what does pga tour card look like

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.

What Is A PGA Tour Card? (All You Need To Know)

Becoming a PGA Tour player is the pinnacle of professional golf. To be a part of this elite group, professionals need to work their way into earning a prestigious PGA Tour Card.

A PGA Tour Card is what players earn to play on the PGA tour. However, being able to play in a PGA tour event does not always require a PGA Tour Card.

Given that there are many nuisances to PGA Tour Cards and what they mean for eligibility, there are a lot of questions that surround what having a PGA Tour Cards actually means.

In the article below, we’ll cover how many cards are available, how golfers earn a card, can players lose their card, and so much more.

If you are interested in learning all there is to know about PGA Tour Cards, keep reading below for a complete guide!

How Do Players Get Their PGA Tour Cards?

New players need to work their way into the PGA Tour. This happens by playing in Korn Ferry Tour, a developmental league for rising stars as well as a league for players kicked out of the PGA tour due to poor play. The top 30 players in the Korn Ferry Tour will earn their PGA Tour Cards.

Current PGA Tour Card holders keep their PGA Tour Card from winning PGA tournaments, placing highly in the FedEx Cup rankings, or through exemptions by hitting certain milestones. There are also medical exemptions which protect players with an injury from losing their tour status.

Winning on tour is the best way to get and keep a PGA Tour Card. A great example of this is the PGA Championship.

Players who win the PGA Championship receive a lifelong exemption to play in the tournament.

PGA Tournament Champions also secure a spot in the Masters, Open Championship and US Open for the subsequent 5 years along with a PGA Tour card for the next 5 years.  

Winning on tour is tough, so many players rely on FedEx Cup  rankings to stay eligible.

FedEx Cup rankings take each players tournament performance to calculate their rankings, with wins and top finishes receiving a higher point value.

Is There An Actual PGA Tour Card?

Yes, PGA Tour players get a physical PGA Tour Card when they make it on tour. However, PGA Tour players do not need to show their card to enter events .

Tournament officials will know before the event who has qualified to play.

So, what does a PGA Tour card look like? It is a small, rectangular plastic issued to professional golfers who have earned their playing privileges for the PGA Tour.

The card typically features the PGA Tour logo prominently displayed, along with the player’s name, and other relevant information such as the player’s tour status and the year in which the card is valid.

How Many PGA Tour Cards Are There?

The number of active PGA Tour players can vary by definition. The best way to look at it is the number of available tour cards each year.

125 golfers will maintain their PGA Tour Cards each year along with 30 players from the Korn Ferry Tour being promoted up into the PGA Tour.

This means that there are 155 active tour players during a given golf season.

Does this mean that only 155 players are able to play in a PGA Tour event?

Well, not exactly.  There are other ways to play on tour which we will cover in the next section.  

Do You Need A PGA Tour Card To Play In A PGA Event?

You do not need a tour card to play in a PGA sponsored event. Player can play into tournaments by winning Monday qualifiers or earn exceptions through sponsors.

Monday qualifiers are essentially a mini day tournament where the top finishers are allowed to play in the tournament.

These spots for these qualifiers are typically reserved for players right outside of qualifying for the tour such as up and coming Korn Ferry players or prior PGA Tour Card holders.

Special exemptions are very different from qualifiers. The tournament sponsors essentially can pick individuals to play in their event.

Past winners or a local PGA Pro may be invited to play without the proper qualifications to enter the event.

Can Players Lose Their PGA Tour Card?

The unfortunate reality is that every year PGA Tour player lose their eligibility. You may wonder who gets to keep their PGA Tour Card each year.

As we covered above, PGA Tour status is determined by FedEx standings, promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour, or by PGA Tour tournament wins.

Players in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup are eligible for a PGA Tour Card. Golfers who fall outside the top 125 must work their way back into good standing.

Players that finish 126–150 in the standings are given conditional status on tour and full status on the Korn Ferry Tour. These players can play in PGA tour events if spots are available in the field.

How Much Does A PGA Tour Card Cost?

There is a lot of money to be made on the PGA Tour. Earning a PGA Tour Card is a green light to make some serious cash if you have the nerves to compete.

Given this ability to earn, you might think that the PGA Tour would charge its players a premium for the privilege of playing, but this is not the case.

There is no cost to be a member of the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour makes its money from TV contracts and sponsorship, not membership dues.

The PGA wants to have the best players in the world in their events. Charging golfers an entry fee is nothing compared to the earnings they receive from their TV deals and event sponsors.

Check out our article on PGA Tour Expenses if you are interested in learning more about what it costs to be a tour player.

Final Thoughts

Qualifying for a PGA Tour Card is tough work. Promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour is almost as challenging as competing in the PGA.

Players need to be dedicated to the game to earn the right to play on tour.

Keeping a card is equally as tough. Players need to continually perform at a high level to keep their PGA Tour Card or win a major championship to ensure longevity on tour, both of which are monumental accomplishments.

Once a player gets on tour the winnings can be extraordinary.

The PGA Tour is truly the best of the best and so are the winnings. Its no wonder why players work their whole lives to get on tour.

Hopefully you liked this article and found it informative. Check out our other  blog posts if you liked this one!

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What Does a PGA Tour Card Look Like? Exploring the Qualifications, Benefits, and Evolving History of the Professional Golfers’ Association

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour Card is the most sought after membership in professional golf. Those who possess a PGA Tour Card have achieved a special status in the sport, as they are among the top players in the world. But what exactly does a PGA Tour Card look like, and what does it mean to have one? In this article, we’ll explore the qualifications needed to obtain a PGA Tour Card, the benefits of having one, and the history of the card and how it has evolved over time.

Interview with Professional Golfer Who Has a PGA Tour Card

To gain a better understanding of what it means to have a PGA Tour Card, we spoke to professional golfer Amanda Smith, who recently earned her card. Smith shared her journey to earning her card and the benefits she has experienced since obtaining it.

“I started playing competitively when I was a teenager,” Smith said. “I worked hard to improve my game, and eventually I was able to qualify for the PGA Tour. It took a lot of dedication and hard work to get where I am today, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Smith described the benefits she has experienced since earning her card. “Having a PGA Tour Card has opened up a lot of opportunities for me,” she said. “I’ve been able to play in some of the biggest tournaments in the world, and I’ve also been able to secure sponsorships from some of the top brands in golf. It’s been a great experience so far.”

Overview of the Qualifying Process for a PGA Tour Card

The PGA Tour has several tiers of qualifying for a PGA Tour Card. The first tier is the Qualifying Tournament, which consists of three stages: Pre-Qualifying, First Stage Qualifying, and Final Stage Qualifying. Players must successfully complete all three stages in order to move on to the next level, which is the Web.com Tour.

Players who finish in the top 25 of the Web.com Tour are eligible to receive their PGA Tour cards. Additionally, players who finish in the top 75 of the Web.com Tour are eligible to compete in the PGA Tour’s secondary events.

Explanation of What Benefits Come With Having a PGA Tour Card

Having a PGA Tour Card offers a variety of benefits, including access to exclusive events, increased exposure and sponsorships, and financial rewards. Players who have a PGA Tour Card are eligible to compete in any PGA Tour event, and they can also receive invites to exclusive tournaments such as the Masters and the Players Championship.

Having a PGA Tour Card also increases a player’s exposure and opens up opportunities for endorsements and sponsorships. This can lead to lucrative deals with major brands and more opportunities to play in high-profile tournaments. And finally, having a PGA Tour Card comes with financial benefits, as players can earn prize money and bonuses for their performances.

History of the PGA Tour Card and How it Has Evolved Over Time

The PGA Tour Card has been around since the early 1900s, but it has changed significantly over the years. Originally, the card was only available to professional golfers who had achieved a certain level of success in the sport. However, the introduction of the Qualifying Tournament and the Web.com Tour changed the landscape of professional golf and allowed more players to become eligible for the card.

Technology has also played an important role in the evolution of the PGA Tour Card. For example, the introduction of digital scorecards has made it easier for players to track their performances and stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates. Additionally, online leaderboards have provided players with more opportunities to showcase their skills and draw attention to their accomplishments.

Profile of a Player Who Recently Earned Their PGA Tour Card

To gain further insight into what it takes to earn a PGA Tour Card, we spoke to professional golfer Joe Johnson, who recently earned his card. Johnson shared his journey to achieving this milestone and the challenges he faced along the way.

“My path to earning my PGA Tour Card was long and challenging,” Johnson said. “I had to overcome a lot of adversity and make some tough decisions in order to reach my goal. But in the end, it was all worth it. Earning my card was one of the proudest moments of my life.”

Comparison of the Different Types of PGA Tour Cards

There are two types of PGA Tour Cards: Player Membership Cards and Non-Player Membership Cards. Player Membership Cards are issued to professional golfers who have qualified for the PGA Tour, while Non-Player Membership Cards are issued to those who support the sport, such as coaches, caddies, and media members. Both types of cards offer access to exclusive events and other benefits.

The PGA Tour Card is the most coveted membership in professional golf. To earn a card, players must go through a rigorous qualifying process, which includes competing in the Qualifying Tournament and the Web.com Tour. Having a PGA Tour Card comes with a variety of benefits, including access to exclusive events, increased exposure and sponsorships, and financial rewards. The card has evolved over time, due to changes in the qualifying process and the impact of technology on the sport. Earning a PGA Tour Card is no easy feat, but for those who pursue it, the rewards can be immense.

For those aspiring to earn their PGA Tour Card, remember that it takes hard work and dedication. As professional golfer Joe Johnson said, “It was a long and difficult journey, but it was all worth it in the end.

(Note: Is this article not meeting your expectations? Do you have knowledge or insights to share? Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. Click Registration to join us and share your expertise with our readers.)

Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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How To Become A PGA Tour Pro

There are various different ways to earn a PGA Tour card as we explain...

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Becoming a PGA Tour pro is a dream all young golfers have when starting out and aside from being very, very good at golf - take a look at our scratch handicap vs PGA Tour pro comparison for proof - the question is, how do you become one?

In ultra-simplistic terms, to officially become a PGA Tour pro you need to earn your PGA Tour card. So how is that done?

There are various different ways, with the world's best players earning theirs from a number of different routes.

Scottie Scheffler , for example, earned his PGA Tour card via the Korn Ferry Tour, while Jon Rahm earned his from capitalising on sponsors exemptions. Danny Willett earned his PGA Tour card after winning the 2017 Masters, while Corey Conners earned his after Monday qualifying and going on to win the Valero Texas Open.

Corey Conners Monday qualified into the 2019 Valero Texas Open and went on to win the tournament, earning a two-year PGA Tour exemption

Rahm turned pro in 2016, gained a sponsors exemption into the Quicken Loans National, finished T3rd to qualify for The Open before getting into the RBC Canadian Open too. He finished T2nd there to secure Special Temporary Member status on the PGA Tour and earned enough points in the remaining events in the season to secure his PGA Tour card for 2017.

Tom Kim was also given a Special Temporary Membership in 2022. The Korean star went on to win the Wyndham Championship to earn a two-year exemption and then another year was added on after his Shriners open win.

Earning enough points simply means accruing enough FedEx Cup points to sit inside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the regular season. All 125 are guaranteed to earn cards for the next season and go on to the Playoffs. Those who finish just outside of the top 125 will tend to earn a certain number of starts on the PGA Tour for next season, where good finishes will give them the chance to qualify for more tournaments and get into the fabled 125.

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Collin Morikawa 's route to earning a PGA Tour card was similar to Rahm's. As an elite amateur, he had sponsors exemptions when turning professional and managed to capitalise on them to make it to the big league.

A new way to earn a PGA Tour card is via the DP World Tour. Thanks to the new strategic alliance between the two tours , the top ten finishers (without cards already) on the Race to Dubai will all earn PGA Tour status.

Keith Pelley, DP World Tour CEO

The DP World Tour and Korn Ferry Tour are the main two feeders for the PGA Tour, with ten coming from the DP World Tour each year and a total of 30 cards handed out on the Korn Ferry Tour. Three wins in a single Korn Ferry Tour season also earns a 'battlefield' automatic promotion to the main tour.

There are routes to the Korn Ferry Tour via the other tours that the PGA Tour runs including its circuits in Canada and Latin America.

The top five finishers (and ties) at the Final Stage of 2023 Q-School will earn PGA Tour cards for 2024, while the number one player in the final PGA Tour University Velocity Global Ranking also earns a PGA Tour card.

Another way to earn your PGA Tour card is to win a PGA Tour event. To tee it up in a PGA Tour event without a PGA Tour card you need a sponsor's exemption or to earn a spot via one of the tournament's Monday qualifiers. 

A victory on the PGA Tour secures your card for at least two years. Some of the elevated events offer three-year exemptions with wins, while Major victories earn five-year exemptions.

