JUST IN: PGA Tour set to start 2024 season with loaded field (minus two familiar names) at its first signature event
The PGA Tour’s first event of the 2024 season, which begins next week in Maui, features big money, big names, and a bigger field. On Friday, the visit delivered the responsibility list for The Guard, with 59 of the 60 qualified players set to contend at Kapalua Resort in a competition that likewise serves as the visit’s most memorable mark occasion of the year.
The solitary qualified golf player missing is Rory McIlroy, who in earlier years has skirted the occasion regardless of having qualified, to start his season in the Center East on the DP World Visit. He plans to do likewise in 2024.
This year, qualification for The Guard, being played Jan. 4-7, has extended past the conventional prerequisite that players have won a PGA Visit occasion in the a year earlier (thus the Competition of Champions being formally dropped from the name). Victors gain programmed section into the field, yet additionally any player who completed inside the best 50 of the FedEx Cup rankings in 2023.
21 of the best 25 players in the Authority World Golf Positioning will contending in the no-cut occasion with a general award cash payout of $20 million.
The tournament will also be without its defending champion, Jon Rahm, who defeated Collin Morikawa by two strokes in the final round a year ago after coming from eight strokes behind. The Spaniard, obviously, caused disturbances last month when he endorsed with the LIV Golf Association in 2024.
Considering that the principal LIV occasion wasn’t until February, questions emerged regarding whether Rahm could in any case have the option to contend at The Guard and the American Express later in January, one more competition where he guaranteed the title. PGA Visit authorities immediately crushed that thought, suspending Rahm from the visit and refreshing the FedEx Cup rankings from 2023 to remove him from his No. 18 spot and move all others up as needs be. As a result, Mackenzie Hughes was able to climb up to 50th place, gaining entry into the event next week and all other 2024 signature events.
Here is the finished field playing in Maui:
PGA Tour winners in 2023
Ludvig Åberg
Akshay Bhatia
Keegan Bradley
Sam Burns
Wyndham Clark
Corey Conners
Jason Day
Nico Echavarria
Tony Finau
Matt Fitzpatrick
Rickie Fowler
Lucas Glover
Emiliano Grillo
Nick Hardy
Brian Harman
Lee Hodges
Max Homa
Viktor Hovland
Si Woo Kim
Tom Kim
Chris Kirk
Kurt Kitayama
Luke List
Taylor Moore
Collin Morikawa
Vincent Norrman
Davis Riley
Justin Rose
Scottie Scheffler
Sepp Straka
Nick Taylor
Sahith Theegala
Erik van Rooyen
Camilo Villegas
Matt Wallace
