I could have written this article last week, or perhaps the week before. It’s a conversation the news team is regularly having here at Golf Monthly as Signature Events, regular tournaments and Majors go by.
This latest example is yet another illustration of why the big money, small-field PGA Tour showpieces need to go.
He was a very worthy winner and ends the 100+ year drought for English golfers in the championship.
Rai is one of the hardest workers in the game and his victory on Sunday was a real feel-good story, having started out on the third-tier, and now defunct, EuroPro Tour before progressing through Europe to make it in the US.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Rai is up to a career-best 15th in the world, and he has been ranked inside the world’s top 50 all year yet has only managed to make his way into two Signature Events.
He was ranked 33rd in the world during the Arnold Palmer Invitational week, yet the model came to the conclusion that he was not deserving of a place in the field.
Last week, he was playing in the opposite-field $4m Myrtle Beach Classic while the Tour also ran the $20m no-cut Truist Championship.
This isn’t meant to be a slight but the likes of Tony Finau, Max Homa and Billy Horschel have been ranked outside of the top 100 and they have played far more Signature Events, with the popular stars receiving multiple sponsor’s invitations.
Players of this stature have been getting in time and time again while multiple top 50 players miss out just because they aren’t as famous or have as strong historic resumes.
It’s an example of why the tournaments are not fair, and they have to be changed going forward. Hopefully they will, with plans to increase fields to 120 and introduce cuts in all of them.
I have no problem with Finau, Homa and Horschel playing in these events by the way. They have earned the right to compete in the biggest tournaments and I would love to follow them if I saw them playing on-site, plus they can help with ticket sales and general interest – especially if they play well and contend.
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