2018–19 PGA Tour

2018–19 PGA Tour season
DurationOctober 4, 2018 (2018-10-04) – August 25, 2019 (2019-08-25)
Number of official events46
Most winsUnited States Brooks Koepka (3)
Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (3)
FedEx CupNorthern Ireland Rory McIlroy
Money listUnited States Brooks Koepka
PGA Tour Player of the YearNorthern Ireland Rory McIlroy
PGA Player of the YearUnited States Brooks Koepka
Rookie of the YearSouth Korea Im Sung-jae

The 2018–19 PGA Tour was the 104th season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the 51st season since separating from the PGA of America, and the 13th edition of the FedEx Cup.

Changes for 2018–19

Schedule

The schedule contained 46 events, two fewer than the previous season. The schedule was shortened in an effort to complete the FedEx Cup Playoffs by the end of August.

As announced in 2017, the PGA Championship was moved from August to May on the weekend before Memorial Day, starting in 2019. The PGA of America cited the addition of golf to the Summer Olympics, as well as cooler weather enabling a wider array of options for host courses, as reasoning for the change. It was also believed that the PGA Tour wished to re-align its season so that the FedEx Cup Playoffs would not have to compete with the start of football season in late-August. Consequently, The Players Championship was moved from May back to March for the first time since 2006.[1][2][3][4]

New exemption

The PGA Tour added a one-time exemption for those who made 300 career cuts. J. J. Henry was the first to take advantage.

Events

On hiatus: The Houston Open and Greenbrier Classic were not included in the shortened season, but they did return in the autumn of 2019 as part of the 2019–20 PGA Tour schedule.[5]

New: Two new events were added to the schedule: the Rocket Mortgage Classic, played at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan, and the 3M Open, played at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.

Relocations: The WGC Invitational was relocated from Akron, Ohio to Memphis, Tennessee when FedEx took over sponsorship of the event.[6]

Canceled: The FedEx St. Jude Classic ceased due to the WGC event; the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, was played at the Classic's former location in Memphis. The Quicken Loans National; played in the Washington, D.C. area, no longer appeared on the PGA Tour schedule. The FedEx Cup playoff event; the Dell Technologies Championship, was also removed from the schedule with the number of playoff events reducing to three. The Northern Trust alternated between New Jersey, and Boston (the site of the Dell Technologies Championship).[7]

Rules

From January 1, 2019 onwards, tournaments followed the new rules released by the USGA and The R&A which were designed to speed up the pace of play. The most noticeable changes included golfers being able to putt on the green with the flag remaining in, and drops being made from knee rather than shoulder height.[8]

Prize money

As well as changes to individual tournament prize funds, the FedEx Cup postseason bonus money increased by $25 million to $60 million, with the FedEx Cup champion getting $15 million. The winner of the Tour Championship will be the FedEx Cup champion. The Tour Championship begins with each player having an adjusted score relative to par which relates to the amount of FedEx Cup points accumulated (previously the Tour Championship was structured similar to other tournaments, and awarded FedEx Cup points). The Tour Championship no longer have its own separate prize fund.

In addition, the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 was introduced, a $10 million bonus to be divided among the FedEx Cup top 10 regular season finishers.[9]

