PGA Tour officially unveils 2024 schedule; Pebble now a signature event

August 7, 2023

0 Views 0

The PGA Tour officially unveiled its 2024 tournament schedule on Monday afternoon ahead of its FedExCup playoff opener in Memphis.

The calendar-year schedule, the Tour’s first since 2012, features 36 events, including four majors, The Players and eight signature events (formerly designated events). While seven signature events from this season will keep their signature status, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will replace the WM Phoenix Open as a signature event next year.

The schedule is similar to the copy first reported on by Golfweek last week.

“We are excited about the roll-out of the PGA Tour’s reimagined schedule and what the season will offer to our fans: a January start with stars competing head-to-head more often, alongside the weekly drama of life-altering moments and the emergence of new stars,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “While winning on the PGA Tour continues to be the ultimate – and most difficult – challenge, we have further connected every tournament, with more at stake each week. From The Sentry through the FedExCup Playoffs and into the soon-to-be-announced FedExCup Fall, this new cadence will create consistent excitement for our fans and reward players like never before.”

As previously reported, five signature events – The Sentry, Pebble, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship – will feature limited field sizes and no cuts. However, aside from the majors and The Players, three signature events – the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and Memorial Tournament – will have 36-hole cuts to the top 50 and ties or including any player within 10 shots of the lead.

While field sizes weren’t announced for every event, the Pebble event will be 80 players, who will compete on Pebble Beach and nearby Spyglass Hill. Furthermore, amateurs will only compete in the first two rounds as the tournament moves away from its four-day, three-course pro-am format. Pros will compete at Pebble for both weekend rounds.

“We are pleased to announce that the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has been designated as a signature event by the PGA Tour for the upcoming year, 2024,” said AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament director Steve Johns. “We extend our gratitude to title sponsor, AT&T, for an incredible 39 years of partnership that have helped elevate this event to new heights.”

The signature events will also offer increased prize money (18 percent to the winner; $4 million in most cases) and FedExCup points (700 to the winner, up from 500).

Also previously reported on are the available spots in these signature fields that will come from the current FedExCup standings (Next 10: top 10 not otherwise exempt following the fall season) and top finishers in previous non-signature events (Swing 5: top points earners from preceding swing).

And as for the cadence, in most cases, the signature events are paired as back-to-backs with two to three non-signature events preceding them. However, the Phoenix Open kept its Super Weekend dates, meaning it will be the only event between Pebble and Genesis, the latter of which will include the Sony Open, American Express, Farmers Insurance Open (Saturday finish) and Phoenix as part of its Swing 5.

The signature events will also be open to season winners of non-opposite-field events, plus four sponsor exemptions restricted to PGA Tour members only. The Genesis, API and Memorial are the only events with an additional sponsor invite, which is unrestricted.

The playoff structure remains unchanged from 2022-23 with 70 players qualifying for the first event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, 50 advancing to the BMW Championship, and 30 to East Lake.

The Tour did not reveal any details about its fall schedule for 2024, though that was part of earlier reports.

The major differences between the Tour’s Monday release and Golfweek’s initial report is a few of the tournament names and sponsors, most notably the Byron Nelson. Reports had CJ Cup becoming title sponsor of the Dallas-area tournament while the Tour still listed AT&T as title sponsor despite reports earlier this year that AT&T was ending its longtime deal with the event.

Additionally, there is still a TBD spot opposite the Genesis Scottish Open in July.

Here is a look at the official 2024 PGA Tour schedule, minus fall events which were not announced:

(**Signature event; bold = major; italicized = playoff event and The Players)