Hope everyone enjoyed the offseason. A brief one-week break following the lucrative Tour Championship, where Scottie Scheffler won $25 million and this year's FedEx Cup, is now over. The PGA Tour is back in Napa, California, this week for the opening event of the FedEx Cup Fall.
The FedEx Cup Fall is an eight-event slate that offers plenty of incentives for those who finished outside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup after the St. Jude Championship to start the playoffs in August. While most of the top players in the world will not participate, there will still be interesting and valuable action to follow through the end of the year.
Let's take a look at those incentives, the players attempting capture them and how that could all play out over the next few months on the PGA Tour.
2024 FedEx Cup Fall schedule
- Procore Championship -- Sept. 12-15
- Sanderson Farms Championship -- Oct. 3-6
- Black Desert Championship -- Oct. 10-13
- Shriners Children's Open -- Oct. 17-20
- Zozo Championship -- Oct. 24-27
- World Wide Technology Championship -- Nov. 7-10
- Butterfield Bermuda Championship -- Nov. 14-17
- RSM Classic -- Nov. 21-24
The big add this year is the Black Desert Championship, which will be played in Utah at a course of the same name. Everything else is similar to as it was presented in 2023, though the total number of events played has gone from seven a year ago to eight this year, and the FedEx Cup Fall ends a week later.
Field strength
Most of the top players will skip these events because they have already secured their status for 2025. If a player finished in the top 50 in the 2024 FedEx Cup standings -- advanced to the BMW Championship -- he is already eligible for all of the signature events in 2025 and basically any other tournament. So, don't expect to see Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa or Viktor Hovland often, if at all, over the next few months.
The same applies to players who finished in the top 70 or better. While not exempt for the signature events in 2025, they are eligible for the rest of the PGA Tour slate. They can improve their status for next year, but they have already locked up PGA Tour cards for 2025 and nothing this fall can change that.
Interestingly, the first event -- the Procore Championship in Napa, formerly known as the Fortinet Championship -- has drawn Wyndham Clark, Gary Woodland, Webb Simpson, Max Homa, Corey Conners, Harris English, Min Woo Lee and Sahith Theegala, among others. Many of these players are attempting to stay sharp for the Presidents Cup, which takes place two weeks from now in Montreal.
Other events could include good fields depending on what the plans are for top players and what they're trying to do (stay sharp, prep for something) this fall.
What's at stake
Even though much of the 2025 field is set, there is still a lot on the line. For starters, fall winners will qualify for The Players Championship and a two-year PGA Tour exemption; they will likely receive invites to major championships (like the Masters), too, events that have historically welcomed PGA Tour winners.
Golfers who push themselves upwards in the FedEx Cup standings -- Nos. 51-60 after the fall -- will earn exemption into two of the first three signature events of 2025. Here's the full list of signature events:
- The Sentry
- Pebble Beach Pro-Am
- Genesis Invitational
- Arnold Palmer Invitational
- RBC Heritage
- Truist Championship
- Memorial Tournament
- Travelers Championship
Because FedEx Cup points will carry over from the 2024 regular season into the FedEx Cup Fall, we already have a "top 10" in the standings:
| FedEx Cup Rank | FedEx Fall Rank | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | 1 | Tom Kim | 1,079 |
| 52 | 2 | Mackenzie Hughes | 1,048 |
| 53 | 3 | Maverick McNealy | 1,045 |
| 54 | 4 | Patrick Rodgers | 1,032 |
| 55 | 5 | Justin Rose | 1,021 |
| 56 | 6 | Seamus Power | 993 |
| 57 | 7 | Harris English | 987 |
| 58 | 8 | Nick Taylor | 985 |
| 59 | 9 | Jake Knapp | 984 |
| 60 | 10 | Min Woo Lee | 979 |
These golfers are playing to maintain their current positions, which would set them up to play in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational in February 2025. The players behind them are trying to take their spots to get into those events.
Even more at stake
Perhaps the even bigger competition happens at the bottom of the standings. Only the top 125 golfers keep their PGA Tour cards for 2025, and there are some interesting names toward the bottom of the pile like Zac Blair (No. 113), Kevin Tway (No. 122), Sam Ryder (No. 125), Alejandro Tosti (No. 127) and others. They will all be fighting for a spot in that top 125 by the time the fall ends to secure full PGA Tour status for next season.