The tour also introduced the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. In most tournaments, a single hole is allocated to contribute to the challenge. A player's best two scores from every participating event a player competes in throughout the season is used. The player with the lowest average to par score wins $1m. The initiative is replicated on the LPGA Tour.[10]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2018–19 season.[11][12]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(US$) 		Winner(s)[a] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[b] 		Notes
Oct 7 Safeway Open California 6,400,000 United States Kevin Tway (1) 28
Oct 14 CIMB Classic Malaysia 7,000,000 Australia Marc Leishman (4) 48 ASA Limited-field event
Oct 21 CJ Cup South Korea 9,500,000 United States Brooks Koepka (5) 54 Limited-field event
Oct 28 WGC-HSBC Champions China 10,000,000 United States Xander Schauffele (3) 66 World Golf Championship
Oct 28 Sanderson Farms Championship Mississippi 4,400,000 United States Cameron Champ (1) 24 Alternate event
Nov 4 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open Nevada 7,000,000 United States Bryson DeChambeau (5) 40
Nov 11 Mayakoba Golf Classic Mexico 7,200,000 United States Matt Kuchar (8) 40
Nov 18 RSM Classic Georgia 6,400,000 United States Charles Howell III (3) 24
Jan 6 Sentry Tournament of Champions Hawaii 6,500,000 United States Xander Schauffele (4) 56 Winners-only event
Jan 13 Sony Open in Hawaii Hawaii 6,400,000 United States Matt Kuchar (9) 50
Jan 20 Desert Classic California 5,900,000 United States Adam Long (1) 42 Pro-Am
Jan 27 Farmers Insurance Open California 7,100,000 England Justin Rose (10) 60
Feb 3 Waste Management Phoenix Open Arizona 7,100,000 United States Rickie Fowler (5) 56
Feb 11 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am California 7,600,000 United States Phil Mickelson (44) 46 Pro-Am
Feb 17 Genesis Open California 7,400,000 United States J. B. Holmes (5) 64
Feb 24 WGC-Mexico Championship Mexico 10,250,000 United States Dustin Johnson (20) 72 World Golf Championship
Feb 24 Puerto Rico Open Puerto Rico 3,000,000 United States Martin Trainer (1) 24 Alternate event
Mar 3 The Honda Classic Florida 6,800,000 United States Keith Mitchell (1) 48
Mar 10 Arnold Palmer Invitational Florida 9,100,000 Italy Francesco Molinari (3) 64 Invitational
Mar 17 The Players Championship Florida 12,500,000 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (15) 80 Flagship event
Mar 24 Valspar Championship Florida 6,700,000 England Paul Casey (3) 50
Mar 31 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Texas 10,250,000 United States Kevin Kisner (3) 76 World Golf Championship
Mar 31 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship Dominican Republic 3,000,000 Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell (4) 24 Alternate event
Apr 7 Valero Texas Open Texas 7,500,000 Canada Corey Conners (1) 40
Apr 14 Masters Tournament Georgia 11,500,000 United States Tiger Woods (81) 100 Major championship
Apr 21 RBC Heritage South Carolina 6,900,000 Taiwan Pan Cheng-tsung (1) 58 Invitational
Apr 28 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Louisiana 7,300,000 United States Ryan Palmer (4) and
Spain Jon Rahm (3) 		n/a Team event
May 5 Wells Fargo Championship North Carolina 7,900,000 United States Max Homa (1) 50
May 12 AT&T Byron Nelson Texas 7,900,000 South Korea Kang Sung-hoon (1) 40
May 19 PGA Championship New York 11,000,000 United States Brooks Koepka (6) 100 Major championship
May 26 Charles Schwab Challenge Texas 7,300,000 United States Kevin Na (3) 54 Invitational
Jun 2 Memorial Tournament Ohio 9,100,000 United States Patrick Cantlay (2) 68 Invitational
Jun 9 RBC Canadian Open Canada 7,600,000 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (16) 48
Jun 16 U.S. Open California 12,500,000 United States Gary Woodland (4) 100 Major championship
Jun 23 Travelers Championship Connecticut 7,200,000 United States Chez Reavie (2) 58
Jun 30 Rocket Mortgage Classic Michigan 7,300,000 United States Nate Lashley (1) 46 New tournament
Jul 7 3M Open Minnesota 6,400,000 United States Matthew Wolff (1) 44 New tournament
Jul 14 John Deere Classic Illinois 6,000,000 South Africa Dylan Frittelli (1) 24
Jul 21 The Open Championship Northern Ireland 10,750,000 Republic of Ireland Shane Lowry (2) 100 Major championship
Jul 21 Barbasol Championship Kentucky 3,500,000 United States Jim Herman (2) 24 Alternate event
Jul 28 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Tennessee 10,250,000 United States Brooks Koepka (7) 72 World Golf Championship
Jul 28 Barracuda Championship Nevada 3,500,000 United States Collin Morikawa (1) 24 Alternate event
Aug 4 Wyndham Championship North Carolina 6,200,000 United States J. T. Poston (1) 44
Aug 11 The Northern Trust New Jersey 9,250,000 United States Patrick Reed (7) 76 FedEx Cup playoff event
Aug 18 BMW Championship Illinois 9,250,000 United States Justin Thomas (10) 72 FedEx Cup playoff event
Aug 25 Tour Championship Georgia n/a[c] Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (17) 60[d] FedEx Cup playoff event

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the PGA Tour, but did not carry FedEx Cup points or official money, nor were wins official.

