2x PGA Tour winner Sepp Straka rips into PGA Tour's 'less competitive' Signature events: "Bigger tournaments should be bigger fields"
2x PGA Tour winner Sepp Straka is not happy with the concept of having Signature events on the PGA Tour season. The Signature events were introduced in the 2024 season and take a different approach than the traditional PGAT events.
The Signature events have limited fields of only 70 golfers, with no cuts going into the weekend and an impressive prize purse of $20 million. These tournaments offer places to only the top golfers in the world, as compared to the 144-player fields that take place throughout the rest of the season.
Sepp Straka called out the Signature events, calling them less competitive due to the smaller fields. Speaking via Golf Monthly, Straka said:
"I personally don't like the small events. I just think it's less competitive. "When you get 140 something guys it's always a tougher environment, tougher - with a cut you kind of have to be ready on Thursday when the bell rings. The bigger tournaments should be bigger fields as well I think."
Sepp Straka also called out the PGAT on the need to be more inclusive, saying that the regular events during the season are packed because golfers cannot get into the more exclusive Signature events.
"These tournaments [full-field events] are massive because a lot of the guys, most of the guys, aren't getting in those small-field, big events. So for the majority of the PGA Tour, these tournaments are huge. They kind of are still the majority of the PGA Tour here," he added.
The PGA Tour's signature events are here to stay for a while, however, with no changes to be made the the season schedule in the near future.
List of all the Signature events on the 2024 PGA Tour calendar with their winners
There are a total of eight Signature events on the PGAT, with the first one being the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Scottie Scheffler won four of the eight Signature events for this year's PGA season, taking the golf world by storm. Following are all the Signature events on the PGAT, with all their winners:
- The Sentry- Chris Kirk
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am- Wyndham Clark
- The Genesis Invitational- Hideki Matsuyama
- Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard- Scottie Scheffler
- RBC Heritage- Scottie Scheffler
- Wells Fargo Championship- Rory McIlroy
- the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday- Scottie Scheffler
- Travelers Championship- Scottie Scheffler
Tiger Woods was recently given a lifetime exemption into all PGAT Signature events moving forward. A special exemption category was introduced by the policy board known as the Sponsor Exemption for Lifetime Achievement. Any golfer with more than 80 wins on the Tour will be eligible to receive the exemption, with Tiger Woods being the first recipient of the same.