American Express Stadium 2023: Why so many PGA Tour stars choose to take part in the non-elevated event

In a year where the PGA Tour has distinguished the best tournaments from everything else more than ever, one of the less-heralded events on the schedule features the best field in years.

Wait… what?!

That’s right. Five of the top 10 players in the world and 10 of the top 20 will tee off at The American Express this week in Palm Springs, California. That includes Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Will Zalatoris along with Tony Finau, Tom Kim and Cameron Young. That’s by far the most star power the event has seen in a long time.

So why did this happen? Well, I have a theory about that. However, to qualify for last year’s Player Impact Program money, top players will have to play at least 12 of the 13 enhanced events and three non-advanced events this season. one of those three may have been playing in the fall. In addition to the four majors, this has the 18, 19 or 20 events needed between now and the end of the season to meet those requirements.

Example: If a player doesn’t compete in the fall (like Will Zalatoris) and also plays all advanced events, he or she will have 20 starts from January 1 through the end of the Tour Championship. If a player played once in the fall but then played every enhanced event in 2023, he will play 19. If a player played once in the fall and skips an enhanced event his allocation in 2023 (Rory McIlroy has done both), he will only play 18.

Regardless, players are expected to take part in 18-20 PGA Tour events (including majors) in 2023. Interestingly, last year, the current top 10 players in the world (excluding Cameron Smith) only played an average of 18 PGA Tour events (including majors) during the 2021-22 season. For example, McIlroy played 15.

For some players — like McIlroy — that number is going to grow dramatically in 2023, and even though he doesn’t specifically play The American Express, I think this signals why so many players every year. started adding an event at the beginning of the year before schedules started to get stuck in March, April and May and before they traveled internationally in the summer.

Jon Rahm, who has played the tournament regularly in the past, agreed.

“You want to beat the best,” Rahm said. “And I’m glad people are coming. It’s good that more players are trying out more events. I think it’s because of some of the new events happening during the year. The fact that we have all those events. big that we have to play if we want to earn that PIP reward That opens to all three of those events let’s say lower events that you need to play it makes it possible for people to see some of the events which they haven’t played in the past because your schedule changes a bit I know I’m one of them.

“It really tied me up at the end of the year. So this event really serves a purpose in many ways. So I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks so. I know Patrick. [Cantlay] came here. He also almost won here a few years ago. So there are a lot of big names that are always coming. But it’s good to see more players. Like I said, the courses are always in perfect, perfect condition. It’s a great, great way to come and tune in to everything you need.”

The numbers for Rahm have not changed significantly. He played once in the fall of 2021 and then 18 times in 2022 for a total of 19. He played once in the fall of 2022 and I would guess 18 or 19 times over the course of 2023. However, what will change for him, is option. He now knows he has to play eight advanced events in three months from early February to mid-May. It’s been an exhausting time, and to get ready for the end-of-season knockouts, players will likely have more time off in the summer after the Open Championship. So it makes sense for them to preload the non-advanced tournaments they were required to play in order to collect last year’s cash.

This is a fascinating development. I assumed non-advanced tournaments like this week’s American Express would experience much worse areas, but in fact the opposite happened in this case. That won’t be true for every non-enhanced event, but the relatively small schedule change and reduced options for top players have certainly benefited everyone interested in the event. This is in Palm Springs.