On the home page of The Associated Press recently appeared this headline: “Masters might want to rethink invitations to PGA Tour winners in the fall.” The analysis piece by venerated golf journalist Doug Ferguson took a dim view of exemptions for the FedEx Fall winners.
“The road easier traveled to Augusta National,” was his suggestion for what the tour should call the eight-tournament run after the Tour Championship that determines who gets full cards for the new PGA Tour season when it starts in January. “The fields are weak. The reward is not.”
It’s a reasonable take. The new fall series doesn’t draw many heavyweights, who are either gracing a few European fields or taking extended breaks before the new year starts. That was largely the case even during the wraparound-season era, but that pattern is more deeply calcified now that the points don’t count toward getting into the 2025 FedEx Cup playoffs.
But is the assessment fair? And should the biggest perk for winning – a trip to Augusta National to play in the Masters – be cleaved away from the fall events as punishment for Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy not showing up to play in them?
The opinion here is that the answer is an emphatic NO. In fact, the fall events are the best illustration for the value and impact of the Masters offering invitations to “individual winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation from previous Masters to current Masters.” Without the fall, the magic of that exemption category would be almost entirely wasted.
Let’s first dispense with the notion that the FedEx Fall events are “weak.” The highest post-Tour Championship field ratings thus far per the Official World Golf Ranking have been (in order): Dunhill Links (217.62), Procore (211.98), Shriners Children’s (208.45), BMW PGA (197.58), Zozo (194.32), Sanderson Farms (179.65), Black Desert (167.41), Irish Open (166.53), Spanish Open (145.71), Andalucía Masters (137.96), French Open (130.72) and the European Masters (125.35).
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