Welcome to the PGA Tour’s reimagined fall season.
“FedEx Cup Fall” begins this week with the Fortinet Championship at the Silverado Resort North Course in Napa, Calif., the first of seven events that will end the 2023-24 season but also launch the Tour into a new era of FedEx Cup competition.
After tournaments in Napa, Mississippi and Las Vegas, the Tour will go international with stops in Japan, Mexico and Bermuda before wrapping up the season and the calendar year with the RSM Classic Nov. 16-19 at the Sea Island Golf Club on St. Simons Island, Ga.
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But the tournaments, which are worth full FedEx Cup points (with victories qualifying players for The Masters and The Players Championship) also matter to eligibility not only for the calendar-year FedEx Cup season in 2024 but for the lucrative series of “Signature events” — eight events with $20 million purses.
Here’s how it works:
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The players between No. 51-70 on the current FedEx Cup points list have already clinched their PGA Tour cards for 2024 but are competing in the Fall FedEx Cup for 10 spots on the first two Signature events following The Sentry (Pebble Beach and the Genesis Invitational). The top-10 players in points outside the current topp-50 after the fall events will be locked in.
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No. 71 and beyond are also competing for Signature Events but also to either stay within the top-125 or get inside that bubble for next season.
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The top-50 players on the FedEx Cup points list are already locked in for all eight Signature Events and will not earn additional FedEx Cup points for finishes in the Fall. Their points also will not be redistributed.
For example, if defending Fortinet champion Max Homa (sixth on the points list) finishes solo second and No. 51 Mackenzie Hughes finishes solo third, Hughes would receive 190 points for third, not 300 for second.
Golf Channel is airing all of the Fall events
Invasion of the Steves
It’s a good year for guys with variations of the name Steven or Stephen on the PGA Tour Champions and three of them are coming to Jacksonville for the Constellation Furyk & Friends Oct. 6-8.
Defending Furyk & Friends champion Steve Stricker, 2006 Players champion Stephen Ames and 2022 Schwab Cup champion Steven Alker have committed to play at the Timuquana Country Club for the third edition of the tournament hosted by 17-time PGA Tour champion Jim Furyk and his wife Tabitha.
Stricker leads the 2023 Schwab Cup standings entering this week’s Stanford International, with Ames third and Alker fifth. They have combined for 10 victories and nearly $7 million in earnings so far in 2023.
Stricker has won five times this season, including three Champions Tour majors, the Regions Tradition, Senior PGA and the Kaulig Companies Championship. He’s won nine times in the last two seasons for a career total of 16.
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Ames has won four times this season and Alker once.
Tickets and hospitality packages are available by visiting constellationfurykandfriends.com. The tournament will be televised on Golf Channel, with a $2.1 million purse. More than $2.51 million in charity was raised in the first two years of the event.
Format announced
The format for the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational Dec. 8-10, a PGA Tour/LPGA Tour mixed-team event at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, was announced this week.
The first round will be a two-player scramble, the second round alternate shot and the third round will be modified four-ball, in which the two players tee off, then switch and play each other’s tee shot through the hole, with the best score counted.
The tournament field will be 16 teams, with a $4 million purse. Golf Channel will air portions of each round.
Biondi makes PGA Tour debut
Former University of Florida player Fred Biondi, who won the NCAA individual national championship and led the Gators to the team title, will make his first PGA Tour start this week in Napa. Biondi, who finished second in the 2023 PGA Tour University ranking, has made nine Korn Ferry Tour starts.
Biondi is a native of Brazil. The last player from that country to start a PGA Tour event was Lucas Lee, who made 16 starts during the 2015-16 season.
PGA TOUR
Event: Fortinet Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Silverado Resort North Course, Napa, Calif.
At stake: $8.4 million purse ($1,512,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner).
Defending champion: Max Homa.
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Sunday, 6-9 p.m.).
Area players entered: Tyson Alexander, Jonathan Byrd, Lanto Griffin, Zach Johnson, Patton Kizzire, Russell Knox, Doc Redman, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg, Davis Thompson, Carl Yuan.
Notable: Homa got his best professional season off to a good start with a one-shot victory over Danny Willett to win at Napa for the second year in a row. … The last players to win three tournaments in a row on the PGA Tour was Steve Stricker at the 2009, 2010 and 2011 John Deere Classic. … Justin Thomas, Kevin Kisner and Saiith Theegala are also in the field.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
Event: Sanford International, Friday-Sunday, Minnehaha Country Club, Sioux Falls, S.D.
At stake: $2 million purse ($300,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Steve Stricker.
TV: Golf Channel (Friday-Sunday, 4-6 p.m.).
Area players entered: David Duval, Fred Funk, Jim Furyk.
Notable: Stricker shot 64-64 in the final two rounds but still had to turn back Robert Karlsson in a playoff, with a birdie on the first hole of sudden death. … The Constellation Furyk & Friends at the Timuquana Country Club is in two weeks.
KORN FERRY TOUR
Event: Simmons Bank Open, Thursday-Sunday, The Grove, College Grove, Tenn.
At stake: $1.5 million purse ($270,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Brent Grant.
TV: Thursday, 2-5 p.m.; Friday-Sunday, 1:30-4 p.m.).
Area players entered: Blayne Barber, A.J. Crouch, Jared Wolfe.
Notable: Grant topped Kevin Yu by one shot when the tournament was during the regular season. The tournament is now the second leg of the four-event Korn Ferry Finals, with the top-30 players on the final points list earning PGA Tour cards. … With three playoff events left, Wolfe is in 90th place, 488 points behind the No. 30 bubble (Brett Drewitt), Crouch is 126th, 599 points back and Barber is 129th, 601 points behind. Playoff events are worth 600 points for a victory and 330 points for a solo second.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour’s ‘FedEx Cup Fall begins in Napa, will end at Sea Island
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