OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – With the PGA Tour season winding down, players are already looking ahead to the fall.
The Tour is returning to a calendar-year schedule next year for the first time since 2012, allowing players – if they so choose – to take some time off later this year. That hasn’t been the case during the wraparound era, with even some of the top players feeling as though they needed to log at least a start or two in the fall (typically, no-cut events with guaranteed points) to ensure they didn’t fall too far behind in the FedExCup standings.
That competitive reality hasn’t much bothered Patrick Cantlay, nor has it hurt him. He didn’t play a regular Tour event in the fall of 2021, and yet he still ranked second in points heading into the season finale at East Lake. This season, his only fall start was a playoff loss in Vegas, and here he sits fifth in the standings with two weeks to go. Cantlay’s rationale has always been: He’ll play better, more consistently, if he’s fresh.
Full-field tee times from BMW Championship
“For me, it’s important to feel ready and excited to practice and play again,” Cantlay said, “and so I think that nice couple-month break should be really good for that.”
When asked whether anything could compel him to play more than just the Ryder Cup at the end of September, Cantlay said: “Probably not a lot this year.”
Cantlay pointed to the condensed nature of the signature-event schedule as well as having three majors in the span of 10 weeks.
“I feel like it’s easier to gear up for those and stay on for those if you know you have an offseason coming,” Cantlay said.
FedExCup leader Jon Rahm doesn’t have that luxury, at least not this year.
As a dual member of both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, the Spaniard needs to log the minimum number of starts across the pond to retain his membership and remain eligible for the European Ryder Cup team. As a result, this fall, in addition to the matches in Rome, Rahm will play at the BMW PGA Championship, the Spanish Open and the DP World Tour’s season finale in Dubai – all while Cantlay and others are kicking back at home. In non-COVID-affected years, Rahm has usually played between 21-25 events. This year, once again, he’s on pace for 22 starts.
“But I can tell you I’m one of those players that wishes we could have an actual offseason,” Rahm said, “and with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour coming together closer, I’m hoping I get to a point where maybe October, November, December, there’s no events for me to play. I can be home and be dad and earn an offseason like basically almost every other athlete in this country can do.”
Sam Burns, who is making his 25th start this week, supported that idea. “There’s huge benefits to it. For one, it’s taking on our bodies; I don’t think people realize that and, mentally, it’s a long season that can be exhausting at times. We’re very fortunate we get to play golf for a living, but at the same time, it can be very wearing on you as well.
“So I think that’d be a great idea. And with this new schedule, it’s kind of a first step in that direction.”
But Rahm’s wishes apparently won’t come true in 2024. Both tours have already released their schedules for next year, with the Tour ending Sept. 1 but the European circuit rolling into mid-November, with consecutive “playoff” events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, culminating with the season finale Nov. 14-17.
Each player approaches his competitive schedule differently, finding spots throughout the year to either rack up reps or take short breaks. While playing 19 events this season, Cantlay never took more than two weeks off between events. Jordan Spieth is making his 21st start this week despite a stretch earlier this spring when he played seven times in eight weeks. Jon Rahm didn’t play for nearly a month ahead of the Open Championship – and then tied for second at Royal Liverpool.
Next year, top players won’t be required to play in all eight of the Tour’s signature events, but they’ll be highly motivated to do so, with elite fields, $20 million purses and several of them featuring no cut. The biggest tournaments will also come in bunches, including a stretch in June when two signature events bookend the U.S. Open. Many top players may also opt to play three consecutive weeks in February (Pebble-Phoenix-Riviera).
“There’s going to be more spots in the schedule where I might play three in a row; I think that’s just the way it’s going to work out after seeing the new schedule released, which is fine,” Cantlay said. “That’s kind of the trade-off for getting an offseason in the fall.”