Below we summarise the most common ways of earning a PGA Tour card:

• Earn one of the 30 cards given out to the Korn Ferry Tour top finishers.
• Earn one of the 10 cards given out to the DP World Tour top finishers.
• Finish in the top five of Final Stage Q-School.
• Rank number one at the end of the PGA Tour University Velocity Global Ranking.
• Win a PGA Tour event.
• Earn a sponsor's exemption and win enough points to earn your card.
• Win a Major.

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook , Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

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Score Card Procedure - Tour Pros in a tournament

• i havent got a clue!

By Ron , January 6, 2018 in Tour Talk

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Scorecards are printed out for each player.

The card will have the players name on one line and another line will have the scorekeeper line to record their score.

Cards are then exchanged among players in the group.

Every player will record an opponents score along with their own.

At the end of the round the cards are then given back to the players upon checking for correct scores and then signed.

Even on general course scorecards there are places at the bottom of cards for signatures by scorer and a person to attest the score.

15 minutes ago, Ron said: Even if somebody on the forum tries to answer this, you will see how difficult it is to cover every question that people will have.

It's not that difficult, they simply ask or confirm a score.

Johnny Rocket - Let's Rock and Roll and play some golf !!!

8 minutes ago, Club Rat said: Scorecards are printed out for each player. The card will have the players name on one line and another line will have the scorekeeper line to record their score. Cards are then exchanged among players in the group. Every player will record an opponents score along with their own. At the end of the round the cards are then given back to the players upon checking for correct scores and then signed. Even on general course scorecards there are places at the bottom of cards for signatures by scorer and a person to attest the score. It's not that difficult, they simply ask or confirm a score.

So on a Par 5, if you go down the left side of the hole, and your playing partner goes down the right side of the hole, you score a bogey, and your playing partner scores a double bogey;  how can you accurately confirm 13 different shots on the hole?  What if you didn't see him take 2 of his 7 shots?

Also, ask who?  What if the person that the player asks makes a mistake and the wrong score is put down and the other player signs it. DQ????  

• Administrator

@Ron , what's so hard here? You keep your fellow competitor's card. On days you're in a threesome, A keeps B, B keeps C, and C keeps A. They have a tear-off strip to write your own scores down.

If you don't know, you ask the guy. If he lies, and is caught, it's a DQ, yeah. (Assuming the score is lower than he got.)

And if you wrote down a 5 because you didn't ask the guy and you didn't pay attention when he took two swings out of the bunker and actually took a 6, it's on him to fix it in the scorer's tent, or maybe after nine when you quickly check the scores (if you do that in your group).

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2 hours ago, Ron said: Also, ask who?

You ask the player who you are recording their scores. You are just a player in a competition with other players, not a rules official, official scorer, or any other person involved in the tournament. If a player lies and you believe he may, you can question the circumstance or bring the incident to an official.

Tour Player don't make it to the Pro Tour by being cheaters.

Golf is a game about player honesty, sure there are a few that cheat at lower level competitions, but very rare in any USGA or Collegiate levels.  

3 minutes ago, iacas said: @Ron , what's so hard here? You keep your fellow competitor's card. On days you're in a threesome, A keeps B, B keeps C, and C keeps A. They have a tear-off strip to write your own scores down. If you don't know, you ask the guy. If he lies, and is caught, it's a DQ, yeah. (Assuming the score is lower than he got.) And if you wrote down a 5 because you didn't ask the guy and you didn't pay attention when he took two swings out of the bunker and actually took a 6, it's on him to fix it in the scorer's tent, or maybe after nine when you quickly check the scores (if you do that in your group).

OK.  I just wasn't sure.  One of the articles that I read said that the main reason that the system of keeping your fellow competitor's score came about was to ensure that a competitor did not enhance his score.  So honorable trust is still a huge factor.  Even for us amateurs, we all know that the quickest way to get blackballed in a club is to cheat on your score!!  

2 minutes ago, Club Rat said: You ask the player who you are recording their scores. You are just a player in a competition with other players, not a rules official, official scorer, or any other person involved in the tournament. If a player lies and you believe he may, you can question the circumstance or bring the incident to an official. Tour Player don't make it to the Pro Tour by being cheaters. Golf is a game about player honesty, sure there are a few that cheat at lower level competitions, but very rare in any USGA or Collegiate levels.  

OK, good, thanks.  I guess that is what I was looking for.  Honesty and trust!  I guess I should have realized that because when I think about it, I never heard any Pro complain about the scorecard system so I should have realized that it was not a big inconvenience.  Thanks again.

9 hours ago, Ron said: OK, good, thanks.  I guess that is what I was looking for.  Honesty and trust!  I guess I should have realized that because when I think about it, I never heard any Pro complain about the scorecard system so I should have realized that it was not a big inconvenience.  Thanks again.

I'm a long way from being a tour pro, but the same general procedure is followed at most club-level competitions too.  Its usually not hard to keep track of my fellow competitor's score as well as mine.  If I do lose track, I ask.  I tell my score to my "marker" as we walk off the green.  If I think someone has given me the wrong score, maybe lost track or forgot a shot, I double-check the shots with the guy.  At the end of the round, I compare the scores on my official scorecard ( that my FC has kept) with the scores I've kept for myself, to make sure the official one agrees.  If there are discrepancies, I consult with my FC to make sure we agree on the correct score.   At the end of the day, its MY job to report the correct scores for myself.  From everything I've ever heard, the pro tour follows the same general routine.

Its interesting that the people who complain about the scorecard procedure on the pro tours aren't the pros themselves.  

the only thing wrong with this car is the nut behind the wheel.

On 6.1.2018 at 3:15 PM, DaveP043 said: I'm a long way from being a tour pro, but the same general procedure is followed at most club-level competitions too.  Its usually not hard to keep track of my fellow competitor's score as well as mine.  If I do lose track, I ask.  I tell my score to my "marker" as we walk off the green.  If I think someone has given me the wrong score, maybe lost track or forgot a shot, I double-check the shots with the guy.  At the end of the round, I compare the scores on my official scorecard ( that my FC has kept) with the scores I've kept for myself, to make sure the official one agrees.  If there are discrepancies, I consult with my FC to make sure we agree on the correct score.    At the end of the day, its MY job to report the correct scores for myself.   From everything I've ever heard, the pro tour follows the same general routine. Its interesting that the people who complain about the scorecard procedure on the pro tours aren't the pros themselves.  

The bold part is the most important thing. Just in addition, here's the official definition of a marker in golf: " A marker is one who is appointed by the Committee to record a competitor's score in stroke play." , i.e. his only job is to write a competitor's score down, not to keep track of his shots.

So the only score you have to keep is your own. You then simply put down the score the other guy tells you he shot. If he gives you a score that's to high it's his bad. If he tells you a score that is too low and it comes out, also his bad.

In tour events, competitors giving a score that's too low should be a non-issue, since there's so many officials and cameras around and the potential punishment (DQ) is so severe that noone in his right mind would give a score that's too low on purpose.

If I'm playing in a club comp as marker for someone who's new to the game and oviously struggling to keep track of his shots or for someone who is known to not play by the rules from time to time I keep an eye on what he's doing and ask him if that's really what he shot when he tells me he made par after hitting one OOB off the tee...

5 hours ago, UlyssesSky said: The bold part is the most important thing. Just in addition, here's the official definition of a marker in golf: " A marker is one who is appointed by the Committee to record a competitor's score in stroke play." , i.e. his only job is to write a competitor's score down, not to keep track of his shots. So the only score you have to keep is your own. You then simply put down the score the other guy tells you he shot. If he gives you a score that's to high it's his bad. If he tells you a score that is too low and it comes out, also his bad. In tour events, competitors giving a score that's too low should be a non-issue, since there's so many officials and cameras around and the potential punishment (DQ) is so severe that noone in his right mind would give a score that's too low on purpose. If I'm playing in a club comp as marker for someone who's new to the game and oviously struggling to keep track of his shots or for someone who is known to not play by the rules from time to time I keep an eye on what he's doing and ask him if that's really what he shot when he tells me he made par after hitting one OOB off the tee...  

Well, I certainly have a better understanding of the procedure now and thank you all.  The third paragraph of the post from UlyssesSky illustrates why I think that the whole procedure is a bit outdated now.  Certainly, there must be a way for scores in Professional Golf to be kept by other than the players.  But then perhaps, that is what is so unique about Golf.

1 hour ago, Ron said: Well, I certainly have a better understanding of the procedure now and thank you all.  The third paragraph of the post from UlyssesSky illustrates why I think that the whole procedure is a bit outdated now.  Certainly, there must be a way for scores in Professional Golf to be kept by other than the players.  But then perhaps, that is what is so unique about Golf.

Go to a random tournament on a Thursday, and wander around away from the popular groups.  You'll see players and caddies, a dozen spectators, probably a teen-aged walking scoreboard person.  That's it.  No TV, no officials most of the time, so it has to fall on the players.  And if those guys have to be responsible for their scores, the entire field has to be.

3 hours ago, DaveP043 said: Go to a random tournament on a Thursday, and wander around away from the popular groups.  You'll see players and caddies, a dozen spectators, probably a teen-aged walking scoreboard person.   That's it.  No TV, no officials most of the time, so it has to fall on the players.  And if those guys have to be responsible for their scores, the entire field has to be.

I don't think that's accurate.  Not to open a whole can of worms on this scorecard thing, but I'm pretty sure there is at least one person walking with every group that is keeping each players score.  Real-time scoring updates on the around-the-course scoreboards and on pgatour.com (and the other various websites and apps) have to come from somewhere. ;)

2 minutes ago, Golfingdad said: I don't think that's accurate.  Not to open a whole can of worms on this scorecard thing, but I'm pretty sure there is at least one person walking with every group that is keeping each players score.  Real-time scoring updates on the around-the-course scoreboards and on pgatour . com (and the other various websites and apps) have to come from somewhere. ;)

You're not exactly correct. They come from the inputs of ShotLink people. If they miss a penalty drop or something, or don't see that the player hit two balls off the tee, you can get discrepancies in the online scoring. It happens now and then.

No walking scorers except at majors, typically.

Anyway, the ShotLink people are stationary. They're on each hole in a designated spot. Typically one near the landing area with their surveyor's equipment, and another near the green (par fours) so they can tag the shots.

So, they have no idea what the player got on the fourth hole, and the ones in the landing area of the fifth hole don't even know what the player scores for that fifth hole.

41 minutes ago, iacas said: You're not exactly correct. They come from the inputs of ShotLink people. If they miss a penalty drop or something, or don't see that the player hit two balls off the tee, you can get discrepancies in the online scoring. It happens now and then. No walking scorers except at majors, typically. Anyway, the ShotLink people are stationary. They're on each hole in a designated spot. Typically one near the landing area with their surveyor's equipment, and another near the green (par fours) so they can tag the shots. So, they have no idea what the player got on the fourth hole, and the ones in the landing area of the fifth hole don't even know what the player scores for that fifth hole.

15 minutes ago, Ron said: OK, I knew it was only a matter of time before the discrepancies started to appear.  And, I am NOT suggesting that anybody who has posted has been wrong!  It is only as I stated in my opening post, a difficult topic to explain, due to the many possible situations which can occur.

It's not a difficult situation. You switch cards with your playing partner, if you don't know what they got on a hole you ask them, and you have your scores on a tear-off strip to confirm at the end.

The later posts, like mine, are not "discrepancies." They don't affect the player's scorecards or scoring at all, really. That's entirely up to them, and is a pretty simple, straightforward process.

17 minutes ago, Ron said: That being, each player has only to record the score of his playing partner on each hole, as best as he can determine, or has been told, along with his own score on that hole.  He does NOT have to physically see every shot that his playing partner has made.

Pretty simple.

And everyone's agreed with that, AFAIK.

• 2 years later...

On 1/5/2018 at 8:41 PM, Club Rat said: Even on general course scorecards there are places at the bottom of cards for signatures by scorer and a person to attest the score.

For those type of scorecards (with multiple lines to put multiple players' names), does everyone still get an individual scorecard?  Or is there just one Marker/Scorer and anyone else just "attests" by signing it too?

2 hours ago, AgentSJ said: For those type of scorecards (with multiple lines to put multiple players' names), does everyone still get an individual scorecard? 

In our daily play, we do not. In tournament's,  yes each player receives individual cards with only one line for their score. Their is also a line for the marker to track his score.

But in the old days before printing scorecards, we simply used one card for two players and they would get signed by them.

When playing 4 ball, only one partner from each team needs to sign and attest.

Buckeyebowman

On 1/5/2018 at 11:04 PM, iacas said: @Ron , what's so hard here? You keep your fellow competitor's card. On days you're in a threesome, A keeps B, B keeps C, and C keeps A. They have a tear-off strip to write your own scores down. If you don't know, you ask the guy. If he lies, and is caught, it's a DQ, yeah. (Assuming the score is lower than he got.) And if you wrote down a 5 because you didn't ask the guy and you didn't pay attention when he took two swings out of the bunker and actually took a 6, it's on him to fix it in the scorer's tent, or maybe after nine when you quickly check the scores (if you do that in your group).

