The PGA Tour's Signature Event model has been called into question again after Erik Van Rooyen stated that he hates the $20m purse, limited-field, no-cut format of events - after qualifying for one.
“How honest do you want me to be?” he asked reporters after qualifying for the Truist Championship.
“I hate it. I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them. The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It's so deep."
Lucas Glover is one of the tour's most outspoken players and he is another to have voiced his distain for the events despite benefitting from them. “I don’t like the idea at all,” he told Golfweek in 2024. “It’s selfish and it’s a money grab.”
While I think the PGA Tour is on to something with the Signature Events, I think there are a couple of tweaks that need to be made - open the fields up to far more players and include cuts in every single one.
I was scratching my head this week when I spotted that Tom Kim had not qualified for the Truist Championship.
Kim is the 41st-best player in the world according to the Official World Golf Ranking and finished 51st in the 2024 FedEx Cup standings yet does not fulfil the entry criteria for one of these new elevated PGA Tour events. Ironically, had he finished 50th in the FedEx Cup, he'd be in as that is the cut-off for one of the ways to qualify for PGA Tour Signature Events.
Sure, Kim hasn't enjoyed the best start to 2025 with just one top-10 in 11 starts to rank 78th in the FedEx Cup, but he is a PGA Tour member who was T7th at the Signature AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am three months ago and made the cut at both The Players and The Masters.
It's clear to me that this is wrong, as Kim has shown time and time again that he is one of the world's top players, capable of winning PGA Tour events, challenging for Majors (he was T2 at the 2023 Open with a sprained ankle) and scoring points for the International Presidents Cup team - which is a PGA Tour-operated event that he featured in last September.
Kim not playing denies a potentially captivating storyline of the 22-year-old ending an 18-month wait for his fourth victory and returning to the PGA Tour's elite table.
There are dozens of other talented PGA Tour pros who haven't qualified for this week's event at the superb Philadelphia Cricket Club, which I believe is wrong as surprise winners are always great storylines for fans and have big implications for players' careers.
Dan Brown led The Open last year while ranked 272nd in the world, while three years ago World No.100 and PGA Tour rookie Mito Pereira needed a bogey on the 72nd hole to become a Major champion.
These stories are rare but they're what professional golf is all about, and they're simply not possible in these limited field PGA Tour events.
Erik Van Rooyen is right, the PGA Tour is so deep and anyone who has earned a PGA Tour card deserves the chance to have their breakout week on the big stage.
The fields for the new Signature Events are capped at 72 players, which is far too small in my view. I believe they should feature a minimum of 100 players and all eight should feature cuts, as that is a fundamental part of PGA Tour golf.
Three of the eight still do feature a cut, the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and Memorial Tournament, but far fewer players go home after 36 holes than a regular full-field tournament.
The PGA Tour has even acknowledged fans' love for the cut, having announced that there will be a "focus on the Friday cutline" in its reimagined 2025 broadcasts.
I have no problem with the $20m purse but don't love players turning up for a guaranteed paycheck where there is no chance of missing the cut and a payday for a bad week.
What is the PGA Tour's best event? The Players Championship, which has a full field and a 36-hole cut. All four Majors have large fields, with The Masters' being the smallest at around 85-100, and all four have cuts.
The Signature Events would be far better if they followed this model. Keep the big money but open them up to 100+ players and ensure that every single one of them needs to battle their way to the weekend in order to secure a payday.
