Five changes to the PGA Tour season
Next year the PGA Tour will look slightly different to how we have come to know it. There will be a change in date to one of the majors, changes to tournament venues, two new tournaments and one less event in the FedEx Play-offs.
Here’s a rundown of some of the key changes to the PGA Tour season in 2019.
FedEx Cup Cup changes
There will be a slight change to the FedEx Cup Play-offs next season with the amount of events being reduced to three. There will also no longer be a points reset heading into the final event, instead the leader of the FedEx Cup will start the Tour Championship on 10 under par, 2nd will start on 8 under and so on.
There will also be an extra incentive as the prize purse will be increased to $70 million with the winner of the FedEx Cup taking home a staggering $15m.
Instead of September, the Tour Championship will now be held at the end of August.
Wyndham rewards
As well as the mouthwatering sum of money up for grabs from the FedEx Cup there will be an extra $10m on offer to the players that finish inside the top 10 of the FedEx Cup at the end of the regular PGA Tour season.
The leader of the FedEx Cup after the Wyndham Championship will receive $2m with the the person in 10th place receiving $500,000.
May date for the PGA
The most well-known change to the PGA Tour has been the move of the PGA Championship to May from 2019. The tournament will be held on the Black Course at Bethpage and the move means The Open will now be the final major of the year.
It also means the Players Championship will now be played in March.
Pastures new
The summer will feature two new tournaments. In June the PGA Tour lands in Detroit for the Rocket Mortgage Classic held at Detroit Golf Club, while in July it heads to the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota. The 3M Open has been part of the PGA Champions Tour since 1993.
2020 changes
The PGA Tour has also announced some changes for the 2020 season which include the Houston Open and the Greenbrier being played in autumn. It also means the Greenbrier will kick off the 2019-20 season.
Click here to view the full 2019 PGA Tour schedule
PGA Tour schedule 2018-19
How will the new PGA Tour FedEx Cup format work?
Six reasons why you’ll love the new Rules of Golf
Matthew Beedle
Matthew has been playing golf since he was around 13 and took up the game at a local nine-hole municipal course with his friends before joining Pontefract & District Golf Club just over the hedge.
Still a member of Pontefract with a handicap of 3, he currently sits on the board of directors to help with digital and marketing initiatives in order to improve membership and visitor income.
Matthew graduated university with a First Class in Sports Journalism from Leeds Trinity University and has been working in the golf industry since graduating.
NCG’s social media & marketing manager, Matthew’s main job role is to increase website traffic to the National Club Golfer website via our email and social media channels as well as driving entries to grow our NCG Top 100s Tour events amongst other tasks.
Not one to change his equipment too often, Matthew currently plays the TaylorMade M2 driver which has lasted the test of time in his bag. Elsewhere, you’ll find him using the TaylorMade Stealth 2 three-wood with a Ping G425 Crossover 2-iron to aid his long game.
Through his 4-iron to Gap Wedge, Matthew uses the Ping i500 irons accompanied by Ping’s Glide 3.0 56-degree and 60-degree wedges.
Another club that has stood the test of time in his bag is a Nike Method Core MC-3i putter which has had to have the SuperStroke grip changed at least three times. Ball of choice is the Titleist ProV1.
