"I wasn't in favor of those" - Jon Rahm voices concerns on PGA Tour's 'Signature Events' rules, calls for thoughtful qualification decisions
Spain's Jon Rahm, number one in the FedEx Cup ranking and second in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), held a press conference Tuesday in Memphis, Tennessee. Rahm expressed his disagreement with part of the new Signature Events rules.
Rahm, who is in Memphis to participate from Thursday in the St. Jude FedEx Championship, does not agree with the Signature Events receiving four slots in their field for "sponsors' guests."
Every other pro golfer: "bigger purses would be pretty nice"
Jon Rahm: pic.twitter.com/2xgvHVdiPy
Here's what Jon Rahm had to say on the matter, according to the Bellingham Herald:
“I voiced this when it came up. I wasn't in favor of those tournaments having invites or exemptions, however you want to call it. Everybody that's playing has earned it one way or another. You just don't want it to go to somebody who just—for whatever reason, they liked."
He added:
“As a person who got his PGA Tour card through PGA Tour exemptions, you want them to go to the right person. I'm hoping those events realize the position they're in and give it to people that truly, truly can do something out of it."
For Jon Rahm, the qualifying formats established for next season's Signature Events should be sufficient to complete the field. In any case, he expressed his hope that the sponsor waivers will be used "in a way that it can be meaningful."
"There is a way for players not into those events to somehow qualify into those events, so I'm hoping they use some of those to people who were close and didn't quite make it, players that have earned it throughout their play in the past. Just hope they use them in a way that it can be meaningful for somebody for the year or their career in golf."
What new rules did Jon Rahm talk about?
Signature Events (formerly Designated and Elevated events) will be treated differently next season. That new treatment is what Jon Rahm was talking about. The thing is, these tournaments will receive major changes for 2024.
The goal is to get more players the chance to play in these tournaments, according to the PGA Tour communication.
Jon Rahm believes Jay Monahan deserves a fair chance to complete his mission.
#JonRahm #JayMonahan #PGATour pic.twitter.com/15sroZmtvp
The first change is that there will be eight Signature Events, with higher money prizes and giving 700 points for the FedEx Cup ranking. These tournaments will be The Sentry, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage, the Wells Fargo, the Memorial and the Travelers.
Only the Sentry retains its previous qualification method. For the remaining tournaments, a new qualifying format will be used: the top 50 of the 2022-23 FedEx Cup rankings plus the so-called "The Next 10 and The Swing 5".
"The Next 10 and The Swing 5" will be a group of players who will be selected, tournament by tournament, based on their performance towards the FedEx Cup in the current season, i.e. 2024.
In addition, Signature Event fields will receive four sponsor exemptions. This was the point on which Jon Rahm expressed his unhappiness.