How LIV Golf and PGA Tour’s potential merger shape the future of the Sanderson Farms Championship?

The Sanderson Farms Championship is coming to a close at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi.

The tournament has been played since 1968, but despite its prestige, its future is uncertain. The reality is that it is not clear what changes the merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will bring, should it finally materialize.

The PGA Tour has already published its schedule for 2024, which ends in August with the TOUR Championship. After that, the fall tournaments will be played, with the Sanderson Farms Championship traditionally among those. However, whether it will be played is not yet official for 2024.

Country Club of Jackson Mississippi, home of the Sanderson Farms Championship (Image via Getty).

An alleged merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour would combine aspects of one and the other. The characteristics of LIV events (fewer players, fewer rounds, team competition) would leave little room for tournaments like the Sanderson Farms Championship.

This is something that needs to be properly evaluated because the fall tournaments, i.e., the FedEx Cup Fall this year, play an important role in the circuit. They allow lower-ranked players to stay active throughout the season.

Thanks to the Sanderson Farms Championship and the other six tournaments that make up the FedEx Cup Fall, many players have a chance to keep their jobs for another year. If they are lucky, they could keep them for longer as well.

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Sanderson Farms Championship: How does the FedEx Cup Fall work?

The FedEx Cup Fall was the PGA Tour's strategy to return to a calendar year schedule. This schedule will begin in January and end in August for the top-ranked players, but will continue in the fall for the rest of the players.

It will work as follows:

• Players who finish outside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup rankings will play the seven fall tournaments in an effort to finish in the top 150.
• Those who finish 51-60 and are not otherwise exempt will earn their official PGA Tour membership for 2024 and an invitation to the first two signature events of the season following the Sentry (the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational).
• Those who finish 61-125th and are not otherwise exempt will earn their official PGA Tour membership for 2024, plus the opportunity to be considered for invitations to Signature Events.
• Those who finish 126th-150th will earn conditional PGA Tour membership for 2024. That means they can play in Tour events but will not earn FedEx Cup points in all of them.

Country Club of Jackson Mississippi, home of the Sanderson Farms Championship (Image via Getty).

Of course, the top 50 players will also earn their PGA Tour membership for 2024. In addition, they are guaranteed a spot in all Signature Events during the season.

The FedEx Cup Fall 2023 consists of seven tournaments. This includes the Fortinet Championship, Sanderson Farms Championship, Scriners Children's Open, ZOZO Championship, World Wide Technology Championship, Butterfield Bermuda Championship and The RSM Classic.

These tournaments carry the same weight as the "regular" season PGA Tour events. This means that if a player wins one of the FedEx Cup fall events, they will receive PGA Tour membership for the next two seasons. They will also earn 500 FedEx Cup points, a spot in The PLAYERS Championship field and other benefits.

Until the merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour is finalized, the FedEx Cup Fall, including the Sanderson Farms Championship, could remain in place. This is because it serves as a balance to the circuit.

A future with both tours merged is a more difficult prognosis.