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PGA Tour's big-purse tournaments, which were known as "Designated/Elevated Events," will be called "Signature Events" from the 2024 season onwards.
Earlier in March, the Tour announced a list of changes for the 2024 season. One of them included that there will be no cuts for the elevated events (or the designated events) after 36-hole. However, this does not comply with the four majors, the Players Championship and FedEx Cup playoffs.
The American golf circuit, the PGA Tour, has undergone a series of changes in the past few years. And with their merger deal with the Public Investment Fund and the DP World Tour finalized, fans could see several other changes in the coming years.
Just recently, Sean Zak, a writer at the Golf magazine, shared a tweet that reported the alleged change on the Tour. His tweet read:
"For the nerdiest of PGA Tour nerds: The big purse, limited field events on the PGA Tour schedule in 2024 will not be ELEVATED events, nor will they be DESIGNATED events. They are being called Signature Events."
The designated event format is already a new term for golf. With the top 20 players on the 2022 Player Impact Program (PIP) list compelled to participate in these events, the PGA Tour is allegedly set to make new changes, starting with the rebranding of the events as "Signature events".
As per the report, the new changes say the top 50 players from the FedEx Cup points list, top 10 players from the FedEx Cup standings, previous year's PGA Tour winners, top 5 players who earned the most FedEx Cup points in the designated events, and top 30 golfers from the OWGR on the Tour have to compulsorily participate in the soon-to-be rebranded "Signature events".
The American golf tour could also implement small size fields that would go down to 70 and 78 players.
What is the progress in the PGA Tour-PIF merger deal?
Back in July 2023, the American golf circuit and the Saudi-backed breakaway series' financers announced a merger deal, alongside the DP World Tour, to unify and economically stabilize the game of golf. Initially, the details of the speculated deal were blurry for fans and players. However, a lot of progress has been done in the course of two months.
In a recent US Senate hearing, it was revealed that the PIF would invest over $1 billion in the PGA Tour. There will also be two elevated events sponsored by the Saudi company. In addition to this, the PIF head Yasir Al-Rumayyan wishes for the Augusta National and R&A membership.
Another major takeaway came to light that the Public Invest Funds proposed for Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods to own two LIV Golf teams and play in at least 10 events on the breakaway series. Also, the PGA Tour proposed the removal of Greg Norman as the CEO of the Saudi-backed league.
Just recently, 15-time major champion Tiger Woods, with five other golfers, were announced as the Player Directors in the PGA Tour Policy Board.
