170 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Parker Coody | 174 | 33 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| Roger Sloan | 178 | 37 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Alexander Bjork | 179 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Paul Barjon | 181 | 16 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 22 |
| Wilson Furr | 184 | 32 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Norman Xiong | 187 | 24 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Kevin Dougherty | 189 | 30 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Harrison Endycott | 201 | 39 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Blaine Hale Jr. | 202 | 41 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Nicholas Lindheim | 212 | 25 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Josh Teater | 214 | 34 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Raul Pereda | 218 | 42 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Scott Gutschewski | 223 | 36 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
The excellent news is as soon as 2026 arrives, lack of full-field begins shouldn’t be a problem for any PGA Tour member apart from doubtlessly Phoenix.
There’ll simply be fewer members, a change that has lots of the Tour’s rank-and-file upset.
Maverick McNealy, who gained the RSM Traditional on Sunday, mentioned a day earlier that he would’ve favored the Tour to have elevated the scale of the signature-event fields.
“That is my private opinion, however I’ve a tough time defending signature-event fields of 72 gamers if we’re going to restrict the variety of gamers which have a card,” McNealy mentioned. “I believe 120 is a good looking quantity, I believe it’s very aggressive. I believe a lower is an integral a part of our sport and I believe it could be actually cool to play signature occasions at 120 gamers over the 72. With eight tournaments, that’s 400 extra taking part in alternatives. It simply looks as if a layup to me. There’s a bunch of arguments why 72 is the quantity. None of them have satisfied me but, however that’s my private opinion.
“Cash and factors to replicate the energy of area. However I simply hope that the choice they’ve made is actually what’s greatest for the Tour. There’s all the time going to be winners and losers in each resolution. I simply hope that the Tour as an entire wins.”
