2024 PGA Tour Schedule: New high-drama calendar unveiled

Jay Monahan has faced calls to resign.

For the first time since 2012, the PGA Tour will return to a calendar-year schedule with a reimagined series of events designed to deliver maximum drama and consequence for players and fans.

The ‘Opening Drive’ of the 2024 FedExCup regular season will be sent on its way in January at The Sentry and Sony Open in Hawaii, culminating in August at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.

Players will compete for FedEx Cup points across a series of interconnected events including the 50th playing of The Players Championship and the four Major Championships, eight Signature Events, 18 Full-Field Events, and five Additional Events.

Only the top 70 will advance to the 18th edition of the FedExCup Playoffs in September where the eventual FedExCup Champion will be crowned at East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, receiving a record $25 million bonus.

Despite being less enthusiastic about the golf ball roll-back, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan spoke excitedly about the roll-out of 2024’s reimagined schedule.

Monahan said: “A January start with stars competing head-to-head more often, alongside the weekly drama of life-altering moments and the emergence of new stars, will create consistent excitement for our fans and reward players like never before.”

What are the eight ‘Signature Events’?

Known previously as ‘Designated Events’, the new season will host eight limited-field tournaments, offering increased prize money and 700 FedExCup points to the winner.

New to the schedule is the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am which sees an exciting adjustment to its original Pro-Am format with Amateurs due to compete alongside the Pros for the first two rounds.

The Genesis, Arnold Palmer, and Memorial Tournaments will now feature 36-hole cuts for the top 50 players (including ties and any player within 10 shots of the lead), with a redistribution of prize money that sees the winner take an increased 20% of the purse ($4 million).

The remaining five Signature Events will not have a cut altogether and continue to allocate 18% of the purse to the winner.

‘Trending’ players to earn Signature starts

New eligibility pathways have additionally been built into the 2024 PGA Tour schedule to ensure all members have the opportunity to compete alongside the game’s biggest stars.

PGA Tour winners from 2022-23 in addition to the top 50 members from the FedExCup standings will tee off at the Sentry in January, with eligibility for the remaining seven Signature Events also set to provide ‘trending’ players with pathways to play their way in via ‘The Next 10’ and ‘The Swing 5’.

The Next 10: The top 10 members (not otherwise exempt) from the FedExCup standings.

The Swing 5: The top five FedExCup point earners (not otherwise exempt) from the swing of Full-Field and Additional events preceding each Signature event.

Let’s take the RBC Heritage for example to see how this looks in terms of timings:

Signature Event eligibility will also include the current season tournament winners (excluding Additional Events), PGA Tour members ranked inside the top 30 in the Official Golf World Rankings (through the preceding week), and a limited number of sponsor exemptions for PGA Tour members.

How does this all end?

Following the conclusion of the FedExCup regular season at the Wyndham Championship, which also finalizes the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 with a doubled prize pool of $40 million, the three-stage FedExCup Playoffs commence.

Stage 1: The top 70 players in the FedExCup standings qualify for the first FedExCup Playoffs event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship (August 12-18) at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, and are exempt for Full-Field Events and The Players Championship in 2025.

Stage 2: The top 50 players then advance to the BMW Championship (August 19-25), contested for the first time at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado. Those 50 players are fully exempt for the following season and earn qualification for Signature Events in 2025, as well as The Players Championship.

Stage 3: Finally, the top 30 players qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship (August 26-September 1) at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta where the FedExCup champion will be crowned and awarded the record $25 million bonus.

The 2024 FedExCup Fall

The Fall will once again finalize the top 125 players, providing exempt status for Full-Field events in addition to a place in the Players Championship.

Players in the top 50 remain eligible for the FedExCup Fall events, and those ranked 51 and beyond will continue to accumulate points through the Fall, counting towards their eligibility status for 2025.

The top 10 players from the FedExCup Fall, not otherwise exempt, will be eligible for The Genesis Invitational and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, providing another path for trending players to continue their momentum.

A win in the FedExCup Fall secures a two-year PGA Tour exemption with entry to the season-opening The Sentry and The Players Championship, as well as eligibility into the Major Championships that invite PGA Tour winners.

In the United States, the 2024 PGA Tour season will be televised on CBS/Paramount+, NBC/Golf Channel/Peacock, and PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+.

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