Date Tournament Location Purse
($) 		Winner(s) OWGR
points 		Notes
Nov 23 The Match: Tiger vs. Phil Nevada 9,000,000 United States Phil Mickelson n/a 2-man match[16]
Nov 25 ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf Australia 7,000,000 Belgium Thomas Detry and
Belgium Thomas Pieters 		n/a Team event
Dec 2 Hero World Challenge Bahamas 3,500,000 Spain Jon Rahm 48 Limited-field event
Dec 9 QBE Shootout Florida 3,300,000 United States Brian Harman and
United States Patton Kizzire 		n/a Team event

Location of tournaments

FedEx Cup

Points distribution

Main article: List of point distributions of the FedEx Cup

The distribution of points for 2018–19 PGA Tour events were as follows:

Finishing position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 20th 30th 40th 50th 60th
Majors & Players Championship 600 330 210 150 120 110 100 94 88 82 51 32 18 10 6
World Golf Championships 550 315 200 140 115 105 95 89 83 78 51 32 18 10 6
Other PGA Tour events 500 300 190 135 110 100 90 85 80 75 45 28 16 8.5 5
Team event (each player) 400 163 105 88 78 68 59 54 50 46 17 5 2 0 0
Alternate events 300 165 105 80 65 60 55 50 45 40 28 17 10 5 3
Playoff events 2000 1200 760 540 440 400 360 340 320 300 180 112 64 34 20

Tour Championship starting score (to par), based on position in the FedEx Cup rankings after the BMW Championship:

Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th–10th 11th–15th 16th–20th 21st–25th 26th–30th
Starting score −10 −8 −7 −6 −5 −4 −3 −2 −1 E

Final standings

For full rankings, see 2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Final FedEx Cup standings of the 30 qualifiers for the Tour Championship:[17][18]

