pga tour status explained

Details on PGA TOUR’s eligibility adjustments for 2024

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The PGA TOUR has formalized a series of eligibility adjustments for the 2024 season, with key benchmarks for the top 50, top 70 and top 125 in the FedExCup among the key items.

These adjustments correspond with the return to a calendar-year FedExCup season in 2024, in conjunction with Designated and Full-Field events and the newly formatted FedExCup Fall. This new eligibility format was detailed Tuesday in a memo to the TOUR membership.

The top 70 players on the 2022-23 FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List will qualify for the first of three FedExCup Playoffs events, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and be exempt into all Full-Field TOUR events for the following year. Qualifying for the Playoffs also ensures that a player will keep his card for the following season.

The top 50 players after the FedEx St. Jude Championship will advance to the second Playoffs event, the BMW Championship, and qualify for all Designated and Full-Field events for the following year. The Designated events are the eight events next year that will feature fields of 70-80 players and have elevated FedExCup points and purses.

The top 30 after the BMW Championship will qualify for the season-ending TOUR Championship. Qualifying for the TOUR Championship is an accomplishment that also comes with a two-year exemption on TOUR.

Players who finish outside the top 70 in the FedExCup will compete in the FedExCup Fall to retain their playing privileges. At the conclusion of the 2023 season, the top 125 on the FedExCup Fall Points List will retain their cards and be exempt into all Full-Field events in 2024, including THE PLAYERS Championship. Nos. 126-150 on the FedExCup Fall Points List will maintain conditional TOUR status.

Players who finish outside the top 70 in the FedExCup will retain their points from the Regular Season and compete in the Fall to stay inside the top 125. Nos. 51-70 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the Playoffs will also retain their points entering the Fall and compete for spots in 2024’s early-season Designated events.

The 2024 season will feature eight Designated events, with no mandatory participation requirement. Eligibility for the Sentry Tournament of Champions will include the top 50 players from the prior year’s FedExCup Playoffs and tournament winners from the previous year, including opposite events and fall events.

Eligibility for the remaining Designated events will include the top 50 from the prior year’s FedExCup Playoffs, as well as:

• From the most recent “swing” of Full-Field events (i.e. the tournaments between Designated events), the top five available FedExCup Points earners who are not otherwise exempt into the event

• The top 10 available players from the current-year FedExCup standings who are not otherwise exempt into the event

• Current-year tournament winners in events with full FedExCup point allocation (i.e. at least 500 points)

• PGA TOUR members in the top 30 on the Official World Golf Ranking

• Four sponsor exemptions limited to PGA TOUR members.

Points earned in Designated events do not count toward the “swing” category; each set of Full-Field events between Designated events will count as a swing.

There will be slightly different exemption criteria for the first two Designated events following the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Instead of using the top 10 in the current-year standings, those Designated events will feature the top 10 players, not otherwise exempt, from the prior year’s FedExCup standings (Regular Season and Fall combined).

Nos. 51-70 in the FedExCup through the Playoffs will retain their FedExCup points entering the Fall and compete for additional FedExCup points to earn spots in those early season Designated events. They will already have their cards for the following year locked up by virtue of finishing in the top 70 of the FedExCup through the Playoffs.

Eligibility for THE PLAYERS Championship remains unchanged.

The FedExCup Points model will be adjusted with allocation of additional points to THE PLAYERS, majors, and Designated events.

• 750 points to winners of PLAYERS and majors

• 700 points to winners of Designated events

• 500 points to winners of Regular Full-Field events

• 300 points to winners of Opposite Events

• 2000 points to the winner of the first two Playoffs events

The Korn Ferry Tour will be played January through October and will award 30 PGA TOUR cards at the end of the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season for the start of the 2024 PGA TOUR season in January. The top-10 performers, not otherwise exempt, from the final 2023 DP World Tour Race to Dubai Points List will receive 2024 PGA TOUR membership, as well.

The top-five players and ties from this year’s Qualifying Tournament also will earn PGA TOUR membership. The Qualifying Tournament will also continue to award eligibility for the Korn Ferry Tour.