Exactly! I've only played in a couple of local tourneys, but we are expected to keep the score of our "playing competitor" and that of ourselves. It is not that difficult! 

On 1/12/2018 at 12:34 PM, iacas said: You're not exactly correct. They come from the inputs of ShotLink people. If they miss a penalty drop or something, or don't see that the player hit two balls off the tee, you can get discrepancies in the online scoring. It happens now and then. No walking scorers except at majors, typically. Anyway, the ShotLink people are stationary. They're on each hole in a designated spot. Typically one near the landing area with their surveyor's equipment, and another near the green (par fours) so they can tag the shots. So, they have no idea what the player got on the fourth hole, and the ones in the landing area of the fifth hole don't even know what the player scores for that fifth hole.

There are walking scorers volunteers on the PGA...even the LPGA too......scores recorded by walking scorers are not official scores...just to keep info flowing for score boards, etc...yes there can be discrepancies because of errors made by the walking scorers.

https://www.farmersinsuranceopen.com/volunteers/committee-chairs/committee-descriptions/

https://www.thefounderslpga.com/volunteers/committee-descriptions

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What Do Pros Have in Their Yardage Books? Things Have Changed

Written by Graeme Hay | Last Updated: 21/05/2024

One of the key advantages pro golfers take onto any golf course is preparation.

They are clearly superb golfers and massively more skilled than amateurs but how they prepare to play a golf course is another major differentiator from regular players and one vital aspect of that for many Tour pros is the information and notes they have in their yardage book.

As a whole pros have information on wind direction, yardages to and from various targets, fairway and green elevation changes, and images and diagrams of holes in their yardage books. Pros also add reminder notes specific to their own game and details collected during practice rounds or past tournaments at the same course.

The depth of information that PGA Tour pros have in their yardage books is incredible and to the layman it can often look like a baffling array of numbers and notes which belong more in an academic textbook rather than a golf notebook.

The volume of information in pro yardage books has also got ever more complex over the years and added to this myriad of numbers that already come in a yardage book issued at a PGA Tour event individual caddies and players will then add their own notes based on past experience and their practice rounds.

Indeed some players, like the great Tiger Woods, add notes based on where TV towers and grandstands have been placed in past tournaments!

However the rules on what players can and can’t write in their yardage books have changed and may change again in the future.

Also different pros have different relationships with yardage books.

While some feel they can not live without them others prefer not to carry one at all on the basis that they believe they do them more harm than good!

“I don’t know if I could actually play the golf course (The Old Course at St Andrews) without the TV towers because in all my yardage books it’s all based on grandstands and TV towers for alignment. We check them as we play our practice rounds to make sure they are in the exact same spots as they were. If not you shift your [aiming] lines over.” Tiger Woods (Source: The Open)

PGA Tour Yardage Books Are Accurate to Half an Inch!

The yardage books the pros have in their back pocket have come a long way.

In the 1970s nobody really had any real measurements to carry about notebooks and often relied just on pacing out certain shots.

Then caddies such as Pete Coleman, who worked for many major champions including Bernhard Langer, Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros, started to bring their expertise from outside of golf into the game and used measuring wheels to put together much more accurate and reliable yardage books.

Since that time the technological revolution which has hit golf clubs has also hit the world of yardage books and today multiple devices, including drones and high tech surveying instruments, are used to put together notebooks which contain all the details about a golf course the pros could ever want.

On the PGA Tour, pros and caddies have relied on the yardage books of Fred Funk’s former caddie Mark Long for over 20 years and these have an incredible amount of information in them including:

• Photo of the hole from the tee
• Alternative overview diagram of the tees, the fairway and green
• Wind direction compass
• Yardages to and from various areas to the front, middle and other specifically identified points on the green.
• Different points of elevation
• Close ups of the greens illustrating contours and yardages.

Indeed pro yardage books are so precise that the detail included for every hole is unique as different points are used to provide reference yardage points.

“[PGA Tour yardage books] are half an inch accurate …. We have to map the golf course and there’s different sources of information. We can use an aerial photo now and then. We can fly a drone to get information. We have surveying instruments; that’s our main thing. We literally walk around and map the outline of a fairway or map sprinker heads and things like that. All that goes in out of a (computer-adied-design) program.” Mark Long, producer of PGA Tour Yardage books

So much data and information are now available about PGA Tour golf courses that in recent times separate ‘greens books’ have been produced, in addition to the full hole yardage books, to provide exact details about the contours of each and every green.

Examples of the images included in these ‘greens books’ are shown below and amazingly these are put together through the use of a laser which measures each green to within one-eighth of an inch of accuracy!

And the quest for the perfect information in pro yardage books does not end there as every year these books are updated to record any changes that have been made at the course since the tournament was played the season before.

This is also not mentioning the ‘pin sheet’ which is provided to the pros each day of tournament play which includes how far the pin is from the centre of the green and from the edges of the green it is closest too!

[Editor’s note – Yardage books at Augusta for the Masters are different to the standard PGA Tour ones and only give one yardage from specified fairway spots to the front of the green]

Things don’t stop there however when it comes to the information the pros have in their yardage books.

The yardage books which are issued on the PGA Tour for each event are just the start. Each individual player and caddie can then start to add more notes to them specific to how they want to play the hole.

At its most basic some pros and caddies will simply transfer the information from the day’s pin sheet into the yardage book while others will make important reminders they don’t want to forget when they reach that hole.

A great example of this is the image below from Collin Morikawa’s yardage book for the famous par-3 12th hole at Augusta where he quite clearly does not want to forget that lots of great players have found a watery grave by aiming too far right on that green!

Others, including the great Tiger Woods, will add notes to their yardage books in relation to where they want to aim based on where grandstands and TV towers are positioned and will then check whether they have moved from the previous tournament when they return a year or number of years later.

As a consequence some pros yardage books can be seen as a bit of a time capsule recording the yardages, how a course was set up and what different clubs and approaches to holes they took in a specific tournament and year.

Indeed some pros such as Ian Poulter have made a feature out of all their yardage books in their homes! Check out the video below!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ian Poulter (@ianjamespoulter)

Different Pros Use Yardage Books in Different Ways

A yardage book is handed to every pro and caddie at the start of every tournament.

And given the detailed information which they include you may think that all the pros carry them in their back pocket and refer to them constantly throughout their round.

However just like every pros swing is different, individual pros use yardage books in different ways.

Some pros rely on them totally, see them as a vital tool and will add a huge amount of extra notes to the already massive amount of data they already include when handed over to them.

“My head’s in [my yardage book]. I’m always looking at yardage books … I feel like the yardage book is really crucial to kind of know where you want to position the golf ball, how far you want to hit off the tee and what club you need to use.” Former Masters Chamption, Patrick Reed

Former Masters champion Patrick Reed for example says he is constantly looking at his yardage book while former USPGA champion Keegan Bradley uses it as a key part of his routine taking it out and checking it for every shot.

He also uses it as a guide adding extra notes to it such as “one shot at a time” to help remind him to stay focused.

Others, including 2-time PGA Tour winner Matt Jones, not only use them as much as they can but also use them in co-ordination with their caddies with both using their own individual notebooks on every hole to get a yardage and then cross-checking their numbers to confirm they are right.

There are then other groups of pros however who actually don’t use their yardage books at all and rely entirely on their caddies to give them the correct yardage and details for every shot they play.

2-time Masters Champion, Bubba Watson, former British Open Champion Shane Lowry and 4-time major winner Brooks Koepka are examples of pros who don’t carry a yardage book for a variety of reasons.

Brooks Koepka for example used to carry a yardage book but stopped because he felt he got too detail-orientated as a result and it led him to focus too much on the negatives, such as where all the bunkers and hazards were, before each shot.

Bubba Watson doesn’t carry one meanwhile because he feels he remembers everything well enough in his head from past tournaments and indeed tests himself each tournament against his caddie who carries a yardage book complete with details from the last 5 years!

“I don’t carry a yardage book. Teddy (caddie) carries that thing around. Teddy writes down the last 5 years roughly until a new yardage book comes out but I remember it all. I can tell him 7 years ago what club we hit, which way the wind was going and he’ll look in his book and go. Yeah, you’re right.” 2-time Masters Champion, Bubba Watson

And the different habits and quirks between pros and their yardage books don’t end there.

The great Tiger Woods for example will always carry his yardage book in his back right pocket but if he’s only carrying a pin sheet without a yardage book then he will place the pin sheet in his front left pocket!

So as you can see while all the pros and their caddies get issued with yardage books they all use them in whatever way they feel will allow them to play their best.

What Pros are Allowed to Write in Yardage Books Has Changed

Technology, in the same way it has done with golf clubs, has transformed the yardage books pros use.

High tech survey instruments, lasers and even drones are now used to put together the supremely detailed yardage books PGA Tour pros and their caddies carry around but one thing that has not changed is the additional notes players and caddies add to their notebooks.

However much information they have contained in the past up to the present day pros and caddies have always written extra notes in their yardage books.

As a general rule golfers write notes in their yardage books that are specific to their game and course strategy. Added details include wind strength and direction, clubs played, club speeds and spin rates recorded in practice rounds and past years’ events. Reminder notes on how to play the hole are also often written.

However like the distance debate in golf many people have become concerned about the level of detail now included and available to be added as notes to yardage books believing that is reducing the amount of skill required.

As a result in 2022 the PGA Tour introduced a new ‘player driven’ rule that not only reduced the information available to pro golfers and their caddies about the greens on a course but also the type of handwritten notes they would be allowed to add to their yardage books.

From 2022 onwards PGA Tour pros and their caddies will therefore be given a ‘Tour approved’ yardage book at every event they play and although it will contain the same information from tee to green the data provided when it comes to the greens has been hugely reduced.

All the detailed information shown in the example green images above has been removed and the green diagrams in the new yardage books only include the shape and depth of a green, as well as small lines and arrows that highlight any slopes that measure 4.5% or more.

In addition pros are only able to add handwritten notes about the greens that come ‘directly from the naked eye.’

As a result golfers and caddies can add handwritten notes about greens and slopes only if it has been gathered with their own eyes and not if it has been told to them by someone else or been gathered with the help of slope-reading technology.

On PGA Tour,if,before the round,your coach comes to you and says “8 is playing extremely long. No one has gotten it to the green today.”You can write that down.If he says “that putt on 8 today is extremely slow. No one has gotten it to the hole.” You cannot write that down. — John Wood (@Johnwould) January 6, 2022

This rule change about handwritten notes has in particular proved controversial as lasers, launch monitors and another tech can still be used anywhere other than on the greens to measure and add notes on distance or slope percentage or any other data the pro wants.

“The purpose of this rule is to return to a position where players and caddies use only their skill, judgment and feel along with any information gained through experience, preparation, and practice to read the line of play on the putting green,” said a memo the PGA Tour sent to players.

However many, including the youngest member of Golf Magazine’s “Top 100 Teachers in America” Chris Como and renowned putting coach Phil Kenyon, have questioned the sense of the new handwritten notes rule on the basis of it only being applied to putting and the greens and not other areas of the course.

“What a ridiculous rule. It’s stupid in fact. It serves no purpose. It’s indeed skill limiting.” wrote Kenyon on Twitter and this comment was quickly agreed with by Bryson DeChambeau who has long been a big believer in a data-driven approach to golf.

Chris Como added: “Anything that impedes innovation of thought or practices takes away from the beauty of the game. I think it’s a mistake to go down the ‘if you’re going to do it in putting do it across the board’ rabbit hole. Just don’t do it!!! One of the great joys of this game is the endless treasure hunt of finding small edges that add up over time.”

Whether the rule remains or not however one thing is clear.

Pros and their caddies will continue to write any handwritten notes into their yardage books that they feel will help their game and are within the rules of the game.

Other great articles related to this topic:

• Are There Any PGA Tour Pros Without a Hole in One?
• What Percentage of Putts Do Pros Make? TV Does Not Tell the Story
• How Often Do Pros Hit Driver? Not As Much As You Think!
• How Far Do Pro Golfers Hit Each Club? A 2022 Guide
• What Clubs Do Pro Golfers Use? Top 100 PGA Tour Player Guide
• Most Popular Driver on LPGA Tour? Top 50 Player Guide
• Do Golf Pros Wear Metal Spikes? But They are Banned!
• The PGA Tour’s Rising Driver Ball Speeds Mean One Thing – $$
• How Many Balls Do Pros Hit Before a Round? That’s Not the Point!
• What is Considered a Long Golf Course? The Long and Short of It
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Money Matters

Inside the PGA Tour's new program that guarantees all exempt players will make a minimum of $500K

Rookie Cameron Young was able to make more than $6 million this season. But for first-timers less fortunate moving forward, the PGA Tour is guaranteeing they'll make at least $500,000.