Pos. Player Majors & The Players WGCs Top 10s in other PGA Tour events Regular
season
points 		Playoffs[e] Total
points 		Tour C'ship[f] Tmts Money ($m)[g]
Nat. Name Ply Mas PGA USO Opn WGC Cha WGC
Mex 		WGC
MP 		WGC
Inv 		1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NTr BMW Start Final Basic Wynd
Top10 		FedEx
Bonus
1 Northern Ireland McIlroy 1st T21 T8 T9 CUT T54 2nd T9 T4 T4 T5 T4 T6 T9 1st 2,315 T6 T19 2,842 −5 −18 19 7.79 1.50 15.00
2 United States Schauffele CUT T2 T16 T3 T41 1st T14 T24 T27 1st T10 1,858 CUT T16 2,030 −4 −14 21 5.61 1.10 5.00
T3 United States Koepka T56 T2 1st 2nd T4 T16 T27 T56 1st 1st T2 4th 2,887 T30 T24 3,119 −7 −13 21 9.68 2.00[h] 3.50
United States Thomas T35 T12 • CUT T11 • 9th T24 T12 T5 3rd 3rd 2nd 1,247 T12 1st 3,475 −10 20 5.01
5 England Casey CUT CUT T29 T21 T57 T16 T3 T9 T27 2nd 1st T4 T5 1,629 • T24 1,768 −2 −9 22 4.26 0.60 2.50
6 Australia Scott T12 T18 T8 T7 CUT T18 • • T40 T10 2nd T7 2nd 1,124 5th T9 1,874 −3 −8 18 4.08 1.90
7 United States Finau T22 T5 T64 CUT 3rd 2nd T25 T40 T27 2nd 1,279 T30 4th 1,911 −3 −7 25 4.34 1.30
8 United States Reavie CUT • T14 T3 CUT T35 T65 T56 T27 T7 T3 T4 1st 1,309 T38 T57 1,394 −1 −6 28 3.66 1.10
T9 United States Kisner T22 T21 CUT T49 T30 • T27 1st T27 T7 T5 1,098 T12 T9 1,639 −2 −5 25 3.49 0.84
Japan Matsuyama T8 T32 T16 T21 CUT T30 T19 T24 T43 T3 T9 6th T7 969 T59 3rd 1,821 −3 24 3.34
United States Reed T47 T36 CUT T32 10th T7 T14 T24 T12 T5 774 1st T19 2,946 −6 25 3.59
T12 United States DeChambeau T20 T29 CUT T35 CUT • T56 T40 T48 1st 7th T10 T8 T2 1,203 T24 T48 1,371 E −4 21 3.19 0.68
Spain Rahm T12 T9 CUT T3 T11 T22 T45 T24 7th T8 6th T5 T10 T9 T6 1st 1,447 T3 T5 2,517 −4 20 4.99 0.50
14 United States Kokrak T47 • T23 • T32 • • • • T9 T10 T2 T7 T6 721 T12 T19 1,254 E −3 24 2.33 0.62
15 United States Woodland T30 T32 T8 1st CUT • T17 T17 T55 T5 2nd T10 2nd T9 T7 1,795 T52 T31 1,912 −3 −2 24 5.69 1.00 0.60
T16 England Fleetwood T5 T36 T48 T65 2nd T7 T19 T24 T4 T3 2nd 1,193 T43 T11 1,479 −1 −1 18 3.85 0.55
United States Kuchar T26 T12 T8 T16 T41 • 50th 2nd T43 1st 1st T4 T7 2nd T4 2,313 CUT T52 2,339 −4 22 6.29 1.20
United States Simpson T16 T5 T29 T16 T30 • T39 T56 2nd 3rd T8 T2 2nd 1,619 T18 T24 1,946 −4 21 4.69 0.55
T19 United States Fowler T47 T9 T36 T43 T6 • T36 • • T4 1st T2 T4 1,391 CUT T11 1,637 −2 E 20 3.95 0.51
South Korea Im CUT • CUT • CUT • • • • T4 T7 T3 T4 T7 7th T6 1,097 T38 T11 1,407 −1 35 2.85
T21 Mexico Ancer T12 • T16 T49 CUT • T39 T17 • T5 T4 T8 622 2nd T28 1,940 −4 +1 27 2.69 0.48
United States Cantlay CUT T9 T3 T21 T41 T7 T6 T24 T12 2nd T9 T3 1st 1,730 T12 2nd 3,157 −8 21 6.12 0.85
South Africa Oosthuizen T56 T29 T60 T7 T20 • T25 T5 T20 T5 T2 754 T6 T11 1,355 E 19 2.94
T24 Australia Leishman CUT T49 CUT T35 CUT • T62 T9 3rd 1st T4 T3 T4 5th 1,415 CUT T19 1,587 −1 +2 21 3.89 0.45
United States Snedeker T5 CUT T16 77th CUT T30 • T24 T27 T2 T4 T5 934 T6 T5 1,709 −2 27 3.12
T26 Canada Conners T41 T46 T64 • CUT • • • T27 2nd T3 1st 962 T21 T7 1,476 −1 +3 28 2.92 0.43
England Rose T8 CUT T29 T3 T20 3rd • T9 11th 1st 3rd 1,423 T10 T52 1,739 −2 17 4.36
28 United States Howell III T35 T32 T41 T52 • • T14 T24 • T5 1st T8 6th T6 1,279 CUT T37 1,345 E +4 27 3.04 0.43
T29 United States Glover CUT • T16 CUT T20 • • • • T7 T7 T4 T10 T7 T10 944 T43 T7 1,337 E +10 26 2.61 0.40
United States D. Johnson T5 T2 2nd T35 T51 T30 1st T40 T20 T4 T9 T6 1,686 T24 T57 1,840 −3 19 5.53 0.70
  Win
  Top 10
  Made cut
  Missed cut
• Did not play

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in U.S. dollars.[20][21]

Position Player Prize money ($)
1 United States Brooks Koepka 9,684,006
2 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy 7,785,286
3 United States Matt Kuchar 6,294,690
4 United States Patrick Cantlay 6,121,488
5 United States Gary Woodland 5,690,965
6 United States Xander Schauffele 5,609,456
7 United States Dustin Johnson 5,534,619
8 United States Justin Thomas 5,013,084
9 Spain Jon Rahm 4,990,110
10 United States Webb Simpson 4,690,572