Players in the top 50 of the FedExCup through the Playoffs can participate in the Fall events and receive performance benefits including world ranking points and winner’s exemptions but, having secured their position in all 2024 Designated and Full-Field events, the FedExCup points they earn at fall events will not accumulate on the FedExCup Fall Points List.

Winners of fall events will receive 500 FedExCup points, world ranking points and a two-season winner’s exemption. Winners will also earn spots in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, THE PLAYERS, Masters Tournament and PGA Championship.

The Player Impact Program will be reduced to $50 million in 2024, paid to the top 10 players (from $100 million to the top 20). The remaining funds will be reallocated to the FedExCup Bonus Program and Comcast Business TOUR Top 10.

What Are the Requirements for a PGA Tour Card? 6 Ways to Earn One

Here are 6 ways to earn a PGA Tour card

• DESCRIPTION Ben Martin becomes Tour Bound
• SOURCE James Gilbert / Contributor
• PERMISSION Getty Image license

In a lot of ways, getting a PGA Tour card is like winning the lottery. The path is simple, but the odds are against you. If you beat those odds, however, the payout is handsome.

To play as a member on the PGA Tour, you must have a PGA Tour card. Players earn their card by accomplishing one of several requirements. Here’s a breakdown of just how to earn a PGA Tour card, and six ways to snag one.

1. PGA Tour Q-School

PGA Tour Q-School used to be a direct path to the PGA Tour. Then Q-School stopped giving players PGA Tour cards, giving them status on the Korn Ferry Tour instead, where they could play for spots on the PGA Tour over the course of an entire season. But now, just like in years past, players can earn a PGA Tour card through Q-School and head straight to the PGA Tour. However, only the top five finishers from the final stage of Q-School earn PGA Tour cards and get to head directly to the PGA Tour.

Korn Ferry Tour: Strategies to Qualify and Challenges to Expect

2. Korn Ferry Tour Points

The most direct path to the PGA Tour is through the Korn Ferry Tour. While gaining Korn Ferry Tour status is no breeze in itself, once there, players have multiple avenues to earn their PGA Tour card.

There are 30 PGA Tour cards up for grabs through the Korn Ferry Tour each year. The top 30 players from the Korn Ferry Tour's season-long standings after the KFT Championship earn cards.

Getting into the Korn Ferry Tour is a process in itself, which can be accomplished through Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School , or via the Forme Tour , Mackenzie (Canadian) Tour, or the PGA Tour Latinoamerica.

3. Korn Ferry Tour Three-Win Promotion

Korn Ferry Tour players can jump directly to the PGA Tour through an exemption known as the Three-Win Promotion . This promotion is exactly what it sounds like, after three Korn Ferry Tour wins in one season, a player gains his PGA Tour card.

The three-win promotion has proven to be a tough route to the big tour, as only 12 players have accomplished the feat since 1997.

4. PGA Tour Special Temporary Membership

Players can bypass the Korn Ferry Tour and jump straight to the PGA Tour by gaining PGA Tour Special Temporary Membership, then parlaying that into a PGA Tour card.

The PGA Tour reserves a small number of spots each week for non-Tour members through sponsor exemptions and Monday qualifiers. Non-members who compete in PGA Tour events through these avenues and perform well enough can earn Special Temporary Membership by accumulating the amount of FedExCup points equal to the player who finished 150th on the FedExCup list the previous season.

Once a player has accepted Special Temporary Membership, they can accept unlimited sponsor exemptions into PGA Tour events and can earn their card by finishing in the top 125 of the FedExCup points list during the regular season.

Without Special Temporary Membership, non-members can only accept up to seven sponsor exemptions and compete in up to 12 PGA Tour events in a season.

Players on a Special Temporary Membership are not eligible for the FedExCup playoffs.

5. PGA Tour U Gets College Golfers to the PGA Tour

Through PGA Tour U , the PGA Tour has removed some hurdles for the top collegiate players who begin their transition into the professional ranks when their amateur careers end.