Cliff Hawkins

ATLANTA — Much of the talk surrounding the PGA Tour in recent months has focused on figuring out ways top players can be compensated well enough to want to stick around and not be lured away by LIV Golf. But on Wednesday, tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced a new financial incentive program geared not just for the tour’s biggest stars, but all its members.

For the 2022-23 season, all fully exempt tour players who compete in 15 tournaments will be guaranteed to earn $500,000 through the creation of the Earnings Assurance Program. For rookies and returning members to the tour, that money isn’t just guaranteed, but will be paid up front, with the players drawing against it during the season from their earnings.

“We believe it meets the challenging dynamic of how players manage and invest in their careers, and it's comparable to how other leagues approach their athlete compensation,” Monahan said when discussing the program during a press conference ahead of the Tour Championship.

MORE: PGA Tour adds more lucrative events, gets top players to commit to play together on regular basis

According to Monahan, any player making more than $500,000 will, obviously, accrue all the money they earn. And any player who comes up short of $500,000, the tour at the end of the year will pay the difference.

Typically, 215 to 220 golfers are fully exempt during the PGA Tour season. The tour is confident the majority of those players will surpass the $500,000 threshold. For that reason, Monahan said it was estimated the program would cost the tour between $2 million and $3 million to implement.

During the 2021-22 season, 163 players earned more than $500,000 on tour.

“I think what we're trying to do here is that, as you start a season and you plan for a season knowing the monies that you have to invest to compete … at the highest level,” Monahan said. “There are significant costs. So if you’re not able to play for whatever reason, you have that as a backstop. You know that that’s there for you.”

There were 28 rookies on the PGA Tour this season, led by the meteoric rise of Cameron Young. His seven top-10s this season include a third at the PGA Championship and a second at the Open at St. Andrews, which combined for $6.5 million in earnings through the BMW Championship.

MORE: Why the Player Impact Program will become even more important (and lucrative) in 2023

Down the list of rookies, however, there are six who did not earn $500,000 and thus would have been paid the difference: Paul Barjon, Dylan Wu, Curtis Thompson, David Skinns, Jared Wolfe and Joshua Creel.

The program, however, will benefit not just newcomers to the tour, but even some who already have had stand out careers. During the 2022-23 season, former FedEx Cup champion Brandt Snedeker played 22 events but struggled with just two top-25 finishes. He wound up earning $352,198. Even a player like him, however, would be entitled to the $500,000 minimum, with the tour paying the remaining $147,802.

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How Does The PGA Tour Work? [Season Explained]

Not to be confused with the USGA and the PGA , the PGA Tour is the biggest professional golf tour in the world, with the best golfers competing each week for iconic trophies and huge prize money.

So how does it actually work? In this article, we’ll walk you through the PGA Tour season and how it works.

How Does The PGA Tour Work?

Table of Contents

How Does The PGA Tour Season Work?

The PGA Tour season runs from September until August the following year and features a total of 47 FedEx Cup events.

44 of the scheduled events are part of the regular season and include the four major events, as well as The Players Championship.

The final 3 events of the season are known as the FedEx Cup Playoffs, where the PGA Tour golfer with the highest number of FedEx Cup points will be crowned the FedEx Cup champion.

The season starts in September and each week the number of golfers competing varies between 144 and 156 . Not every week is a full PGA Tour event, with FedEx Cup points available, however, most weeks will have a golf tournament.

Each PGA Tour event, as part of the regular FedEx Cup season, is worth points. These points go towards the final standings and help players rise or fall in the rankings.

Most official PGA Tour events are worth 500 points to the winner, with points decreasing depending on the player’s finishing position for the tournament. This also includes a co-sanctioned event on the DP World Tour (European Tour), the Scottish Open, which is worth 500 points.

Points are given out to any player that makes the cut, with 2nd place gaining 300 points, and 3rd place picking up 190 points, reducing all the way down to the bottom of the field who made the cut.

There’s also a few PGA Tour events where the 1st place receives 550 points. The following events are 550-point events:

• World Golf Championships events
• Sentry Tournament of Champions (which includes the longest par 5 on the tour )
• The Genesis Invitational
• Arnold Palmer Invitational
• Memorial Tournament

Other golf tournaments which aren’t seen as full PGA Tour events on the schedule are only worth 300 points for the winner and are part of the strategic alliance between both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. These events include:

• Barbasol Championship
• Barracuda Championship

The most amount of points available to the winner in the regular season is at the majors and The Players Championship.

The Open Championship, US Open Championship , PGA Championship and The Masters tournament are all worth 600 FedEx Cup points, as well as the “5th” major and flagship event on the PGA Tour, The Players Championship.

Each week professional golfers will compete to try and gain as many FedEx Cup points as possible. After the final event in the regular season, the PGA Tour will then go into the FedEx Cup Playoffs in early August.

Although the top 125 players in the rankings will keep their tour cards for the next season, only the top 70 will progress to the first of 3 events in the Playoffs. Those outside the top 125 for the season will lose their full playing rights on the PGA Tour for next season.

The points system for the Playoffs is different to the regular season, with far more on offer and a greater emphasis on good scoring late on the season.

The winner of the first Playoff event will gain 2000 points (4 times as many as a regular season event). The top 50 players in the rankings after this tournament played will move on to the second event which is also worth 2000 points to the winner.

Finally, the top 30 players in the standings will progress to the Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup Playoffs Finale. The Tour Championship is different to the other season-ending golf events, in that it starts with a staggered start using Starting Strokes.

Starting Strokes means that players will start round 1 on a score based on how they’re sitting in the final top 30 rankings. The leading player in the FedEx Cup rankings will start at 10 under for the Tour Championship before even hitting a shot. Number 2 in the standings at 8 under, and so on, all the way down to the bottom 5 players who’ll start on even par.

Like other professional tournaments, after four rounds , the golfer who comes out top of the rankings will be crowned the FedEx Cup Champion, which includes a huge prize bonus.

What Are The PGA Tour Standings?

The PGA Tour has a rankings system which runs throughout the season and is known as the FedEx Cup Standings.

These rankings are used to keep track of which professional golfers are playing well and having a good season, compared to others who might be struggling to get good results.

Each week, players will earn points based on how well they did in tournaments played, with better results earning more points.

At the end of the season, the number of FedEx Cup points a player has, will determine whether or not they keep their playing rights for next season and whether they’ll be eligible for the end-of-season Playoff events.

Those players ranked in the top 125 of the rankings will be guaranteed a PGA Tour card for next season. Those outside the top 125, will most likely end up playing on the Korn Ferry Tour (the 2nd tier tour to the PGA Tour) or they will need to go through PGA Tour qualifying.

Those within the top 70 in the rankings will be eligible to progress to the final Playoff events.

Final Thoughts

The PGA Tour is the place every single golfer dreams of reaching. It’s the biggest and best tour in the world, with the best golfers competing week in and week out in some of the most prestigious tournaments.

The FedEx Cup is the main element of the PGA Tour and with that comes very lucrative returns, but as a result, PGA Tour cards are very difficult to come by.

The PGA Tour is set up to provide drama all year long but puts an emphasis on having a great finish to the season. With so many points on offer at the final PGA tournaments, as long as a player qualifies in the top 70, they can very easily have a run and end up becoming FedEx Cup champion.

Is the Masters part of the PGA Tour?

The Masters is an official PGA Tour event during the regular season with full FedEx Cup points available, however, it is organised by Augusta National Golf Club and not the PGA Tour.

Are the majors part of the PGA Tour?

All four of the major championships are part of the PGA Tour and all have 600 points on the offer to the winners. Each major is organised by a separate organisation, but the events are still included in the PGA Tour season.

Founder, Editor

Ed is the founder and editor at EEE Golf. He’s been playing golf for over 20 years, competing in many top amateur events. He’s played courses all over the world and played with some of the best players in the game. His aim is to help educate people about the game of golf and give insights into the sport he loves most.

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Getting a pga tour card is tough; keeping it is no picnic.

• Doug Ferguson ,
• Doug Ferguson

Tyler Duncan played his best golf over the final nine holes of his long season, making four birdies on the back nine to close with a 66. That meant getting a PGA Tour card for the third straight season, twice through what now is called the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

D.J. Trahan also delivered a clutch moment with an approach to 3 feet for birdie on the last hole to get one of the last cards.

The Korn Ferry Tour Championship, the final chance to earn a PGA Tour card for 25 players, was at times exciting, exhausting and exhilarating for those who made it. And it’s also just the start.

Getting a PGA Tour card is tough. Keeping it is no picnic.

The new PGA Tour season starts Sept. 12 at the Greenbrier, with six domestic events and one at the Mexican resort of Mayakoba, all of them offering full FedExCup points and an invitation to the Masters for the winner.

Optimism is never higher. The PGA Tour in September is right up there with Major League Baseball in March.

Now for the bad news: If the last three years are any indication, some 60 percent of the players who earned PGA Tour cards won’t be keeping them.

Of the 50 players who earned PGA Tour cards last year – either the regular season or the finals series of what is now the Korn Ferry Tour – 31 failed to finish among the top 125 in the FedExCup to retain full status.

Thirty players failed to keep their cards in 2018, and 29 did not keep their cards in 2017.

As for that optimism? There’s no predicting who’s going to get hot in what week. One adage passed down from veterans over the years is that players typically make 80 percent of their money from 20 percent of their tournaments.

Five players who earned cards from the Korn Ferry Tour – either the regular season or the finals series – won on the PGA Tour the next year. That includes Max Homa at Quail Hollow and Adam Long at the Desert Classic, where he beat Phil Mickelson by one shot.

The previous year, seven players who had to earn tour cards went on to win, four of them getting a Masters invitation. That group included Ted Potter Jr., who took down Dustin Johnson at Pebble Beach. And in 2016-17, the list of nine winners included Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau.

PATTY T’S TIMING

Patty Tavatanakit is sure to join the LPGA tour next year based on her play on the Symetra Tour.

But the UCLA alum still has to wait.

Tavatanakit rallied from six shots behind to win the Sioux Falls GreatLife Challenge last week for her third victory of the season on the Symetra Tour. Previously, three Symetra Tour victories earned an instant promotion to the LPGA, a policy that changed last year with the introduction of the Q-Series on the tour, which is a pair of 72-hole tournaments in consecutive weeks.

The 19-year-old Thai didn’t sound bothered by it all. Tavatanakit is No. 2 on the money list with $110,487, leaving her about $3,000 short of Perrine Delacour, who has played 17 times on the Symetra Tour. Tavatanakit has won three times in just eight starts.

''It’s hard to get a picture of what I’ve been able to accomplish,’' Tavatanakit said. ''I set my goals and have lived in the moment really well for the past three months since turning pro. I just focus on what I need to do to be a better player. All I want is to improve every time I step on the course. It’s pretty unreal for how far I have come and what the future holds too.’'

CALLING ON THE HALL

Justin Rose doesn’t know the criteria to be considered or even voted for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

His objective is to take the guesswork out of the equation.

Strictly by his PGA Tour record, Rose has too many other players ahead of his 10 victories and one major championship. But he has 10 other victories on the other five major tours in golf, not to mention that Olympic gold medal from Rio in 2016. He also has a FedExCup title and has reached No. 1 in the world.

''I’m knocking on the door, but I feel like you want to bash the door down and make it an easy decision,’' Rose said. ''I don’t want to be on the fringe of it.’'

Next in line is Tiger Woods, who turns 44 at the end of the year. Rose turns 40 next year, as does Adam Scott, who has more victories on the PGA Tour and worldwide; and Sergio Garcia. Jim Furyk also merits plenty of consideration with his 17 victories, a U.S. Open and uncanny consistency.

''Is it two majors and 20 PGA Tour events? I don’t know if there’s a criteria,’' Rose said. ''I’ve definitely had some cool moments in my career that definitely stand out. Hopefully, if it ever happened, they’d look favorably on that stuff. But I want to kick on. I want to prove more to myself. I want to be a multiple major champion.’'

He mentioned players like Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Padraig Harrington, each of whom won three majors or more in a span of three seasons.

''If you catch fire and you catch a break here and there, you can pick up a couple of majors pretty quick,’' he said. ''So I’m looking for one of those spells and phases late in my career.’'

NO NEED FOR OVERTIME

Kevin Tway began the season by winning the Safeway Open in a three-way playoff. Three weeks later, Xander Schauffele made birdie on the first extra hole to beat Tony Finau in a playoff in Shanghai. Charles Howell III ended the fall portion of the season with a playoff victory at Sea Island over Patrick Rodgers.

That was on Nov. 18. And that was the last playoff of the PGA Tour season.

None of the 37 tournaments (stroke play) from Kapalua in January through East Lake in August had to go extra holes.

