The 2018–19 PGA Tour was the 104th season of the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

, and the 52nd since separating from the

PGA of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

. The season began on October 4, 2018. The 2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs begun on August 8, and concluded on August 25, 2019, with Rory McIlroy winning his second FedEx Cup title.

Changes for 2018–19

Schedule

The schedule contained 46 events, two fewer than the previous season. The schedule was shortened in an effort to complete the

FedEx Cup Playoffs The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. Th ...

by the end of August. As announced in 2017, the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

was moved from August to May on the weekend before

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

, starting in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. The

cited the addition of golf to the Summer Olympics, as well as cooler weather enabling a wider array of options for host courses, as reasoning for the change. It was also believed that the PGA Tour wished to re-align its season so that the FedEx Cup Playoffs would not have to compete with the start of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

season in late-August. Consequently,

The Players Championship The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as The PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The P ...

was moved from May back to March for the first time since

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

New exemption

The PGA Tour added a one-time exemption for those who made 300 career cuts.

J. J. Henry Ronald "J.J." Henry III (born April 2, 1975) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Henry was born in Fairfield, Connecticut. While attending Texas Christian University, he was the individual runner up at t ...

was the first to take advantage.

Events

''On hiatus'': The

Houston Open The Cadence Bank Houston Open is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, played in November. As a part of a restructuring of the schedule, the event moved to the fall in 2019. Because the tour year starts the previous fall, the ...

and

Greenbrier Classic The Greenbrier Classic was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held from 2010 to 2019 at The Old White at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. For its final two editions, the tournament was titled A Military Tribute at the Greenb ...

were not included in the shortened season, but they did return in the autumn of 2019 as part of the 2019–20 PGA Tour schedule. ''New'': Two new events were added to the schedule: the Rocket Mortgage Classic, played at

Detroit Golf Club The Detroit Golf Club (abbreviated to DGC) is a private golf club located in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan in the middle of a neighborhood area on north side of the city near the University of Detroit Mercy and Palmer Woods Historic District. B ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, and the 3M Open, played at the

TPC Twin Cities TPC Twin Cities is a private golf club in the north central United States, located within the subdivision of Deacon’s Walk in Blaine, Minnesota, a suburb north of Minneapolis. Opened in 2000, the 18-hole championship golf course was designed ...

Blaine, Minnesota Blaine is a suburban city in Anoka and Ramsey counties in the State of Minnesota, United States. Once a rural town, Blaine's population has increased significantly in the last 60 years. For several years, Blaine led the Twin Cities metro region i ...

. ''Relocations'': The

WGC Invitational The WGC Invitational was a professional golf tournament that was held in the United States. Established in 1999 as a successor to the World Series of Golf, it was one of three or four annual World Golf Championships (WGC) until 2021, when the n ...

was relocated from

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

when

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

took over sponsorship of the event.

Firestone Country Club Firestone Country Club is a private golf club in the United States, located in Akron, Ohio. It was a regular stop on the PGA Tour and has hosted the PGA Championship three times. It is the current home of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championshi ...

no longer hosts a PGA Tour event, but the

Senior Players Championship The Senior Players Championship, stylised by the PGA Tour as The SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, is one of the five major championships on golf's PGA Tour Champions. The inaugural event was played in 1983 and the age minimum is 50, the standard fo ...

is now contested there, with

Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...

taking over as that event's title sponsor. ''Canceled'': The

FedEx St. Jude Classic The FedEx St. Jude Classic was a professional golf tournament held in Memphis, Tennessee as a regular event on the PGA Tour. The tournament was held annually from 1958 through 2018, and was played in June at TPC Southwind (since 1989). In 2019, ...

ceased due to the WGC event; the

WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational The WGC Invitational was a professional golf tournament that was held in the United States. Established in 1999 as a successor to the World Series of Golf, it was one of three or four annual World Golf Championships (WGC) until 2021, when the num ...

, was played at the Classic's former location in Memphis. The

Quicken Loans National The National, originally titled for sponsorship reasons as the AT&T National and later as the Quicken Loans National, was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 2007 to 2018. It was hosted by Tiger Woods and benefited the Tiger Woods ...

; played in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area, no longer appeared on the PGA Tour schedule. The FedEx Cup playoff event; the

Dell Technologies Championship The Dell Technologies Championship was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Norton, Massachusetts, United States, held annually in late summer over the Labor Day weekend. The 2018 edition was the last time the event was staged as th ...

, was also removed from the schedule with the number of playoff events reducing to three.

The Northern Trust The FedEx St. Jude Championship, founded as the Westchester Classic in 1967, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Since 2007, it has been played as the first tournament of the playoff system for the FedEx Cup, with the field limit ...

alternated between

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(the site of the Dell Technologies Championship).

Rules

From January 1, 2019 onwards, tournaments followed the new rules released by the

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

and

The R&A The R&A is the collective name of a group of companies that together play a significant role within the game of golf. Historically, "the R&A" was a colloquial name for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews; in 2004, the club spun off ...

which were designed to speed up the pace of play. The most noticeable changes included golfers being able to putt on the green with the flag remaining in, and drops being made from knee rather than shoulder height.

Prize money

As well as changes to individual tournament prize funds, the FedEx Cup postseason bonus money increased by $25 million to $60 million, with the FedEx Cup champion getting $15 million. The winner of the

Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

will be the FedEx Cup champion. The Tour Championship begins with each player having an adjusted score relative to par which relates to the amount of FedEx Cup points accumulated (previously the Tour Championship was structured similar to other tournaments, and awarded FedEx Cup points). The Tour Championship no longer have its own separate prize fund. In addition, the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 was introduced, a $10 million bonus to be divided among the FedEx Cup top 10 regular season finishers. The tour also introduced the

Aon Aon or AON may refer to: * Aon (mythology), son of Poseidon in Greek mythology * ''Aon'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Erebidae * Aon (trigraph), a Latin trigraph * "Aon", a composition by jazz pianist Harold Mabern, 1968 Business an ...

Risk Reward Challenge. In most tournaments, a single hole is allocated to contribute to the challenge. A player's best two scores from every participating event a player competes in throughout the season is used. The player with the lowest average to par score wins $1m. The initiative is replicated on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2018–19 season.

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the PGA Tour, but did not carry FedEx Cup points or official money, nor were wins official.

Location of tournaments

FedEx Cup

Points distribution

The distribution of points for 2018–19 PGA Tour events is:

starting score (to par), based on position in the FedEx Cup rankings after the BMW Championship:

FedEx Cup standings

''For full rankings, see 2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs.'' Final

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. Th ...

standings of the 30 qualifiers for the

: • Did not play

Awards

Notes

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:PGA Tour, 2019

2018 in golf 2019 in golf

Changes for 2018–19

Schedule

New exemption

Events

Rules

Prize money

Schedule

Unofficial events

Location of tournaments

FedEx Cup

Points distribution

FedEx Cup standings

Awards

See also

Notes

References

External links