Top collegiate players in the final year of their college careers earn ranking points based on their performance in the NCAA Division I championship, PGA Tour events, major championships, and the Dubai Desert Classic. At the end of the season, five PGA Tour University first-team and second-team honorees are identified, along with 10 PGA Tour University third-team players. 

The top player earns PGA TOUR membership for the rest of the season, plus the followig season. The top five players earn Korm Ferry Tour membership for the rest of the season, a spot in the Final Stage of Q-School, and the opportunity to accept unlimited sponsor exemptions into PGA Tour events throug the following season.

Nos. 6-10 earn conditional Korn Ferry Tour status for the current season, an exemption into the North American portion of the PGA TOUR Americas schedule, and an exemption into Second Stage of Q-School.

The 10 third-team honorees get exemptions to the North America Swing of the PGA TOUR Americas and exemptions into the Second Stage of Q-School.

6. Win a PGA Tour Event or Major Championship

The fastest way to earn a PGA Tour card is also the least likely. Anybody who wins a PGA Tour event gets an immediate two-year PGA Tour exemption. This means that any non-member who gets into the field at a PGA Tour event via a sponsor exemption or Monday qualifier, and goes on to win that event, gets their PGA Tour card.

While yes, this path is extremely rare, it's exactly what Nick Dunlap did in 2024. He entered a PGA Tour event, the American Express, as an amateur, and despite the astronomica odds, won the tournament. Shortly after, Dunlap took advantage of his two-plus year PGA Tour exemption by turning pro.

Major champions get even more luxury, securing a five-year exemption to both the PGA Tour and European Tour. Three of the four major championships each year reserve spots for amateur players , meaning that theoretically an amateur could win the Masters, U.S. Open or Open Championship and secure their PGA Tour card for the next five years.

Benefits of a Tour Card

By having a PGA Tour card, a golfer can play in PGA Tour events. Many players also receive sponsor endorsements and advertising contracts. The PGA Tour card provides the player the opportunity to win large purses in tournaments . Players who make the cut in routine PGA Tour events generally cash at least a five-figure check, with that amount increasing with higher-stature events and major championships.

In 1965, the first PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (called Q-School) was held and John Schlee won the event. In 1968 and 1969 and from 1975 to 1981, there were two tournaments each year.

Until 2013, Q-School was used to grant membership to the PGA Tour. From 2013 to 2023, Q-School served as a gateway to the Korn Ferry Tour, with PGA Tour Cards handed out through the Korn Ferry Tour regular season and finals.

Misconceptions

Many people think that if a player holds a PGA Tour Card, he can play in any event on the PGA tour. However, new PGA tour players are eligible for tournaments but players commit to tournaments based on their priority ranking. Players with lower priority rankings can only play an event when it's not already full by the time they have a chance to commit.

Major Changes to PGA Tour: How Pros Keep PGA Tour Cards in The Future

A lot of things you thought you knew about the PGA TOUR just changed. Well, not just this second, but over the last few weeks with more in the upcoming months. It’s all in an effort to secure the place of the PGA TOUR as the most elite, competitive golf organization on the planet. To understand this new system, you’ll need to know these numbers: 125, 70, 50, 30, 20 and 15.

First, the top 125 PGA TOUR players in FedEx points at the end of this season will still be exempt for the next season. Exempt means they are guaranteed a PGA TOUR card. But the way it’s determined will change slightly starting with this year’s FedEx Playoffs.

Here’s the big change: The top 125 won’t get to enter the Playoffs. Just the top 70. That is about half of the number that previously played. Or oops! If your favorite pro ends up at No. 71 or 72. He doesn’t get to participate in the Playoffs, but he still has a good chance to retain his card for the next season, during which he can maybe get back to that top 70 position.

In the FedEx Playoffs, there are some changes.

The first playoff event will be the FedEx St. Jude, and that’s the one where only the top 70 will be eligible. That is just under half of the number that previously played, which was 125. Anyone who makes that top 70 is guaranteed a PGA TOUR card for the next year, meaning they can play in any event, including invitationals and events with the biggest purses.

