Aloha and Good Luck On Monday

For many PGA Tour members, the season starts at the Sony Open in Oahu, Hawaii. For members who haven’t won in the past year, or aren’t in the top-50 in the world, the Sony is their season-debut and a chance to set the tone for the season. 

For tour rookies, the first tournament as a PGA Tour member is a milestone. In past years, it came just days after the graduation ceremonies, when the Fall Series marked the beginning of the season. Families and friends of players fly out for the special occasion, and sponsors come to get their first taste of PGA Tour life. 

With the fall now mainly for players outside the top-70 trying to retain their tour card, more top players, who don’t normally play the Sony, committed to the field this year after a long off-season. That left fewer spots for Korn Ferry Tour graduates and nothing for players who earned PGA Tour status through Q-school.

According to multiple players, the Tour didn’t foresee this happening. When the Korn Ferry Tour ended last season, and PGA Tour cards were awarded to the top-30 on the points list, players were told by Tour officials they would all be in the Sony field.

One KFT graduate was assured he would be in the Sony field at the graduation ceremony, and booked travel to Oahu for his wife. One of his sponsors booked a week-long trip to celebrate. This player, however, won’t be in the Sony field unless he Monday qualifies. 

The Tour scheduled a mandatory two-day orientation for rookies the weekend before the start of the Sony at Waialae, and covered players’ weekend travel costs. What the Tour didn’t count on was that many of those members were going to have to Monday qualify because they weren’t in the field. 

This weekend, players sat through meetings and presentations about the rules and regulations of the PGA Tour. Many of those players were thinking about how to shoot 8-under on Monday at Kapolei Golf Course without a practice round. One player in orientation said the Tour wasn’t able to secure a practice round for him, so he called Kapolei Golf Course directly, and was able to get out before the first group teed off this weekend. 

The last player in the Sony field is Jimmy Stanger, who finished 16th on the KFT season-long points race. That leaves 14 top-30 KFT players behind him, as well as the top-5 from Q-school, on the alternate list. Harrison Endycott, who won PGA Tour Q-school in decisive fashion by four strokes just three weeks ago, is 15th alternate. Of those players, 11 of the 14 KFT grads are entered into the Monday Qualifier (Roger Sloan and Rafael Campos are not entered, and Josh Teater received a sponsor exemption). Four of the five Q-school grads are entered in the Monday Q. Endycott, who played his rookie season on the PGA Tour last year, chose not to make the long trip for a qualifier. 

The final two categories of players that fill PGA Tour fields are top-10 from DP World Tour and top-30 KFT graduates, with the top-5 from Q-school at the bottom of that category. The biggest change in priority ranking this season is the DP World Tour category. The DPWT’s strategic alliance with the PGA Tour gave the top-10 players from 2023 who don’t already hold PGA Tour status, priority over the top-30 KFT players into 2024 PGA Tour fields. Five players from that list – Alexander Björk, Ryo Hisatsune, Robert MacIntyre, Matthieu Pavon, Sami Valimaki – committed to the Sony field. Multiple players from the KFT graduating class expressed frustration about this. 

“The Korn Ferry Tour is the PGA Tour’s feeder tour,” says a KFT graduate. “But we are behind the Euro guys, and can’t move past them? It doesn’t make sense to me.” 

Add a few players coming back from medical extensions to the 144-player field, and it’s more apparent how the second half of KFT graduates are on the alternate list for the season-opener. Why the DPWT should receive priority over KFT grads is a question many players – especially those not in the field – are wrestling with.

This is likely to be at the forefront of many player concerns for the first half of the season with four of the first 11 events set amid popular events on the west coast swing. Field sizes will grow to 156 for the American Express Invitational and Farmers Insurance Open, which will expand opportunities for some of the players on the alternate list at the Sony. Of course, there are usually withdrawals during tournament week allowing a few players to move into the field. But some players further down the alternate list are already considering how many KFT events they’ll play, and how to divide their schedule between tours. 

The consolation in that uncertainty should be the “Player Assurance Program,” which pays new members $500,000 up front as a loan against season-earnings. According to multiple new tour members, those funds have yet to be distributed. 

With the majority of new members who are not in the Sony field signed up for the Monday qualifier, it’s shaping up to be the strongest four-spotter in Sony Open history. 

Hayden Springer, who won his PGA Tour card at Q-school after losing his 3-year-old daughter, Sage, captivated the golf world in December. His only path into the Sony Open now is a low score on Monday. Norman Xiong is a former NCAA player of the year and has two wins on KFT. He’s first alternate at Sony and will tee it up on Monday. The 18th and 19th finishers on last year’s KFT points race, Nicholas Lindheim and Joe Highsmith, also have a tee time in the qualifier. Air Force veteran and PGA Tour rookie, Tom Whitney, will attempt to fly up the leaderboard at Kapolei Golf Course. Patrick Flavin was 2022’s Monday Q poster child, qualifying into 5 PGA Tour events. He’ll look to duplicate past success during his round on Monday. Past PGA Tour-regulars Scott Piercy, Martin Trainer, Robert Streb, Kramer Hickock, and Harry Higgs are also in the qualifier.

The first Monday Q of the year is packed with highly-accomplished players; too many for any new member’s comfort. That may be the case for a while.

View the live scores and results here: https://www.mondayq.com/posts/sony-open-monday-qualifier-2024-results