Inside the Field: The American Express
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LAHAINA, HAWAII - JANUARY 08: Tony Finau of the United States plays his shot from the second tee during the third round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Club on January 08, 2022 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Written by Staff
Monster greenside bunker on No. 16 at The American Express
The PGA TOUR maintains a standardized system for determining event fields, based off the current season’s Priority Ranking while also including additional exemption and qualifying categories.
Field sizes can vary by event, as can the number of event-specific exemptions. Fully exempt PGA TOUR members are guaranteed entry into all full-field events, with various conditional categories subject to periodic reshuffles based upon FedExCup Points accrued throughout the season.
How the field qualified for the The American Express as of 1/14/2022:
Winner - THE PLAYERS Championship (prior to 1996)
Davis Love III
Winner - THE PLAYERS Championship (five-year exemption)
Si Woo Kim
Winner - Masters Tournament (five-year exemption)
Patrick Reed
Winner - U.S. Open Championship (five-year exemption)
Jon Rahm
Gary Woodland
Winner - PGA Championship (five-year exemption)
Phil Mickelson
Winner - Open Championship (five-year exemption)
Francesco Molinari
Winner - World Golf Championship Event (three-year exemption)
Abraham Ancer
Winner - Arnold Palmer Invitational & Memorial Tournament (three-year exemption)
Patrick Cantlay
FedExCup Champion (five-year exemption)
Justin Rose
Member of most recent U.S. Ryder Cup Team
Tony Finau
Scottie Scheffler
Career Money Exemption
Luke Donald
Bill Haas
Rory Sabbatini
Nick Watney
Past Champion - The American Express
Jason Dufner
Brian Gay
Andrew Landry
Adam Long
Hudson Swafford
Mark Wilson
PGA Section Champion
Kyle Mendoza
Sponsor's Exemptions - Members not otherwise exempt
Jonathan Byrd
Camilo Villegas
Sponsor's Exemptions - Unrestricted
James Hart du Preez
Chan Kim
John Pak
T.J. Vogel
PGA TOUR Tournament Winner (two-year exemption)
Cameron Champ
Corey Conners
Jason Day
Tyler Duncan
Rickie Fowler
Dylan Frittelli
Lucas Glover
Talor Gooch
Lanto Griffin
Jim Herman
Charles Howell III
Sungjae Im
Sung Kang
Patton Kizzire
Martin Laird
Nate Lashley
K.H. Lee
Graeme McDowell
Sebastián Muñoz
Carlos Ortiz
C.T. Pan
J.T. Poston
Seamus Power
Chez Reavie
Robert Streb
Nick Taylor
Michael Thompson
Brendon Todd
Martin Trainer
Kevin Tway
Jimmy Walker
Richy Werenski
Matthew Wolff
Top 125 on Prior Season's FedExCup Points List
Charley Hoffman
Alex Noren
Brian Harman
Cameron Tringale
Harold Varner III
Tom Hoge
Russell Henley
Emiliano Grillo
Jhonattan Vegas
Chris Kirk
Kevin Streelman
Harry Higgs
Troy Merritt
Pat Perez
Andrew Putnam
Doug Ghim
Brandon Hagy
Peter Malnati
Wyndham Clark
Adam Schenk
Kramer Hickok
Brian Stuard
Henrik Norlander
Doc Redman
Roger Sloan
Brandt Snedeker
Hank Lebioda
Tyler McCumber
Denny McCarthy
Luke List
Adam Hadwin
Brendan Steele
Sepp Straka
James Hahn
Zach Johnson
Russell Knox
Sam Ryder
Matthew NeSmith
Scott Piercy
Anirban Lahiri
Brice Garnett
Scott Stallings
Chesson Hadley
Top 125 on Prior Season's FedExCup Points List (Non-member)
Will Zalatoris
Major Medical Extension
Danny Lee
Kevin Chappell
Ryan Moore
Wesley Bryan
Seung-Yul Noh
Kelly Kraft
Jonas Blixt
Leading Points Winners - Korn Ferry Tour
Joseph Bramlett (The Finals 25 -- Finals Points)
Korn Ferry Tour graduates via The 25 and The Finals 25 (reordered)
Cameron Young
Patrick Rodgers
Hayden Buckley
J.J. Spaun
Taylor Pendrith
Taylor Moore
Vince Whaley
Aaron Rai
Alex Smalley
Trey Mullinax
John Huh
Davis Riley
Chad Ramey
Sahith Theegala
Max McGreevy
Greyson Sigg
Seth Reeves
Curtis Thompson
Andrew Novak
Bronson Burgoon
Austin Cook
Lee Hodges
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Nick Hardy
Adam Svensson
Justin Lower
David Skinns
David Lipsky
Dawie van der Walt
Peter Uihlein
Michael Gligic
Paul Barjon
Dylan Wu
Scott Gutschewski
Brandon Wu
Chris Stroud
Austin Smotherman
Ben Kohles
Brett Drewitt
Kurt Kitayama