Then, the next two Playoff events are cut to top 50 for BMW and top 30 for TOUR Championship. The BWM was previously 70 players. So that’s 20 more who will be going home early, but they are still in good shape for the next season.

If your favorite makes the top 30 and the TOUR Championship, he’s good for the next two years, even if he did not have an exemption for a victory. That’s a big change. Two-year exemptions have not been given for anything but victories in the past. However, in recent years, we have had several rookies, some non-winners and the occasional veteran get to the top 30 in a season. This modification encourages stars to stay with the PGA TOUR.

The other thing all these changes do is to amp up the competition a lot. Golfers have to perform to stay on the PGA TOUR. No lollygagging. No taking a while to tweak a swing unless they have five-year PGA TOUR exemptions for winning majors or THE PLAYERS.

Now, here’s the get out of jail free card. After the TOUR Championship, those who did not make the top 70 will be able to add to their point total in the fall tournaments to upgrade their status. Nobody has announced how that will work as yet, so there are questions, particularly for those who are in the 50- to 70-point list. Could they get bumped out of their spot? Probably not, but there are unknowns at this juncture. 

Regardless, the fall events will allow those placed 71 and above to improve their point position for the following season by playing in the fall events. We don’t know if those at 70 and better on the list will be able to add to theirs, but no one has said they can’t. It is sure that guys who are in the 126-150 slots will do their darnedest to unseat players in the 70-125 group. If you like full contact golf, this is as close as it gets. Every point will matter when it comes to having a chance to play the following season. 

This is not altogether different from the days before FedEx points when it was top 125 in money or before the all-exempt tour, when it was top 60 were guaranteed a place to play, period. In those years, players lower in status would play in the fall to add to their money list total and move up to get a better shot at entering tournaments in the next season. Same idea here.

End of season tournaments may allow some who are in the 126-175 or so to move into the top 125 and secure a card and a better chance at entering tournaments. Right now, the lower priority a guy has, the harder it is for him to enter an event. We don’t know what will happen with jostling in this category, but some are going to go away unhappy with their performance at the end of the season. 

Advancing in points during the fall is made harder by the fact that the Zozo and CJ Cup are limited field events that invite a specific number of players. In addition, two of them have many exemptions for golfers on the Japan Tour (Zozo) and the Korean Tour in (CJ Cup).

When the dust settles, what happens is the top 70 get a guaranteed slot in every PGA TOUR event, including invitationals and events with the biggest purses. They are set. Once a player is in the top 70, he’s good for the next year. If he doesn’t stay there, he has problems.

Then, starting next January, the future seasons will begin with the calendar year. There is no more wrap-around season. No more sort of starting in September and then going to the following September.  (Thank goodness!)

In addition to the top 70 becoming the new benchmark, there is another change in the pecking order, too. 

Lifetime Status

Lifetime status comes sooner if you are a prolific winner. In the past, a player had to have 20 victories and play for 15 seasons on the PGA TOUR to get lifetime status. Lifetime means he can enter any regular, non-invitational PGA TOUR tournament, even if he is lower than the top 70. Davis Love III, for example, is in this category, although it’s hard to believe any tournament would ever say no to him.

Now, if a player wins 20 times, he doesn’t have to wait for the 15 years. Let’s call this the Rory McIlroy rule, but it could just as easily be the Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus or the Arnold Palmer rule.

McIlroy joined the PGA TOUR in 2010 although he’d been a pro in Europe for a few seasons before that. He reached that magic number 20 in the fall of 2021 with a victory at the CJ Cup. He’s gathered up three more since then. But the 15-year criteria wouldn’t give him lifetime status until 2025. Now, he has it. Deservedly so.

To compare to legends in the game, Woods had 20 PGA TOUR victories by the middle of 2000, and he started his career in the fall of 1996. So that’s 20 victories in less than five years. Jack Nicklaus won 20 times in his first six years on the PGA TOUR. Arnold Palmer won 20 between August of 1955 and June of 1960.

There are 14 more golfers who have 20 or more PGA TOUR victories who are still alive. Can you name them? Two of them have flown the coop. They’re on another tour that we don’t talk about here in PVB!