There were 13 events won by one stroke, though not all of them came down to the final shot. Among the tournaments that were a birdie putt away from a sudden-death playoff were Adam Long making birdie on the 72nd hole in the Desert Classic, Keith Mitchell making birdie on the last hole of the Honda Classic and perhaps the most memorable, Matthew Wolff making eagle on the final hole to win the 3M Open, but only after Collin Morikawa narrowly missed his eagle putt.

For the fifth straight year, the PGA Tour had more than 100 players go over $1 million in earnings for the year. There were 114 millionaires in 2019, tying the record set the previous year. ... Former U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell is playing the Porsche Open, his first regular European Tour start in nearly five years. ... Women’s PGA champion Hannah Green of Australia became the fifth player to win multiple times on the LPGA tour this season. Jin Young Ko leads the way with four victories, including two majors. ... Scottie Scheffler won the Korn Ferry Tour points list for the regular season and the finals, meaning he is exempt for The Players Championship and will remain at the top of the priority list all of next season.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Webb Simpson earned the most money of anyone who did not win a PGA Tour event last season. He finished No. 10 with $4.69 million.

''People are not giving us much of a chance. I mean, the whole of the U.S. team is in the top 20. We have one player in the top 20, and that’s just the way it is. But somebody is going to win 15+ points, and at the end of the day, that’s our aim.’' – Presidents Cup captain Ernie Els.

Ferguson is a golf writer for The Associated Press.

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How the PGA Tour Will Look in 2024, and How Players Will Get There and Stay There

• Author: Bob Harig

Kyle Terada/USA Today

Eighteen months from now, the PGA Tour will embark on a new schedule, FedEx Cup format and change how players become eligible. Bob Harig offers a primer.

The last two weeks have seen some significant changes announced by commissioner Jay Monahan as to how future PGA Tour schedules will look and who is exempt to compete for the annual FedEx Cup title.

Among the differences will be a return after 10 years to the calendar-year schedule that will see the first official event of the new season played in January, rather than September.

Another is a strengthened alliance with the DP World Tour that will see the top 10 players from the Race to Dubai – not already exempt on the PGA Tour – become PGA Tour members .

Several other changes will occur starting next year, with a few details to be worked out along the way.

With the first co-sanctioned regular event between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour this week at the Genesis Scottish Open, here is a summary.

Calendar Year Schedule

The 2024 FedEx Cup season will begin at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January and end at the Tour Championship in late August.

Unlike years past, only the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings through the regular season will qualify (instead of the top 125) for the first of three FedEx Cup playoff events – which will see the purses at the FedEx St. Jude and the BMW Championship increase to $20 million.

But that doesn’t mean players who finish outside of the top 70 lose their PGA Tour cards. In a return to the days following the start of the FedEx Cup in 2007, the fall events – apparently six – will serve as a place for those outside of the top 70 to continue to compete and try to retain their playing cards.

The exempt list will still be the top 125 players, but those six tournaments will provide an opportunity for those outside of the magic number to move in, and for those who are comfortable to potentially qualify for other big events by moving into the top 50 in the world rankings or earning a spot at the Tournament of Champions or the Masters .

How The Fall Will Work

There will not be a reset for players who finish outside of the top 70. That means those who are 70th to roughly 95th in the standings are safe to keep their fully exempt status for the following year. They can play as little or as much as they want.

Players below that risk losing their cards and those who are outside of the top 125 can improve their positions. It is unclear if it will simply be a continuation of FedEx Cup points earned to that point, but those players will not be able to displace those who finished in the top 70.

And FedEx points earned in the fall will not count toward the following season.

The Global Series

Monahan announced plans for a three-tournament “Global Series’’ that will invite the top 50 in the final FedEx Cup standings to play events in such places as the U.K., Middle East and Asia. The format and locations are to be determined. And so is the field size. It will likely be larger than 60 players, but these tournaments will offer $20 million purses with no cut. In theory, if players among the top 50 skip, the field will be filled going down the FedEx list. Players who do well in the fall, as well as those from the countries where the events are held, are likely to get invites to fill out the field.

What remains to be seen is: Will these events get World Ranking points? And will a majority of the top names participate? One of the benefits to the calendar season is it allows top players to take time off. Will they want to travel to faraway places?

The Korn Ferry Tour

The developmental tour that allows for players to earn a spot on the PGA Tour will undergo changes that increase the number of automatic PGA Tour cards from 25 to 30 but will eliminate what is now known as the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. That was established when the old Qualifying Tournament format was changed to not allow direct access to the PGA Tour.

As it will play out again this fall, those players who finish No. 1 to 75 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list along with those who finish 126th to 200th on the PGA Tour’s points list will convene for a series of tournaments that lead to 50 PGA Tour cards. Those who finished in the top 25 on the KFT are assured of a spot but their priority order can chance based on the results in the KFT finals.

That will change in 2023. Those final events will simply determine the top 30. Then there will be a Qualifying Tournament to determine who gets on the KFT but the top five spots and ties will get PGA Tour cards.

Where their priority is – do they fall directly behind the top 125 and ahead of the KFT qualifiers? – is still to be determined.

The Fallout

Whether these changes were made in response to LIV Golf is a matter of debate . The Tour has been working on different ideas for some time. And much of this is good.

The calendar schedule is welcome and when you consider that you need to be in the top 70 to make the FedEx Cup playoffs and will have potentially nine less tournaments (from the fall) to earn the points, the regular season should be more compelling. It puts more meaning on each tournament from January to August. It could lead to some of the top players competing more to make sure they get in the top 70. And it also removes the awkwardness of half the season being complete by the time the Masters is played.

From there, they need to be in the top 50 after the FedEx St. Jude to reach the BMW Championship. And then the top 30 for the Tour Championship, where the big FedEx payouts take place.

A potential issue could be the disparity between events that are getting big purse boosts and regular PGA Tour events. The Sentry Tournament of Champions goes to $15 million; the Genesis, Arnold Palmer, WGC-Match Play and Memorial go to $20 million; the Players Championship goes to $25 million. And the first two playoff events will also be $20 million.

If you’re the Honda Classic, with maybe a $9 or $10 million purse, the situation is not great. It follows Genesis and precedes Arnold Palmer and the Players. The Valspar Championship follows the Players and precedes the Match Play. The Valero Texas Open follows the Match Play and precedes the Masters.

Some of those big-money tournaments are traditionally skipped, but it will be harder to do so with those big purses and smaller fields.

It’s just something to consider amid a serious of positive enhancements for the PGA Tour.

What will Phil do next?

The short answer is prepare for the British Open . Mickelson will be making his 28th start at The Open and his sixth at the Old Course at St. Andrews, where he first played in 1995. Mickelson has never fared all that well at the home of golf, his best finish a tie for 11th in 2000 when Tiger Woods romped to an eight-shot victory. But he’s never missed a cut there, either.

“I love the golf course,’’ Mickelson said at the LIV Golf event outside of Portland, where he finished in a tie for 40th . “When I played there in ’15 (a tie for 20th), I thought the greens were difficult, they have a strong blade of grass, and you really have to roll it well. When they are like that they really don’t break a ton and you can make a lot of putts.

Phil Mickelson will make his 28th British Open start in two weeks. 

Soobum Im/USA Today

“I putted terrible and for me it comes down to a having a good putting week because the golf course sets up really well. If I miss it left, left is fine all day for me on that golf course and so I can play my miss and get around just fine.

“And there’s something spiritual about playing there. I really enjoy it. I’m really looking forward to getting back there.’’

Mickelson, 52, could use some divine intervention for his game at this point. Since his self-imposed four-month break, the six-time major winner has played eight rounds of golf and broke par just once – in his very first round at the LIV Golf tournament outside of London. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open and was out of sorts at the Portland LIV event, where he shot scores of 75-75-76 to finish 10 over par and 23 shots back of winner Branden Grace.

“My game feels a lot better than I’m scoring,’’ he said. “A lot of good shots and then I’m making a lot of mistakes that are costing me five, six shots a round. I’m not discouraged. I actually putted terrible in London and at the U.S. Open. I’ve putted well (at the Portand event). It just doesn’t feel that far off. I actually feel pretty good. But I’m not scoring yet.’’

Mickelson, who won The Open nine years ago at Muirfield, said he will head to the Old Course to keep working. “I’m going to go early and spend a little more time there,’’ he said.

Fore! Things

1. J.T. Poston’s wire-to-wire win at the John Deere Classic was the first such victory on the PGA Tour since Joaquin Niemann did so at the Genesis Invitational in February.

2. Organizers of the JP McManus pro-am in Ireland did Tiger Woods a favor, giving him afternoon tee times for both Monday and Tuesday. He begins play at 9:05 a.m. ET on Monday, which is 2:05 p.m. in Ireland. The pro-am has attracted an all-star cast of players that includes Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy , Rickie Fowler, Scottie Scheffler , Matt Fitzpatrick, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and many others. The players are not paid for their appearance, with all proceeds going to charity.

3. Jediah Morgan finished last at the LIV Golf Portland event, shooting scores of 76-84-77 to trail the 47th-place finisher, Shaun Norris, by four strokes. It was a tough week for Morgan, a 22-year-old Australian who earlier this year won the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship by 11 strokes. He tied for 30th in the first LIV Golf event outside of London, then missed the cut at the U.S. Open. For his efforts, Morgan received $154,000 for the first event and $120,000 for the second.

4. LIV Golf has made charitable contributions at each of its first two events, directing more than $1 million to local charities at both the London and Portland tournaments. It did not make a big deal out of donations, simply sending out a press release. Perhaps it could make a point to donate to women’s causes, including women’s golf initiatives, and getting behind an initiative that makes a difference.

Ryder Cup Fallout

While there remains some doubt on the European team side as to whether those competing in LIV Golf events will be eligible for the Ryder Cup – players such as Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia last week made it seem clear they believed nothing should change  – the American side seems to offer little debate.

And that’s from U.S. captain Zach Johnson.

“So what I know is this: in order to play on the Ryder Cup team, whether you’re top six (automatic qualifiers) or a (captain’s) pick, you must garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America,’’ Johnson said at the John Deere Classic. “In order to garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America, you have to be a member of the PGA of America.

“The way that we’re members of the PGA of America is through the PGA Tour. I’ll let you connect the dots from there.’’

That suggests that players such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau – who all starred for the U.S. team last fall at Whistling Straits – won’t be part of the Ryder Cup in Rome. Phil Mickelson ’s slam-dunk future captaincy is also now in doubt.

LIV Golf officials have pushed back on this narrative. A look at the PGA of America bylaws shows that membership in the organization can be obtained in many ways, including being members of other tours. Of course, the PGA of America can change its rules. And since a player has to earn points via the PGA Tour to make the team automatically, this only comes into play for captain’s picks. And a captain, if so motivated, can simply not pick any of these players.

Johnson, 46, has played on five U.S. Ryder Cup teams, been an assistant at the 2018 Ryder Cup, the 2019 Presidents Cup and again at the 2021 Ryder Cup. He’s won two major championships, including the last Open to be played at St Andrews in 2015.

“I’ve got some friends that have decided to go that route," Johnson said. "A lot of individuals that I'm for. I mean, these are my friends. I'm for them. I want them to do well. I want them to, you know, find contentment or happiness in whatever it may be. It's not for me to say how that develops or how they find that. I will say I have the utmost respect for them individually.

“I would hope, and I'm not concerned about this, that they would have the respect for me and who I stand for and what I stand for. And I don't think it's very secretive or outlandish in saying that I'm for the PGA Tour. I'm for the individuals that paved the way for me in this great Tour, this platform in order to entertain, compete and I would say utilize for the betterment of others, not just my family. I'm for that.’’

Meanwhile, European captain Henrik Stenson continues to be linked to LIV Golf. He has not played the first two events, nor has his name officially been added to the list of players who will compete at Bedminster in three weeks. If he does make the leap, then what?

Money Matters

A story circulated since the first week of the LIV Golf Invitational Series in London: players with guaranteed contracts were not being withheld purse money as it was played off against their advances. So, in other words, it was portrayed as a player would not receive prize money until it totaled more than what he was being guaranteed for the year.

Charl Schwartzel, who won the first event and was on the winning team, earned $4.75 million. He went to Twitter to refute claims that he was not paid that sum. Other players and an agent confirmed the same thing to SI.com.

At a news conference last week at the Portland event, a LIV Golf interview moderator to took time out to also refute the claim, saying that all prize money is separate from any guaranteed contracts.

The Open Countdown

The Open begins in 10 days at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. It will be the 150th playing of the championship that dates to 1860, and years of planning has gone into celebrating the occasion, which was supposed to occur last year but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Old Course will stage The Open for the 30th time, more than any other venue, the first being in 1873 when Tom Kidd won the tournament as it was played for the first time on an 18-hole course.

The last staging of The Open at the Old Course was in 2015, when Zach Johnson won in a playoff over Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman.

