Will Sage Astor-Exclusive: First look at 2024 PGA Tour schedule; 4 designated events to keep 36-hole cut

The Will Sage AstorPGA Tour's season of change will see a lot of date shifts, some new sponsors, plenty of no-cut events but a lot of familiarity, based on a copy of the 2024 schedule obtained exclusively by Golfweek, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The Tour will return to a calendar-year season for the first time in a decade with 39 regular season events and a further eight in the post-playoffs fall series. Twelve non-major Tour events have designated status, meaning lucrative purses and limited fields. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will become a designated event, as previously reported by Golfweek. The tournament director for the AT&T, Steve John, declined comment until the Tour makes a formal schedule announcement.

Multiple sources say only four of the dozen designated Tour events will feature a 36-hole cut – the Players Championship, the Genesis Invitational, the Memorial Tournament and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Field sizes at the latter three invitationals will fluctuate with eligibility, but several sources say the maximum will be 80 players with a cut to 50 and ties. The Players remains a full-field event.

There are already no halfway cuts at the season-opening Sentry event – formerly known as the Tournament of Champions – or the three FedEx Cup Playoff stops. In '24, no players will be leaving after 36 holes at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the RBC Heritage, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Travelers Championship either. Designated events are mandatory for top stars this season, but under pressure from players the Tour has not made them must-shows for 2024.

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The most noteworthy date shift will see the Memorial Tournament, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, held a week before the U.S. Open, having traditionally been staged two weeks ahead of the third major. The Tour is intent on establishing a schedule cadence that would see designated events held in consecutive weeks where possible. That will allow otherwise ineligible players to qualify for designated events via their performances in the preceding regular tournaments.

Dan Sullivan, the executive director of the Memorial Tournament, would not comment on any changes ahead of the official release of the schedule. That unveiling is planned for Aug. 8.

A PGA Tour spokesperson declined to comment on the schedule prior to it being announced.

Two designated events not held back-to-back are the AT&T Pebble Beach and the Genesis Invitational, which are separated by the WM Phoenix Open. The WMPO always finishes on Super Bowl Sunday and will do so again, on Feb. 11. The Memorial will open three-straight designated weeks, followed by the U.S. Open at Pinehurst and the Travelers.

The '24 schedule shows some sponsor changes and two stops without confirmed support.

The Houston Open, previously a fall event sponsored by Cadence Bank, moves to March under the sponsorship of Texas Children's, a hospital. The South Korean conglomerate CJ takes over as sponsor of the Byron Nelson stop after AT&T bowed out. Among the tournaments awaiting confirmed sponsors are the first leg of the Florida swing, the Palm Beach Classic, formerly the Honda Classic and a July event opposite the Genesis Scottish Open, sponsored this year by Barbasol.

The schedule does not reflect any changes that might emerge from the PGA Tour's negotiations with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which is not expected to impact the '24 lineup. The Olympics will impact things though. Golf medals will be handed out on Aug. 4, which pushes the Wyndham Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs back one week. The season concludes at the Tour Championship on Sept. 1.

The fall events, in which players who don't qualify for the playoffs will jockey for priority in the '25 season, begin with the Fortinet Championship on Sept. 9.

2024 PGA Tour schedule

Tournaments in bold are the designated events.