(Answer: Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Vijay Singh, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Dustin Johnson, Gary Player, Raymond Floyd, Davis Love III, Lanny Wadkins, Hale Irwin and Greg Norman.)

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The Alliance of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour: Here’s What to Know

The details of the partnership are far from complete, according to a document outlining the framework of the deal.

By Kevin Draper

The PGA Tour, the world’s pre-eminent professional golf league, and LIV Golf, a Saudi-funded upstart whose emergence over the past year and a half has cleaved the sport in two, have agreed to join forces.

The pact is complicated and incomplete: A document submitted to Congress and obtained by The New York Times includes only a handful of binding commitments . But numerous golfers hate it, and for the moment they are directing their wrath at the architects of the deal. Let’s start from the beginning.

What are the PGA Tour and LIV Golf?

The PGA Tour holds tournaments nearly every weekend, mostly in the United States but also in other countries in North America, Europe and Asia, with prize pools worth millions of dollars. The tour has been the home to practically every male golfer you can name: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and so on.

It has relationships with, but is separate from, the organizations that stage men’s golf’s four majors: the Masters Tournament, the P.G.A. Championship, the U.S. Open and the British Open. (The L.P.G.A., which runs the women’s tour, is separate.)

LIV Golf began in late 2021 with the former PGA Tour player Greg Norman as its commissioner and billions of dollars in backing from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which is known as the Public Investment Fund. LIV lured several PGA Tour players, including the major champions Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, with massive purses and guaranteed payouts that far surpassed what they could earn on the established circuit.

LIV promised a sharp break from golf’s fusty traditionalism, starting with its name, which, when pronounced, rhymes with “give” but is actually the Roman numeral for 54, the number of holes played in each tournament. LIV had music blaring at its events, looser dress codes and team competitions — and tournaments that lasted three days instead of four. Further, and of particular appeal to potential players, while the PGA Tour tournaments cut golfers with the worst scores after two rounds, LIV did not cut anyone.

What was the relationship between the leagues before the deal?

Acrimonious, to put it lightly. Players who joined LIV were forced to resign from the PGA Tour — and its European equivalent, the DP World Tour — under the threat of suspension and fines. LIV sued the PGA Tour, and the PGA Tour countersued, litigation that is technically continuing (though the deal is supposed to resolve it).

PGA Tour supporters and other critics of LIV said the venture was simply an attempt by the Saudi government to distract attention from its human rights record, while LIV supporters said the PGA Tour was a monopoly that used inappropriate strong-arm tactics to protect its position in big-time sports.

And yet now they are combining?

It seems so. The PGA Tour and LIV announced on June 6 the creation of a new entity that would combine their assets, as well as those of the DP World Tour, and radically change golf’s governance.

The PGA Tour would remain a nonprofit organization and would retain full control over how its tournaments are played. But all of the PGA Tour’s commercial business and rights — such as the extremely lucrative rights to televise its tournaments — would be owned by a new, yet unnamed, for-profit entity that is currently called “NewCo.” NewCo will also own LIV as well as the commercial and business rights of the DP World Tour.

The board of directors for the new for-profit entity would be led by Yasir al-Rumayyan, who is the governor of the Public Investment Fund and also oversees LIV. Three other members of the board’s executive committee would be current members of the PGA Tour’s board, and the tour would appoint the majority of the board and hold a majority voting interest, effectively controlling it.

What have they agreed on?

Not much, it turns out. The PGA Tour’s tentative deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund includes only a handful of binding commitments, such as a nondisparagement agreement and a pledge to dismiss acrimonious litigation. (The sides have already moved to end their legal fights .) What it does not include is a clear path of what lies ahead for the tours: Many of the most consequential details about the future of men’s professional golf have not been resolved, and were left to be negotiated by the end of the year.

Most crucially, the tour and the wealth fund must still come to terms on the values of the assets that each will contribute to their planned partnership. Bankers and lawyers have spent recent weeks beginning the valuation process, but a five-page framework agreement obtained by The New York Times includes no substantive details of projected figures or even the size of an anticipated cash investment from the wealth fund.