Six players earned their way into the field last week as the highest-ranked in the world not already exempt: Aaron Wise (USA), Brian Harman (USA), Sebastian Munoz (Colombia), Sepp Straka (Austria), Luke List (USA) and Si Woo Kim (South Korea) made it through that avenue.

Six more players qualified via finishing among the top three players not already in the top 10 at the Irish Open and the John Deere Classic. At the Irish Open, it was John Catlin, Fabrizio Zanotti and Davis Law. All three tied for fourth to earn their spots. At the John Deere Classic, winner J.T. Poston, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Emiliano Grillo (who were tied for second) also earned a trip to St. Andrews via the Open Qualifying Series.

Another 16 made the field via four Final Qualifying Sites in the United Kingdom.

This week’s Scottish Genesis Open – a co-sanctioned PGA Tour/DP World Tour event – will offer three spots to the top three finishers in the top 10 not already exempt. And the Barbasol Championship – also co-sanctioned – will offer the final spot for a player finishing in the top 10 not already exempt.

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The Genesis Scottish Open has for years been the event played the week prior to the British Open, typically attracting a strong field of participants. The event will have its best-ever field as it is now co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. That means players on the PGA Tour can earn FedEx Cup points and have another event count toward their membership requirements. It is especially helpful for those who compete on both Tours.

The result has been a boon to the field, as 14 of the top-ranked 15 players in the world will take part, led by No. 1 and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler. DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley said “it will be the strongest regular tour event in our history.’’

The tournament is being played at the Renaissance Club, which is next door to Muirfield in Gullane, Scotland. Although the Renaissance is not a links along the lines of many Open venues, it is still an excellent primer for the kind of feel and shots to be played a week later at St. Andrews.

10 Tips to Mark a Golf Scorecard the Right Way

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If you're a beginner to golf, you might be unsure about some of the uses for the scorecard, including the most basic: keeping score. Even if you've been playing the game for some time, there are advanced methods of marking the scorecard for which you might need a refresher course (such as scorekeeping when using handicaps, or playing by a different scoring method).

Find out how to mark the scorecard for 10 different types of golf scorekeeping, ranging from very easy to a little tricky.

Basic Stroke Play

The simplest way to mark the scorecard is straightforward. When playing stroke play, count the number of strokes you've taken on the hole just completed, and write that number down in the box corresponding to that hole on the scorecard. At the end of each nine holes, tally up the strokes for your front nine and back nine totals (often marked "out" and "in"), respectively, then add up those two numbers for your 18-hole score.

Birdies and Bogeys (Circles and Squares)

Some golfers notice that on pro golf broadcasts, and on some websites where the scorecards of tour players are re-created, those cards include some holes where the stroke total has been circled or squared. The circles represent below-par holes and the squares above-par holes. A score that is neither circled nor squared is a par.

We're not fans of this method, because it creates a sloppy scorecard. But especially for beginners and mid- and high-handicap golfers, it's pretty pointless. After all, if you're in these categories, you won't be making many (or probably any) birdies. You might not even be making many pars. Your scorecard will be full of nothing but numbers with squares around them.

But because it's a PGA Tour thing, some golfers like to do it this way. So one circle represents a birdie, and a score circled twice represents an eagle or better. One square represents a bogey, while a score with two squares drawn around it represents a double-bogey or worse.

Stroke Play, Tracking Your Statistics

Many golfers like to keep track of their statistics while playing. The statistics most commonly kept on a scorecard are fairways hit, greens in regulation, and putts taken per hole.

You can list these categories below your name on the scorecard. For fairways and greens, just check off the box on any hole where you're successful. Fairways hit means your ball is in the fairway on your tee shot. Greens in regulation, or GIR, means your ball is on the putting surface in one shot on a par-3, two shots on a par-4, or three shots on a par-5. Putts taken per hole is just a counting stat, so count up your putts on each hole. Per the PGA Tour norm, only balls on the putting surface count as putts. If your ball is just off the putting surface, in the fringe, it doesn't count as a putt for stats purposes even if you use your putter.

Two other stats we like to track are sand saves and strokes taken from 100 yards and in. A sand save is recorded when you get up-and-down out of a bunker (meaning one shot to get out of the bunker, then one putt to get in the hole). Your score on the hole doesn't matter. Even if you get a 9 on the hole, if your last two strokes represented getting up-and-down from a bunker, check off a sand save.

Add up your strokes played once you've gotten inside 100 yards of the green. That's the scoring zone, and many golfers discover they have a lot of room for improvement by focusing on strokes inside 100 yards.

Stroke Play Using Handicaps

Remember, when we talk about taking strokes on the golf course or scorecard, we're always talking about course handicap, not handicap index. And for the true beginners reading this, "taking strokes" or "taking a stroke" means that your course handicap allows you to reduce your score by one or possibly more strokes on certain holes.

Always start by marking the holes on which you get to take a stroke. Make a little dot somewhere within the box for the holes on which your course handicap will be used. (The "handicap" row of the scorecard tells you where to take strokes. If your course handicap is 2, then take a stroke on the holes marked 1 and 2. If it's 8, then on holes designated 1 through 8. If marking the card in the manner of the top example, also divide each of those boxes with a slash.

Write down your strokes taken on each hole as you normally would. The gross score (your actual strokes played) goes on top. Then, on holes where you are taking a stroke, write your net score (your actual strokes minus any handicap strokes) below the gross score.

When you tally up the total, again write your gross score on top and net score below the gross.

Stroke Play with a Course Handicap of More than 18

Here's what a scorecard looks like when your course handicap is 18 or above, which means that you get to take a stroke on every hole, and sometimes two strokes on a hole.

In this case, since you'll be writing down both a gross and net score on each hole, your scorecard will look much tidier and be easier to read if you forego the "slash" method of writing the gross and net in the same box, and put your net scores on a second row.

Notice that we still mark our scorecard before the round starts with dots, representing the number of strokes we get to take on each hole.

Stroke Play when Scorecard Includes 'Handicap' Column

We've shown the front nine of the scorecard up to this point, but the card above is flipped over to the back nine.

Take a look at the top row. See the column marked "HCP"? That stands for "handicap," of course, and if this column appears on your scorecard you can forego the dots, slashes, and two-scores-per-hole method we've seen on the previous two pages.

If that handicap column appears, just write your course handicap (in our example, "11") in the appropriate box. Mark your actual strokes taken (gross score) on each hole throughout play, then tally up your strokes at the end of the round.

For example, the total strokes were 85 and the course handicap was 11. Subtract 11 from 85 and you have your net score of 74.

When playing match play against another golfer, you'll mark your scorecard to show how the match stands in relative terms. Think of it this way: the match starts out "all square" (tied) because neither golfer has yet won a hole. So mark your scorecard "AS" for "all square" so long as the match remains tied.

Once someone wins a hole, you'll mark the card "-1" if you lost the hole, or "+1" if you won the hole. This means you are 1-down or 1-up, respectively, in the match. Let's say you're 1-up (so your scorecard reads "+1") and you lose the next hole. Then you're back to "AS." But if you're 1-up and win the next hole, your scorecard now reads "+2" (for 2-up in the match).

If a long string of holes is halved (tied), you'll keeping writing the same thing on the scorecard for each hole. For example, you're up by one hole at No. 5. So on the scorecard you've marked Hole 5 as +1. The next five holes are halved. So holes 6 through 10 will also show +1 on your scorecard, because you remained 1-up.

The same principals apply to team match play. An example of match play with handicaps is included on the next page.

Match Play vs. Par or Bogey (and Using Handicaps)

Match play vs. par or bogey describes a match in which you are playing not against a fellow golfer, but against par itself, or bogey itself. In our example above, the match is against par. This means that if you par the hole, you've halved; if you birdie, you've won the hole (because you beat par), and if you bogey you've lost the hole (because par beat you). This is a good game to play when you're on the course by yourself.

It's common in a match play vs. par, or match play vs. bogey, match to use a system of pluses, minuses, and zeros to denote holes won, lost, or tied, respectively. You can use this system of denoting a match play scorecard at all times, if you prefer it to the AS, +1, and -1 method described on the previous page.

Write down a zero (0) if the hole is halved; a plus sign (+) if you win the hole; a minus sign (-) if you lose the hole. At the end of the round, count up the pluses and minuses to get the overall result (if you have two more pluses than minuses, then you beat par or bogey by a score of 2-up).

Note that we've included a second row on the scorecard above, showing that this match against par was played using handicaps. Apply the same techniques for handicap use as we saw back on the page about stroke play with handicaps. When handicaps are in play, it's your net score (the score that results after you've deducted any allowed handicap strokes) on a given hole that determines if you've won or lost the hole.

Stableford System

The Stableford System is a scoring method in which golfers earn points based on their scores in relation to par on each hole. The Stableford System is a good scoring method for recreational players because there are no negative points. A double-bogey or worse is worth zero, but everything else earns you points. This is different from Modified Stableford, used on some pro tours, in which negative points do come into play.

To mark Stableford on a scorecard, it's most common to use two rows. Using two rows makes the scorecard easier to mark and easier to read later.

The top row is your stroke play score — the number of strokes you took to complete the hole. The second row is the Stableford points earned on that hole. At the end of each nine, tally up your Stableford points, and at the end of 18, add your two nines together for your final Stableford score.

The point values used in Stableford are found in the Rules of Golf under Rule 32.

Stableford System Using Handicaps

For Stableford with handicaps, begin by marking the scorecard as you would for regular stroke play using handicaps (using the dots and slashes).

Add a second row to the scorecard and mark it "Stableford — Gross." Then add a third row marked "Stableford — Net." After each hole, calculate your Stableford points based on your gross and net strokes, respectively, and place your points in the appropriate box. At the end of each nine, add up your net Stableford points, then combine at the end of the round for your net Stableford score.

You can, if you'd prefer, use just two rows — a top row for strokes, and a second row for Stableford net and gross. In this case, on the Stableford row use slashes to divide the boxes on holes where you'll be taking strokes (same as you would for stroke play).

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What does progress look like between LIV, PGA Tour?

The first call readers offer suggestions as to what would make a deal between the rival factions 'right'.

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Question of the week [June 10-16]: On June 7, the PGA Tour announced that  "progress was made" in a meeting  with representatives of the   Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, and that the Tour wants "to get this right." In your opinion, what would be "right" for the PGA Tour in its negotiations? 

RELATED:   The First Call Inbox archive

— — — — — — —

"Right" for the PGA Tour would be to tell the Saudis to take their money and put it where the sun doesn't shine. 

Bob Norris Cincinnati, Ohio —————

So everyone is in an uproar over players taking Saudi money. I noticed the NBA has no problem and no one even raised an eye over it.

Mickey Morrison              Frisco, Texas ————— 

What I would want in this pact would be as follows: 1) return all LIV players to the PGA with no penalties; 2) have Monahan step down; 3) have the current PGA players publicly thank Phil Michelson for singlehandedly getting their purses increased; 4) put the LIV players back to their previous world rankings as they were before joining LIV.

Vinny Mooney Poughkeepsie, New York —————

What everybody seems to forget — on purpose — is that Saudi Arabia is using the PGA Tour to whitewash its awful human rights record. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan tried a grandstand play by secretly negotiating" with LIV without the knowledge of the PGA Tour card-carrying members of the Tour. Not to mention that he betrayed and embarrassed Rory McIlroy, who was the face and conscience of the PGA Tour until he buckled for some reason and decided to play nice with the devil.

Monahan's future as commissioner should be voted on by the top 125 players on the Tour. With a huge influx of American money by wealthy groups, the Tour is now equipped to fight and / or ignore LIV. 

Saudi Arabia / LIV has no place in golf.

Ray Edger Surrey, British Columbia —————

I'd be interested to know the PGA Tour's definition of "get this right."

Craig Libhart Bainbridge, Pennsylvania —————

I think it would be best for the PGA Tour to reach an agreement with LIV for there to be a limited number of LIV players to play in a limited number of PGA events. And vice/versa. There would be a qualifying process limited to 10-15 spots. If you think about it, there are really only 10-15 LIV players most of the fans would care to see anyway. 

The events would most likely be Signature events with expanded fields from the current field numbers as to not take anymore spots from current PGA Tour players. Remember, it’s a vice/versa agreement. 

I think some type of format like my above opinion is best for the PGA Tour business in terms of raising more money in TV ratings, purses, etc. But I think we’re more likely to see some type of World Tour with six to eight tournaments with players from both tours. 

Personally, I would just as soon all players play their own tours, let the majors continue to decide on their field qualifying process, and as the LIV players contracts expire, let them go through a qualifying process if they want to play the PGA Tour. Whatever is announced I can’t imagine any new business model happening before 2026. 

