Thomas says new year brings opportunity to everyone
The next season on the PGA Tour already has the perception of being two tours. The elite are in the $20 million signature events with a big boost in FedEx Cup points. The rest are playing for less money ($8.5 million on average) and having to play well to advance their stock.
But being in that top group still has to be earned.
Justin Thomas, who didn’t have an elite year, wonders why some of the rank-and-file complain about advantages for the perenni- ally top players instead of seeking inspiration from the likes of Eric Cole and Adam Schenk.
“I think it’s the easy thing to do, honestly, to sit there and say: ‘Why me? Why is this happening to me? Why are they getting this?’” Thomas said.
Cole spent a decade on the mini-tours, finally worked his way up to the PGA Tour and finished at No. 43 in the FedEx Cup in his rookie season to get into all the big-money tournaments next year. He went from No. 384 to No. 41 in the world ranking and he’s headed to the Masters.
Thomas singled out Schenk. His average FedEx Cup position in his five years on tour was No. 103 (his best was No. 71 in 2019). He not only qualified for the Tour Championship, he was three shots off the lead going into the second round at East Lake and tied for ninth. He’s in all the big events next year, including the four majors.
Cole and Schenk are the only two players who went from outside the top 150 in the world to the top 50 without having won a tournament. That’s how consistently well they played.
Thomas, meanwhile, failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup postseason for the first time. He likely will get sponsor exemptions to signature events if he doesn’t earn his way back. His argument was more geared toward opportunities for everyone.
“If you would have put us side by side at the beginning of the year and said, ‘Who is going to do what?’ ... you know what I’m saying?” Thomas said, referring to Schenk.
What he meant was odds on who would have a better year would favor a two-time major champion, a past FedEx Cup champion previously ranked No. 1 in the world.
OWGR CHANGES
Everyone gets paid cash and FedEx Cup points at The Sentry next week at Kapalua, and at the other signature events that feature $20 million purses.
Not everyone will be getting world ranking points.
The Official World Golf Ranking has updated its formula for 2024. One key change relates to fields with 80 players or fewer. A higher percentage of points will be distributed to the top finishers, meaning the winner would get roughly 21% of the points, up from about 17% to 18% previously.
Also, the bottom 15% of the final standings will not get points. That only relates to tournaments with no cut. So for the three player-hosted signature events — Riviera, Bay Hill and Memorial — everyone will get world ranking points.
The other change is to award a 60% bonus to a player who wins for the second time in a 52-week period (70% for players with three or more wins in a year). The bonus would be capped at 4 points if that multiple win comes at a major or other tourney with a strong field.
MONEY MATTERS
The threat from Saudi-funded LIV Golf has led to the PGA Tour offering more money than ever. That much was evident in a couple of key indicators found on the official money list.
The season was the longest ever, from September 2022 through November 2023, as the PGA Tour returned to a calendar season. But that didn’t really affect the top of the money list, and Scottie Scheffler this season became the tour’s first $20 million man ($21,014,342).
Also worth noting is that 11 players earned $5 million or more without winning a tournament. And that 139 players made $1 million or more.
Scheffler was by far the most consistent player and is a leading candidate for PGA Tour player of the year. But one metric of a dominant year is not how much money was earned but the separation at the top.