And one issue the two parties had agreed on has been removed. The framework agreement included a nonsolicitation clause, which said the PGA Tour and LIV Golf would not “enter into any contract, agreement or understanding with” any “players who are members of the other’s tour or organization.” But the two sides, facing pressure from the Justice Department, decided to abandon that clause .

When does this take effect?

First, the idea also has to be approved by the PGA Tour’s policy board, what it calls its board of directors, which includes some people who were left out of the secret negotiations for this deal in the spring.

The policy board is made up of five independent directors, including Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne, who helped negotiate the deal. The board also includes five players: Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Rory McIlroy and Webb Simpson.

Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, said on June 6 that there was only a “framework agreement” and not a “definitive agreement,” with many details still to be decided. The definitive agreement needs a vote before it can go forward.

And for the rest of 2023, all the tours will remain separate, and all their tournaments will continue as scheduled.

And after that?

Who knows? This is how Monahan answered questions about what golf might look like in the future on the day the alliance was revealed.

Will LIV continue to exist as a separate golf league? “I don’t want to make any statements or make any predictions.”

Will LIV golfers go back to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour? “We will work cooperatively to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to reapply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour,” Monahan wrote in a letter to players.

Will PGA Tour players, many of whom spurned LIV and its huge paydays, receive compensation? Will LIV players somehow be forced to give up the money they were guaranteed? “I think those are all the serious conversations that we’re going to have,” Monahan told reporters.

How do players feel about all of this?

Broadly, LIV players seem to think they have gained a major victory, and they are probably right. They got their cake (huge paydays) and can eat it (a pathway to returning to the PGA Tour), too.

Mickelson, the first major player to leave for LIV, tweeted that it was an “awesome day today.” Koepka took a jab at Brandel Chamblee, a former professional golfer and current television commentator, who has been vocally anti-LIV.

Many PGA Tour players were less jubilant. They were blindsided by the news, learning of the agreement when the public did, and they did not seem to understand why the tour waged a legal war against LIV and a war of morality against Saudi money, only to invite the wolf into the henhouse.

On the day the news broke, Monahan met with a group of players in Toronto at the Canadian Open, which was set to start in two days, and afterward told reporters it was “intense, certainly heated.”

Johnson Wagner, a PGA Tour player, said on the Golf Channel that some players at the meeting called for Monahan’s resignation.

“There were many moments where certain players were calling for new leadership of the PGA Tour, and even got a couple standing ovations,” he said. “I think the most powerful moment was when a player quoted Commissioner Monahan from the 3M Open in Minnesota last year when he said, ‘As long as I’m commissioner of the PGA Tour, no player that took LIV money will ever play the PGA Tour again.’”

Wagner estimated that 90 percent of the players in the meeting were against the merger.

McIlroy, perhaps the most influential PGA Tour player not named Tiger Woods, said he was reluctantly in favor of the agreement. McIlroy said he had “come to terms” with Saudi money in golf. “Honestly, I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that this is, you know, this is what’s going to happen,” he said.

I see a photo of former President Trump up there. Is he involved in this?

Yes, though not directly. The Trump Organization owns golf courses around the world, and Donald J. Trump has for years sought to host major tournaments on its properties. Those efforts suffered a setback after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, as the golf establishment distanced itself from the former president. Most significantly, the P.G.A. of America pulled the 2022 P.G.A. Championship from the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

But Trump had cultivated unusually close ties to Saudi Arabia while president, and Saudi-backed LIV had no problem embracing him. Last year, two LIV events were held at Trump courses, and this year it will be three.

Trump’s son Eric said that the agreement between LIV and the PGA Tour was a “wonderful thing for the game of golf” and that he expected tournaments to continue to be held at Trump-owned courses. He declined to comment on whether the Trump family played any role in bringing the two parties together.

If the PGA Tour was so against LIV and Saudi money, what changed?

“Listen, circumstances change, and they’ve been changing a lot over the last couple years,” Monahan said.

Get it? No?

“What changed? I looked at where we were at that point in time, and it was the right point in time to have a conversation,” Monahan said.