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
PGA Tour Player of the Year (Jack Nicklaus Trophy) Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy [22]
PGA Player of the Year United States Brooks Koepka [23]
Rookie of the Year (Arnold Palmer Award) South Korea Im Sung-jae [22]
Scoring leader (PGA Tour – Byron Nelson Award) Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy [24]
Scoring leader (PGA – Vardon Trophy) Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy [25]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The number in parentheses after each winner's name is the number of PGA Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for PGA Tour members.
  2. ^ ASA − Asian Tour.
  3. ^ The Tour Championship has no stand-alone purse and does not carry official money; the tournament directly determines the assignment of the FedEx Cup bonus pool money, including US$15,000,000 to the winner.[13]
  4. ^ OWGR points at the Tour Championship were awarded based on aggregate scores only (see Tour Championship format).[14] McIlroy had the lowest aggregate score and was awarded with the 60 points.[15]
  5. ^ The top 125 point scorers in the regular season retain their tour card for the following season, and qualify for The Northern Trust. The top 70 points scorers after The Northern Trust qualify for the BMW Championship.
  6. ^ The top 30 point scorers after the BMW Championship qualify for the Tour Championship. Each player begins with a score adjustment to par determined by their point ranking, the lowest scorers in the Tour Championship in addition to this adjustment win the FedEx Cup.
  7. ^ In addition to tournament prize money, the top 10 regular season point scorers receive a share of a US$15,000,000 bonus, and the US$60,000,000 FedEx Cup postseason bonus money is distributed based upon standings after the Tour Championship.
  8. ^ Koepka also won a further US$1,000,000 by topping the Aon Risk Reward Challenge standings.[19]

References

  1. ^ Harig, Bob (August 10, 2017). "PGA Championship to move from August date to May in 2019". ESPN. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  2. ^ Shedloski, Dave (August 7, 2017). "The PGA Championship is moving to May and players are on board". Golf Digest. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  3. ^ "P.G.A. Championship Will Move from August to May in 2019". The New York Times. Reuters. August 8, 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  4. ^ Herrington, Ryan (August 7, 2017). "The PGA Championship will be moving to May, sources say". Golf Digest. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  5. ^ "2018-19 PGA Tour golf schedule sees major changes, including big events being moved". CBS Sports. July 10, 2018.
  6. ^ "Senior Players Champ. replacing WGC at Firestone". Golf Channel. April 12, 2018. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  7. ^ "The Northern Trust to call New York/New Jersey home in 2019, Boston home in 2020". PGA Tour. July 10, 2018. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  8. ^ Herrington, Ryan (December 3, 2018). "Nine changes in the new Rules of Golf you absolutely need to know for 2019". Golf Digest. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  9. ^ "FedEx Cup Purse Rises to $70 Million, Winner to Take Home $15 Million". Sports Illustrated. September 18, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  10. ^ "Understand the risk. Realise the reward". Aon. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  11. ^ "2018–19 Tournament schedule". PGA Tour. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  12. ^ "PGA Tour unveils significantly revamped 2018-19 Season schedule". PGA Tour. July 10, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  13. ^ "How it works: Tour Championship". PGA Tour. August 18, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  14. ^ Smith, Jeff (August 19, 2019). "10 FAQs: Tour Championship, FedExCup Format". Pro Golf Weekly. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  15. ^ "Tour Championship - 72 Hole Scores". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  16. ^ Murray, Ewan (November 22, 2018). "Woods v Mickelson is a $9m vulgar marketing exercise". The Guardian. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  17. ^ "2019 FedEx Cup". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  18. ^ Murray, Ewan (August 25, 2019). "Rory McIlroy pockets richest prize of £12m in winning FedEx Cup title". The Guardian. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  19. ^ "PGA Tour's Brooks Koepka wins Aon Risk Reward Challenge and $1 million". PR Newswire. August 7, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  20. ^ "2018–19 Official money". PGA Tour. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  21. ^ Kelly, Todd (August 21, 2019). "See how much money the top 20 golfers made during PGA Tour 2018-19 season". Golfweek. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  22. ^ a b Woodard, Adam (September 11, 2019). "Rory McIlroy voted PGA Tour Player of the Year, Sungjae Im named Rookie of the Year". Golfweek. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  23. ^ Heath, Elliott (August 27, 2019). "Brooks Koepka Named PGA Player Of The Year". Golf Monthly. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  24. ^ "2022–23 PGA Tour Media guide | Awards". PGA Tour. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  25. ^ Hoggard, Rex (August 26, 2019). "McIlroy passes Cantlay for PGA Tour's Vardon Trophy". NBC Sports. Retrieved October 23, 2023.