Barry Duckworth Knoxville, Tennessee —————

Here are my thoughts on what the PGA Tour and LIV Golf should do to bring this negotiation to an end — and bring golf back to the forefront of the game:

1. Bring Mr. Jimmy Dunne back to the table to head up this negotiation. The main reason why? To sweep PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to the side.

2. Keep the players on this board "quiet" to the media — and help the PGA Tour players understand that the LIV players from the Tour will not pay any fee to rejoin the Tour.

3. Let the group that makes the decision as to what tours can have their players in the world ranking system know that LIV players will now be ranked. Tell them to set up that ranking structure, and get this world ranking system draft to both the Tour and LIV. Get each to agree on / mark up / whatever that fits into moving this negotiation along now.

4. Tournament sponsorship structure: Dunne and LIV (a.k.a. the Boards) will determine how this is set up. LIV can do this by themselves on the money side — but have this set up 50%/50% so that the prize money going into each tournament is 50% responsible to LIV and 50% responsible to the Tour.

5. LIV agrees to play four-day tournaments; the PGA Tour agrees to team golf as part of the tournaments, which they have essentially done anyway.

6. Player poaching is not allowed, but the Tour and LIV can trade players if they want to — and if the players agree. Tough one here, because the Tour is the poor boy in town ... that is their problem to address. The Tour's $3 billion investment team must already understand that the $3 trillion team it is going to be in bed with is stronger — so maybe the Tour needs to raise some more investor money.

LIV will not sign any Tour players for 12 months after the agreement is signed — unless a Tour player approaches LIV and negotiates his own singular deal. This one is going to be tough for the Tour to swallow — but the DOJ has already told both tours that restraint of trade will not be acceptable to the U.S. side.

Once the Tour/LIV get this far? The rest is simply to agree on the tournament turf for each entity. Agree that the tournament turf is also the sole recruiting grounds for those young — mostly college players I guess — players not in the top 50 ranking of top amateur players. If a player is in the top 50 ranking, he can sign any where he wants. If a player is in the Top 50 and doesn't get recruited? He is free to sign anywhere he wants. If the Tour wants to continue owning the Korn Ferry tour, then so be it. LIV is free to start its own minor league team.

Dunne and LIV reps can figure all this out so both sides can win. Get Jay and Greg Norman out of the mix of decision making. Get the players out of the final decision-making process. Yes, they can/must have input, but not any vote on what Dunne and LIV agree on.

Enough. Play golf.

Tom Powers Bradenton, Florida —————    Clearly, there is an ongoing marketing issue regarding "what’s actually going on." It reminds me of past post-meeting discussions and finding any concrete results from the meetings — agreeing to meet sometime down the road is not exactly the hallmark of real progress.

Are they are trying to re-invent the wheel as though round is not the best answer? Is there really a problem in replacing a player like Lee Westwood with one like Viktor Hovland or Ludvig Aberg? Think about that for a moment.

But, as usual, there will be a new and better plan pronounced after every other has been implemented.

Where have we heard that before? Um, right after another meeting on "doing it right."

Peter Croppo Bayfield, Ontario —————

The First Call invites reader comment. Write to editor Stuart Hall at  [email protected] . Your name and city of residence is necessary to be considered for publication. If your comment is selected for publication, The First Call will contact you to verify the authenticity of the email and confirm your identity. We will not publish your email address. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and brevity.

Front photo:  Bryson DeChambeau during the final round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Credit:  Fran Caffrey / Golffile

Tom Kim holds 1-shot lead over Scheffler, Bhatia in delayed Travelers

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Tom Kim made enough birdies on a soft, vulnerable course to stay in front Saturday in the rain-delayed Travelers Championship, getting up-and-down for par on the last hole in near darkness for a 5-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler and Akshay Bhatia.

The tone of this pitch-and-putt day at the TPC River Highlands was set long before thunderstorms halted play for nearly three hours. Cameron Young shot 59, the 13th sub-60 round on the PGA Tour and first in nearly four years.

And then the rain made it even softer, and the wind subsided late in the evening as Kim, Scheffler and Xander Schauffele raced to beat darkness.

Scheffler, the world's No. 1 player coming off a rare pedestrian performance at the U.S. Open, was slowed by a pair of soft bogeys — his putter from fringe on No. 11, a bad drive into mangled weeds on No. 14 — and answered with four straight birdies.

“I was pretty frustrated after that bogey on 14, felt like I was putting myself out of the tournament,” Scheffler said. “So it was nice to bounce back and finish it the way I did.”

His wedge on the 18th rolled back within an inch of the cup, which he tapped in for 64. He played with Bhatia, who has two PGA Tour titles in the last 12 months. He poured in a 25-foot birdie putt to match Scheffler at 64.

Schauffele played bogey-free until the final hole when his 3-foot par putt horseshoed around the cup and left him with a 64. He was two shots back along with Sungjae Im, who made a birdie putt from some 40 feet on the final hole.

Kim, who turned 22 on Friday, is still leading a large cast of All-Stars. He was at 18-under 192 going into the final round in which 10 players were within five shots of the lead.

“It’s a stacked leaderboard," Kim said. "Out here, a five-, six-shot lead is not safe at all. So I've got to go out tomorrow and do the same game plan and execute.”

The group within five shots includes Young, who was tied for 43rd when he arrived at the course in the morning. He was 5 under through four holes — he holed out with a wedge from 142 yards on No. 3 — made another eagle on the 280-yard 15th hole with a 3-iron to 4 feet and got to 11 under with a 5-foot birdie on the 17th.

He was tied when he walked off the course and still in the mix when the round finally ended. Young didn't see this kind of round coming.

“Did exactly what I do every day coming to the golf course — get a coffee, ate, saw the physio, and went out there, warmed up,” he said. “Didn’t feel particularly awesome. I chunked a few less on the range than I did yesterday. Then, yeah, came out and just was very comfortable and things just started coming down close to the hole.”

Tee times for Sunday have been moved forward because of more storms in the forecast, meaning the course isn't likely to get any tougher. Preferred lies were in effect for the second consecutive round.

“Feels like more than ever you’re going to have to keep your head down," Schauffele said. "It's kind of been my motto — ‘Stay in my lane’ — for quite some time, and I think tomorrow it's going to hold pretty true. You can get on a run at any point on this golf course.

“(You) definitely have to earn your birdies,” he said. “But I think they’re going to be coming in bunches tomorrow.”

Five players had at least a share of the lead at some point, some of that made possible by Kim's lone mistake. He three-putted from 10 feet on the fourth hole, his 3-foot par putt not even touching the hole. But he bounced back with three birdies on the par 3s and a tough chip across the 15th green to set up an easy birdie.

He went from the fairway bunker to short of the 18th green, and his pitched rolled out to a short range for his final par to stay in front.

The final signature event of the PGA Tour season certainly looks like one with quality of players chasing — from Scheffler and Schauffele, down to Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas.

“You're not going to separate yourself. Someone is going to play one shot better than anyone else,” Bhatia said. “We'll see what tomorrow entails. It's just going to be a good challenge.”

• Scheffler takes Travelers for 6th win of season
• Rory McIlroy doesn't owe anyone anything
• 2 taken to hospital after lightning strikes tree near TOUR event
• Hatton up by 3 in Nashville, DeChambeau 4 back entering Sunday
• Cameron Young shoots 59, 13th-sub 60 round in TOUR history

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Golfer Cameron Young Cards First Sub-60 Round In PGA Tournament Since 2020

P GA golfer Cameron Young carded an exceptionally rare round of 59 Saturday in the third round of the Travelers Championship. The feat vaulted him from a tie for 43rd place to the top of the leaderboard as he came off the 18th hole.

The 27-year-old had himself a round at Tournament Players Club (TPC) River Highlands not seen on the PGA tour since 2020 when then-rookie Scottie Scheffler shot a 12-under 59 at TPC Boston. Young’s score represents an 11-under for the round and gets him to -13 for the tournament, according to CBS Sports.

While the round offers the Scarborough, New York native an opportunity to win the Travelers, he is currently being pursued by some very big names who remain on the course. One of them, ironically, is Scheffler, and another is PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele .

Even though it seems unlikely he’ll maintain his lead, Young can take time to reflect and celebrate a very rare feat in golf history.

Young took an unconventional path to such a low score, having hit only six out of 14 fairways during the spectacular round. Even so, he managed to throw darts at the green by hitting 15 out of 18 and promptly scrambling his way out of trouble on the remaining three.

Speaking to reporters after the notable round, Young appeared to suggest he wasn’t anticipating greatness today.

“Woke up, would have preferred to go back to sleep,” he said. “Did exactly what I do every day coming to the golf course. Got a coffee, ate. Saw the physio.”

“Went out there, warmed up. Didn’t feel particularly awesome.”

And yet, for one day, Young was “particularly awesome.”

Young also said once he got on the course he felt “very comfortable” and “things just started coming down close to the hole.”

His round marks the second sub-60 score to occur at TPC River Highlands — but it isn’t the lowest. Jim Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion, fired a 12-under 58 in the 2016 Travelers Championship.

Furyk’s score continues to be the lowest round in PGA Tour history. He also managed to card a 59 in the 2013 BMW Championship.

Three other 58s have been achieved on a professional golf course, with two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau hitting that number in an August 2023 LIV Golf League tournament.

Young, the former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, will likely need a significant score under par to capture the Travelers Championship.

Something in the mid-60s — instead of sub-60 — might do it.

Lydia Ko: 2024 KPMG Women's PGA Championship Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, good afternoon. Pleased to welcome in Lydia Ko. Lydia, you can't tell the story of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee without the playoff in 2016. Kind of take us back to this tournament and what you remember most fondly about it.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think that was the only year I really been in contention at this event. I'm pretty sure after that week ended, I knew I played a lot of good golf. Disappointed with maybe the way it finished, but at the same time Brooke hit an unbelievable shot in the playoff, so she was the deserving winner.

It's 2016, so that's like ten, nine years since we were here last. Time flies. You know, a lot of things have happened since then.

Great to be back at a golf course where I played at. I don't remember all of the holes to be honest, but I remember some of the shots that I hit, like on 17 and on 9, et cetera.

So I'm excited. And we've had beautiful weather today. It's forecasted to be that way the next few days - knock on wood - so I think it's going to be a great week.

Yeah, just great to be back at a golf course where I have a lot of good memories.

Q. It's Seattle. You never know when it could start raining.

LYDIA KO: I know. Let's not jinx anything. Today has been beautiful. I know we could get rain and kind of a gray day and then a day like this, so I think even to just get one day like this you get to enjoy the scenery and the trees and just being in this part of the country.

It's almost like an oasis of its own here. I've enjoyed it. It's been really peaceful.

Q. Very tight off the tees, all the fairways. What's going be the plan of attack this week? Will you try and draw on 2016 as you can along?

LYDIA KO: I hit it like a good ten-plus yards further off the tee, and it's the point where I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

But I'm pretty sure the golf course is probably a little longer than when we were here last, and the 18th is now a par-5 as well. So it's like you're drawing on the good shots, but you know I'm probably not like going to play the golf course exactly the way I did then.

Just seems way too communicated to try and copy something. But overall, I feel like I've had a good few days to be able to practice and get a good feel of the golf course.

Even though it may be super tight and I like heard it's like Sa-Hallway down here, but a golf ball does fit on the fairway so that's always good to know.

If it's tricky for me it's tricky for anyone. I don't think this course in particular is good for a draw or a fader. No matter which direction you hit it, you just have to play with the shot shape you have.

I feel like the person that has a lot of patience and is very consistent, especially off the tee, is going to do very well this week.

Q. Sa-Hallway is the best thing I've heard all week. For you, everything has changed, but everything in a lot of ways is the same. You're still at the top of the game and one of the people we watch every week out here. For you, if you could look back over the last nine years, how do you evaluate your changes as a player and how you've grown as a person?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, a lot of things have happened, to be honest. When it was my 10th year on tour and now my 11th, I was like, wow, I played professional golf for 11, 10 years.

You kind of don't know where it's gone by. I was trying to count how many U.S. Women's Open I played and I saw how many Lexi has played. Oh, my goodness. We've been out here for a long time.

Sometimes my body feels that time that I've been on tour. I think you kind of take every tournament and every day as is, and by that time you're already at CME and you're excited for some time off and then the Hilton Grand Vacations is back around the corner.

I think I've grown a lot. I think -- I'm pretty sure there are things I was probably better at when I was a teenager, and now I have a bit more experience, so I think how I handle some situations is probably a little bit better.

I hope it's better.

But it's kind of like a double-edged sword where the more time you play, the more I guess positions you experience, and that could either be good or bad when you're in are similar circumstance in the future.

When you have more of those repetitions under your belt, you realize that golf is very important to me and to all of us, but at the same time there is so much more outside of that.

I feel like I'm still on my journey to realize that and embrace that, and especially now because I know I'm more in my second chapter of my career that I just want to enjoy it and -- but while I'm playing try and compete at the highest level I can.