Between the lines, Monahan made it sound like the agreement came down to money and competition, as it often does. To compete with LIV, the PGA Tour has enhanced purses, supported the DP World Tour financially and pursued extremely expensive litigation. “We’ve had to invest back in our business through our reserves,” Monahan said.

He also said the ability to “take the competitor off of the board” while retaining control was significant.

Can anybody else stop the deal from going through?

The Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission or the European Commission could certainly try.

For about a year, the Justice Department has been investigating the tight-knit relationship between the PGA Tour and other powerful entities in golf. Among its questions is whether the organizations have exerted improper influence over the Official World Golf Rankings, which determine players’ eligibility for certain events and can be an important factor in their success and income.

As part of their deal, LIV and the PGA Tour agreed to drop their dueling lawsuits, but doing so would not necessarily change the Justice Department’s inquiry. If there were any illegal conduct by the PGA Tour, a merger would not prevent the PGA Tour from being punished for it.

“The announcement of a merger doesn’t forgive past sins,” said Bill Baer, who led the Justice Department’s antitrust division during the Obama administration.

The federal government, through the Justice Department and the F.T.C., also reviews more than 1,000 mergers for approval each year, and the European Commission reviews them for the European Union. Without a definitive agreement, it is not clear whether this might be the type of combination regulators could block or whether they would try to do so.

Saudi Arabia seems to have grand sports ambitions. Will it always remain a junior partner to the PGA Tour in golf?

As always, Saudi Arabia has the perfect vehicle to gain more control: money.

The Public Investment Fund will invest “billions,” according to its governor, al-Rumayyan, into the new for-profit entity. It will also hold “the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including into the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour,” according to the release announcing the agreement.

If the Public Investment Fund invests more money, it will surely demand more board seats and greater voting rights, further tilting control of men’s professional golf toward the kingdom.

Kevin Draper is an investigative reporter on the Sports desk, where he has written about workplace harassment and discrimination, sexual misconduct, doping, league investigations and high-profile court cases. More about Kevin Draper

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Here’s how the final FedEx Cup standings affect a player’s PGA Tour status

The PGA Tour regular season has come to a close, and the final FedEx Cup standings before the three-week-long playoffs are finally set in stone . That’s good news for many players, and not-so-good news for others.

Since 2013, the final FedEx Cup standings after the regular season finale have been used to determine exemption status for the following year on the PGA Tour rather than the season-long money list. So needless to say that where you fall in the FedEx Cup standings has a huge impact on being able to maintain your Tour card .

Along with qualifying for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, players who finish in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings after the Wyndham Championship are fully exempt for the PGA Tour the following season.

Falling outside of the top 125 is where things get a bit more complicated. First and foremost, a sub-125 finish in the standings does not qualify one for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. But if you’ve won a PGA Tour event, World Golf Championship, FedEx Cup, or major title and still have exempt seasons left from the win, you can still keep your card and remain on Tour.

If you’re in the top-25 or top-50 in all-time earnings on the PGA Tour, you’ll also remain fully exempt. Those distinctions can be used only once to get an exemption. Anyone who has won at least 20 times on the PGA Tour has a lifetime exemption.

If none of the above applies to you, then conditional status on Tour is available to you the following season. If you finish between 126th and 150th in the standings, you are guaranteed limited status. But that doesn’t mean you can’t win back that oh-so-desired Tour card.

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If you finish between 126th and 200th in the FedEx Cup standings, you’re qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. It’s a three-tournament event that combines those 75 players with the top 75 earners on the Korn Ferry Tour money list during the regular season.

There are 25 cards are up for grabs, as 25 cards have already been given to those who finished in the top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour money list during the regular season. If you finish in the top 25 in earnings during the Finals, then you get your PGA Tour card back and are fully exempt.

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Season Preview

9 things to know heading into the 2022-23 PGA Tour season

Kevin C. Cox

Just two weeks removed from the craziest season in PGA Tour history a new season resumes at this week’s Fortinet Championship. But the ripple effects of everything that happened this year—including a repossessed parking spot —are just beginning to be felt. The schedule will be different. The stakes will be different. Heck, the criteria for earning a PGA Tour card will be different. So to help sort it all out, we broke down all the significant changes you need to know heading into the new season.

