In the past weeks, it has become clear that the PGA Tour is considering the development of a policy that will try to compel its membership — primarily its best players — to play in more events with a wider variety.
The driving inspiration behind the development of such a policy is the LPGA Tour's "One in Four" rule. The rule states that each LPGA Tour player must make at least one start in each of the LPGA Tour's active events one time in a four-year period. They can choose one career exemption to the rule. Also, if they fail to participate and do not take their exception, they are subject to a fine.
PGA Tour players and critics feel that specific rule may encourage American stars to play without Tour membership, instead using sponsor exemptions and their status to play in their current schedule of major championships, World Golf Championships, and other invitational events.
Instead of the LPGA Tour version of the rule, the PGA Tour is looking at a different spin on the concept. This week, the Sports Business Journal reported that the PGA Tour may develop a point scale assigned to each tournament based upon their prestige and field. The more prominent the event, the fewer the points assigned to it. Therefore, a player would have to achieve a minimum number of points to maintain playing privileges instead of the current 15-event minimum. They could do so through any combination of tournaments, leaving them with flexibility, but would likely compel the better players to enter some more events. The end result would be a better representation of the PGA Tour at more Tour stops.
Instituting such a system, though, would require the PGA Tour to systematically rank their entire schedule. They would have to define the characteristics that make a tournament great or not. In other words, they would have to hypothetically do something that would make for a fantastic golf column.
The rest of this column, then, is my attempt to rank the PGA Tour schedule and create a system that player would have to abide by in order to remain Tour members.
First, let's define the events that are being measured in the first place. In my system, I would use any PGA Tour event on the FedEx Cup or Fall Series schedule. That means the Skins Game and events like the Chevron World Challenge don't count.
Second, each event will be measured on a variety of criteria. Most importantly, though, the tournament will be measured on a mix of purse size, field strength, tournament tradition, and player desire to win the tournament. This is an incredibly subjective measure — the kind of thing that makes for a good column.
Finally, the tournaments in our rankings will not be individually rated. There is way too much gray area as it is in ranking these events by tier that doing them individually would just be ridiculous.
With those ground rules laid, let's create our system!
Obviously, tier 1 is all of the major championships — the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship. They're the events that players most want to win. It can be argued that the Masters, U.S., and British Opens have a weaker field than the Players Championship. The Players has a higher purse than all of them. But, still, the Players is not yet officially recognized as a major.
So, that makes the Players Championship into tier 2. It is all by itself. It is major lite. The Players exhibits all of the characteristics of a major except in name. Sometimes, it is done to the point of embarrassment to the event, but the players want to win their own event for the prestige and a big ol' loot of money. As discussed, the field is arguably the best of the year also.
The next tier is where controversy really can begin. There are two tournaments — the Mercedes Benz Championship and the Tour Championship that are very limited field events. These events are gotten into by virtue of either winning another PGA Tour event in the season prior (Mercedes-Benz), or playing very well during the entirety of the current season and PGA Tour Playoffs (TOUR Championship). Since both of these events require a consistent single season of excellence and entry is only determined by that characteristic, they are in the third tier by themselves.
We now enter into tournaments of various kinds that can lay claim to being very prestigious. Some carry prestige by their title, like the World Golf Championships events. Others carry clout because of the name of the tournament host. Arnie (Palmer) and Jack (Nicklaus) have events that are very significant because they personally host them. The FedEx Cup Playoff events are important because they are for a bucket load of cash, but they lack tradition and really deep player interest to win them beyond the money.
That said, we have 12 tournaments that fit these three categories:
- World Golf Championships — 4 — WGC Accenture Match Play, WGC CA Championship, WGC Bridgestone Invitational, WGC HSBC Champions
- FedEx Cup Playoff Events — 3 — The Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship; Tour Championship is in group above
- Invitationals Hosted by/in Honor of Greats — 5 — Arnold Palmer Invitational, Byron Nelson Championship, Colonial, the Memorial, AT&T National
I would put them into tiers in that order, too. WGCs may have no cut and wacky selection criteria, but they offer a ton of money to the players and it is rare that that invitees decline. They have a decade of history behind them. Despite rarely being played outside of the United States, the fields do have a global flavor and encompass great players from many Tours. Beating that kind of field seems more important than winning a FedEx Cup Playoff event.
Like the WGCs, FedEx Cup Playoff events are played for a ton of money with a limited field. The events are not skipped by players because of the in-tournament payout and the bonus pool at the end of the FedEx Cup. Still, they are only two seasons old compared to the 10 of the World Golf Championships. Lacking tradition knocks them a notch below the World Golf Championships.
If tradition is important, then how can I knock down the invitationals hosted by the biggest names in our sport? Simple. Players are more willing to skip them now than ever. When compared to other opportunities around the world, players are more likely to skip these events than the World Golf Championships or FedEx Cup events. I love these events for various reasons, but they're just not as important as they once were.
Trying to categorize and rank those events was pretty dicey, but this next group gets a little bit easier. The events in my next category are those that players seem to generally regard in high esteem, but are not invitational or limited-field events. It may be because of the course on which they play, the treatment that they get from tournament staff and fans, or the long-standing tradition of the playing of the event. These events are: Buick Invitational, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Northern Trust Open, Shell Houston Open, Quail Hollow Championship, and St. Jude Classic.
Before we get to the bottom three rungs on the ladder of tournament rankings, there is this amorphous blob of events that maybe used to be great or are up and coming. They might attract a field for a special reason – such as entry into a major championship (the top 8 finishers in the John Deere Classic get invited to the Open Championship). These three tiers would not be separated by many points on my scale, but I would group them separately this way:
- Tournaments on the Rise — The Honda Classic, Transitions Championship, Travelers Championship, RBC Canadian Open
- Tournaments Holding Steady — Sony Open in Hawaii, FBR Open, Verizon Heritage, Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Valero Texas Open, John Deere Classic, Wyndham Championship
- Tournaments in Decline — Bob Hope Classic, Buick Open
The Fall Series events would be ranked in the next to last tier largely because of their placement on the schedule. A number of these events have field strength and quality of course and tournament similar to a number of FedEx Cup events. The difference between the two is that the chance of top-tier players entering these events is lower than a FedEx Cup event and the event offers no FedEx Cup points. These events are: Turning Stone Resort Championship, Justin Timberlake Open, Frys.com Open, Viking Classic, Children's Miracle Network Classic.
My dead last tier would be events that are opposite other major or significant tournaments. These events are simply playing opportunities for players that cannot get into these bigger tournaments. Even compared to Fall Series events, these events have the weakest fields on the PGA Tour schedule. They are: Mayakoba Golf Classic, Puerto Rico Open, U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, and Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.
Of course, this is just one way to think of tournaments. There could be any number of methods that could be used that are more scientific, exact, or even more subjective. I'd love to hear from you what your list would be in the comments below.
Leave a Comment