Q. For you, obviously a major champion. This golf course obviously reads like a major championship venue. What does it take to have success when it's this hard or this difficult or, in this case, visually intimidating?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I mean, you stand on No. 10 especially and like No. 1, and you stand there and it's intimidating, like you said. You go, how does the ball fit when it's like moving at 90- to 100-and-something miles an hour.

But it's -- no, that would be club head speed. 100-something miles an hour. I think at the same time, I think the person that's going to have a lot of patience, and you know that on a golf course like this somebody that plays really good golf over the stretch of four days is going to be the winner.

And I'm sure that is the case at any event, but this type of golf course you know that that person just played unbelievably. It's not really the style that somebody would all of a sudden run away with the championship I would guess.

Yeah, you need to be on, especially with the long game. The greens are quite small I think for some of the other maybe major championships we play. Long game is going to be ultra important.

I feel like coming into this week, a lot more confident in that aspect than maybe at the U.S. Women's Open. So it's a bit of the a relief, but you know that -- I'm pretty sure my golf ball is going to hit at least one tree or a leaf or part of a tree.

If it does, I'm going to pray that the golf gods will kick it out onto the fairway for me. Sometimes luck kind of follows when it's going to be your week. For sure the person that wins and is hoisting the trophy at the end of the week played very flawless and consistent golf.

Q. So with all your experience in majors, what makes the PGA unique and what parts of the PGA and that uniqueness do you enjoy and what part's a challenge for you?

LYDIA KO: Ever since the KPMG and the PGA of Americakind of on-boarded this event after it was our LPGA Championship, we have been able to go to some of these championship golf courses that maybe the ladies have not played in previous years. Including Hazeltine, Congressional, Baltusrol, and all that.

I thought growing up those were courses I would never be able to play in competition. For them to have put this much effort in taking us to those championship golf courses and for there to be -- for all the winners in the past have gone hey, the women deserve to be here; we can conquer this golf course.

It's been an unbelievable experience to go all around the country and play these amazing golf courses. They have definitely kicked my butt I would say. You kind of need your A-game in all sorts of your -- all around the game. It's not like, oh, you can drive it well, but if your irons aren't that good it's okay.

The KPMG Women's PGA Championship, it's at all of these high-level golf courses that you can't -- like obviously one area could be a little bit better, but all round it needs to be really good for you to contend and be the winner at the end of the week.

There is a distinct look and feel when you turn up here with a lot of blue signage and everything. I would personally love to be able to win this one, especially this one being one that I haven't won before.

Just having played all these golf courses, I know that if I win, it's kind of a double pat on the back because I must have played really, really well.

Q. You mentioned 18 being a par-5 now. How different does that hole play as a 5 instead of a 4? There used to be a big tree in front of 11, too, that is gone now. How different do those couple holes play?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think like 11, Brooke holed that crazy long putt for eagle, and my caddie, Paul, and I were joking that you could drop like 100 balls and not get it within five feet. For her to have holed that, wow.

Obviously not really great for me at that point in time, but it was just super impressive even me looking back. I think there were -- like that tree was kind of one of the ones where you were on the fairway and the tree was still penalizing you. So for that to be gone is definitely one less tree to worry about.

18, I personally love par-5 finishing holes. Can be very exciting. Somebody can make an eagle. I don't know what they're planning to do with moving the tees, et cetera, but I think that just creates a lot of excitement and there tends to be a lot of people normally around the 18th with the hospitality and everything.

So it's great that I think as a fan perspective to see a lot of birdies as well. Yeah, I think 18 could be very big determining factor especially with it being a par-3 and par-5 finish.

Yeah, so I personally like the changes.

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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.

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2024 Travelers Championship scores, takeaways: Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau chasing Tom Kim after Round 1

The leaderboard at tpc river highlands is as electric as it is eclectic.

Thursday was a jarring return to PGA Tour golf following that classic U.S. Open at Pinehurst on Sunday evening. But as wild as the swing was back to 62s and 64s, the leaderboard remains stacked after Round 1. Though this is almost always the case at a signature event, this week has provided a particularly interesting top of the board with varying styles of play carrying the day.

Tom Kim leads after a stunning 62 in Round 1, but he may not be the most compelling story. Rickie Fowler and Akshay Bhatia -- who have had wildly differing seasons -- are up near the top, and they're joined by names like Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele.

Let's take a closer look at Kim's round and what's in store for the next three day as the eighth and final signature event of the year unfolds at TPC River Highlands.

1. Tom Kim (-8)

This is such an eclectic top of the board, and Kim symbolizes that. He is not the biggest hitter nor the most talented player, but he was awesome on Thursday on the eve of his 22nd birthday. What did he do well? Everything. And while his putter carried him to the 62, as we discussed on the First Cut Podcast, this is the type of course on which Kim can compete. 

Kim, who hit 11 of 14 fairways, laid out that blueprint on Thursday.

"I just, I hit the ball in the fairway a lot," he said. "Obviously this course if you start hitting the ball in the fairway you can kind of go at some pins and have some good opportunities. 

"Obviously, I putted well," he continued. "When you shoot 62s or 64s, you got to putt well, and I took care of that opportunity. My targets overall, like I picked really good targets out there with my approach shots. When you have 8-irons in, sometimes you want to go for the pin a lot, but at the same time you just kind of go into this head space where, okay, 'I have, this is where I need to pick my target, I don't feel like I need to push or anything' and just sticking to that game plan."

Other contenders

T2. Rickie Fowler, Akshay Bhatia, Will Zalatoris, Kurt Kitayama (-6) T6. Taylor Pendrith, Mackenzie Hughes, Patrick Rodgers, Scottie Scheffler, Cam Davis, Tony Finau (-5)

Fowler and Bhatia have been going in different directions this year. Bhatia is having the best season of his career (by far), and Fowler is having one of the worst. Still, they arrived at dueling 64s in nearly the same way. 

The difference is that, even though both were hot with the putter on Thursday, it's only Bhatia that has real staying power given how well he's been playing. Following his Texas Open victory and some nice showings at major championships, contention at a signature event is a logical next step for the 22-year-old.

The guy that I've got my eye on, though, is somebody one back of Fowler and Bhatia. It's Tony. Finau. Big Tone led the field in approach play on Thursday, and he's been playing really solid golf with a T18 at the PGA, T17 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, T8 at the Memorial and T3 at the U.S. Open. That looks like a trend to me, and if he keeps striking it like he did on Thursday, I think it's going to continue this weekend.

Four birdies in his last five holes 👀 @TonyFinauGolf moves to T2 @TravelersChamp . pic.twitter.com/PwHPjZ832V — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 20, 2024

Scottie's bounce back

After winning five of eight PGA Tour events, there was a lot of consternation over Scheffler's near missed cut at the U.S. Open last week.

He's bounced back nicely, though, with yet another 65 that feels like an automatic number at regular PGA Tour stops currently. His putter found a little fire in Round 1, and his odds to win the tournament actually dropped even though he's three back of the lead and not currently in the top five.

"I feel like I hit it nice," said Scheffler. "Found some swings, or found some stuff in my swing at the beginning of the week, and definitely feel like I'm swinging a lot better than I did last week."

"It's kind of hard to explain, to be honest with you," Scheffler said of what he found in his swing. "But just really getting better feel coming at the top of my swing, making sure my grip's kind of in the right position."

After hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation, I would say the grip is in a better position than before.

2024 Travelers Championship updated odds and picks

• Scottie Scheffler: 5/2
• Xander Schauffele: 6-1
• Tom Kim: 6-1
• Collin Morikawa: 12-1
• Tony Finau: 16-1
• Will Zalatoris: 20-1
• Akshay Bhatia: 20-1
• Ludvig Aberg: 20-1

Scheffler at 5/2 is wild considering his position on the leaderboard, but that's emblematic of the kind of year he's having. I'd much rather have Finau at 16-1 or Bhatia at 20-1 than Scheffler at 5/2. Those are two horses I would go with going into Friday's second round, and I think at least one of them will be there until the end on Sunday.

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Yang's major dream just one round away at KPMG Women's PGA Championship

Lauren hartlage plays way into limelight at kpmg women’s pga championship.

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SAMMAMISH, Wash. – Amy Yang won as an amateur on the Ladies European Tour when she was 16 years old, which was a long, long time ago. She still plays on the LPGA into her mid-30s for one main reason: She wants to stand on the 18th green after winning a major championship. She can almost see it.

She may never get a better opportunity than this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club, where three days of steady play have given the 34-year-old Yang a two-shot cushion heading into Sunday’s final round.

Yang, a five-time LPGA champion from Korea and the winner of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championsip in 2023, moved to 7-under 209 after a third-round 71 on Saturday. She will have an interesting cast trying to catch her in the final round at Sahalee, a venue that has proven both true and punishing to the best female players in golf.

Playing alongside Yang on Sunday will be two players seeking to win their first LPGA title of any kind, let alone a major championship, in Japan’s Miyu Yamashita (70), an 11-time winner in Japan, and Kentuckian Lauren Hartlage, who displayed quiet confidence in shooting 69 Saturday.

Sarah Schmelzel, who took a share of the lead with Yang into the weekend, shot 74, but still has a shot on Sunday, starting just three shots back. She will have to take better advantage of having short clubs into the greens at Sahalee. A group at 3-under 213 features five players, three of whom have won majors before.

Korea’s Jin Young Ko (73) and Americans Lexi Thompson (73) and Lilia Vu (68) all know what it takes to win a major; Japan’s Hinako Shibuno (73) and Washington native Caroline Inglis, looking to improve upon her previous top LPGA finish (T-10), sure would like to find out.

As would Yang, no doubt. She has been thinking about winning majors since she was a little girl inspired by the accomplishments of trailblazer Se Ri Pak, a fellow Korean who started winning majors and did not stop until she was in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

“I dreamed about playing here because of them,” Yang said. “I work hard for this. It’ll mean a lot, but we still got 18 more holes out there, and that’s a lot of golf left for major championship.”

Yang, who went bogey-free on Friday, shooting 68, had a more tumultuous walk on Saturday while playing in the final group, but weathered the storm better than most. She scrambled for a terrific par from under Sahalee’s tall trees left of the par-4 7th, bogeyed the 8th, and answered with a birdie at the difficult 168-yard 9th, where her tee shot settled 8 feet from the hole.

She birdied the par-5 11th, and at 17, another par-3 hole, bounced back strongly again after making bogey, this time making birdie from 36 feet. A bonus. She leads the field in several key statistical categories, including Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (+3.98), Scrambling (86.7 percent) and Strokes Gained: Around the Green (+1.93). On a course where bogeys lurk everywhere, Yang has made just three in as many rounds.

She said as the holes are dwindling down toward the finish, she continues to get nervous. But she will deal with it.

“I try not to think about it, but it does get into my head, and I get nervous, really nervous out there,” Yang said. “It’s nothing I can do but just embrace it. Embrace the feeling and just enjoy being out there.”

The Americans that will try to make up the difference on Sunday against Yang all have taken interesting paths to get there. Vu, 26, won two majors a year ago, and is just returning after two months off due to a back injury. In her return to tournament golf a week ago in Michigan, she won. At Sahalee this week, she has added to her repertoire, shaping shots both ways around trees and corners instead of sticking to her regular “push draw.”

“I think my goal was to get better every single day this week,” said Vu, ranked second in the Rolex Rankings. “I know it’s really demanding. You can’t ask for too much at a major.”

Thompson, 29, announced at the U.S. Women’s Open that this season will be her final one as a competitor. She found something in her game a week ago at the Meijer LPGA, where she lost in a playoff, and continues to play with freedom. She has won one major, the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship (now Chevron Championship).

She made four bogeys in Saturday’s 73, but kept fighting to give herself a chance on Sunday.

“It's a great golf course,” Thompson said. “It's definitely a challenge, and that's how a major should be. You just have to stay patient knowing it's going to happen, and hopefully make the birdies when you do have the opportunities.”

Hartlage, 26, likely is the biggest unknown among the contenders. She earned an LPGA card for 2022 through the Q-Series and has gone back to regain it after each of her first two seasons. But she is learning all the time, and this week she’s been able to keep her tee shots in play, producing scoring opportunities.

“Yeah, I'm super excited,” she said regarding Sunday. “I've never been in this position before and this is something that I dreamed about growing up as a kid.”

Her coach, Grant Waite, is a former PGA Tour player who competed in the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee. He said Hartlage is a hard worker who is progressing quite nicely.

Will the moment be too big for her? Waite has no doubt she has everything she will need to meet it.

“Anyone who shoots 63 in the final round of a Qualifying School tells me that they can play under pressure,” Waite said. “This is pressure, yes. But when your whole livelihood is on the line in one round, and you go out and shoot something like that to pass others and get your card, it tells me that she can rise to the occasion.

“Now, I’m not saying that she is going to win ... but I know that it’s in her.”

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