1. There will be a LOT more prize money

And we don't use the all caps button lightly. There is now $428 million at stake for 44 regular events (up about 15 percent after already going up last year) and that doesn’t include the $75 million FedEx Cup bonus pool. And it’s not just the rich getting richer. For the first time, players are guaranteed $500,000 in prize money, and rookies and players returning to the tour can draw against future earnings if they want. This should put a lot of players more at ease when hitting the road and deciding to treat themselves to a stay at the Marriott instead of the Econo Lodge. Lower-ranked players also will receive a tournament travel stipend of $5,000. Good news for golfers. More bad news for Econo Lodge.

2. There will be a LOT more PIP money

And more players receiving it. In the first year of the PGA Tour's Player Impact Program—AKA PIP—10 players got varying cuts of a $40 million pot, but that's been raised to 20 players divvying up $100 million . In other words, it pays to be popular. Which is GREAT news for Rickie Fowler.

Donald Miralle

3. PIP means a lot more

But the cool kids won't just be getting an end-of-the-year bonus now. Being in the top 20 of PIP will also get those players into the biggest events of the season. Regardless of how they're playing. Speaking of those biggest events …

4. There will be ELEVATED events

To combat LIV Golf taking some of the PGA Tour's best—and, yes, most popular—players, the tour basically created a LIV tour within its season by ELEVATING (sorry, we just love that term) some existing events. A dozen tournaments will get this ELEVATED status, which means they will dole out $20 million purses similar to LIV to a select field (still TBD) of top players including those 20 PIP guys. The best news for golf fans is that we'll get to see these guys all playing in the same events a lot more. So in a way, we're getting a bit of a bonus, too.

5. The LIV guys are out … for now

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has made clear that defectors to LIV Golf are banned from coming back. That being said, a judge may have something different to say. At some point. A lawsuit originally brought by 11 LIV golfers against the PGA Tour (the number is down to seven now after some dropouts) is still pending with a summary judgement date set for July 23, 2023, and an expected trial date of Jan. 8, 2024. No matter what the outcome is, it sounds like some lawyers will be making some ELEVATED salaries for the next couple years.

Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf

6. It will be more difficult to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs

A lot more difficult, in fact. Since the inception of the PGA Tour's postseason in 2007, 125 players have gotten in, but that will be cut to the top 70 now . That means you better really step up your game if you want to dive into that Scrooge McDuck pool of cash at the end of the season. That also means …

7. It will be more difficult to keep your PGA Tour card

Only those top 70 will be fully exempt for the following season. Again, instead of the 125 who usually keep their cards through the regular season. What happens to those who finish outside the top 70? Well, the details are stilll being worked out, but essentially, there will be a series of fall events in which players will compete for PGA Tour cards. So it’s kind of like a combination between the old Q School and the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, which has been scrapped. (Oh, and there will be a PGA Tour Q school again with five spots available.)

8. It's the last wrap-around season

At least, technically. As we just mentioned, you’ll see golf in the fall, it just won’t count towards the following season’s point totals. So no more jokes about the PGA Tour’s off-season being shorter than a typical Taylor Swift relationship. The guys will get some proper time off between seasons. But a select few will play one extra week because …

Warren Little

9. It’s a Ryder Cup year

On top of everything else, golf’s fiercest rivalry (well, at least until LIV came along) will renew. And with a potentially vastly different cast of characters. As of now, all LIV guys have been bounced from consideration, including Henrik Stenson, who was supposed to captain the squad. In his place, Luke Donald will have a much shorter list of guys to choose from when qualifying ends at a Sept. 3 cut-off date. Meanwhile, U.S. captain Zach Johnson will finalize his team after the second FedEx Cup Playoff event, the BMW Championship. Like Steve Stricker in 2021, Johnson will make six captain's picks so American golfers should probably start buttering up ZJ now.

RELATED: 10 golfers who will make you money this PGA Tour season

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