2024 PGA TOUR full-membership fantasy rankings
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Sometimes, the more things change, the more they, well, change. This year, perhaps more than any other in memory, personifies that twist on the familiar phrase.
This is my annual full-membership fantasy ranking. It’s for the 2024 season. Note the absence of a hyphen. No more wraparounds. So, this is the first time since 2012 that my largest project of the year has dropped in December. That’s but the first of a series of adjustments that soon will become second nature for all of us.
Although this is a ranking of all active PGA TOUR members through the Non-Exempt Major Medical Extension category (No. 33) of the Priority Rankings, it’s also a guide for fantasy gamers, salary leaguers and so many other pursuits. It’s designed to project value through the conclusion of the FedExCup Fall. No matter how the second iteration of that is presented, membership status will be retained throughout calendar-year 2024.
In addition to the ranking across these pages, there is a one-page Cheat Sheet, and it’s printable! It’s perfect for draft leaguers because it’s meant for draft leaguers.
This also is a one-time post. It will not be updated. So, if you’re usage extends into the season, merely apply what’s occurred and acknowledge that values will rise in time. In effect, aside from new injuries that can crush opening value, no one plummets in the short range, but golfers most definitely will vault from positions with hot starts. This especially relates to winners of tournaments for which the full allocation of FedExCup points is awarded. They become automatically eligible for all remaining Signature Events. Because this is a predictable result, I’ve added “SE” beside all who have gained entry into the full slate in Qualifiers.
Of the eight Signature Events, only The Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday will have a 36-hole cut. All of the other five guarantee four rounds per entrant, which means a guaranteed output for investors. So, the golfers already eligible for the Signature Events are obvious targets in your draft.
Golfers who scale into The Next 10 and The Swing 5 will not appear in Qualifiers, and because real-time form determines who fills each subset, neither influences opening fantasy value in this ranking. For comprehensive information on these qualifications, their cadence, the Signature Events as a whole and numerous other details, read this.
All of the golfers ranked include ages, 2022-23 earnings (“salary”) and levels of status on the PGA TOUR. An asterisk beside a salary value indicates that a golfer is a bargain.
If a golfer earned $0 last season, you’ll see “--“ with no asterisk beside him because that’s a given. Salaries for golfers who were non-members in 2022-23 are determined by the combined totals of official money and earnings at the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play. To determine salaries for all non-members, refer to the “TOTAL MONEY” column in “Non-Member Off+WGC Earnings”. To view 2022-23 non-members Min Woo Lee, Ryan Fox, Nicolai Højgaard and others who do not appear when you first land on the page, select the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in the Tournament field. However, note that all golfers affected by their initial omission when navigating to the page and who qualify for the ranking based on status are included below with accurate salaries (e.g., Min Woo Lee, 2.812M).
Levels of status via the 2022-23 FedExCup are broken down as follows with corresponding exemptions:
STATUS = BERTHS
• Top 125 = Entry into most opens and THE PLAYERS Championship.
• Top 70 = Qualified for the 2023 FedExCup Playoffs to improve position but didn’t earn exemptions into every Signature Event in 2024.
• Top 50 = Eligible for all Signature Events in 2024.
• Top 30 = Exemptions into every tournament before the Playoffs except the PGA Championship. Their membership exemptions also are extended through the 2025 season if they aren’t already.
Other levels of status are as follows:
• Top 30 (2022) = Only Aaron Wise, who is fully exempt through 2024 for reaching the TOUR Championship in 2022.
• Multi-year = Winners prior to 2022-23 who didn’t finish inside the top 125 of the FedExCup but still have fully exempt status.
• Career earnings exemptions = Zach Johnson and Davis Love III.
• Non-member Top 125 = Min Woo Lee and Nicolai Højgaard. They are fully exempt members in 2024.
• Medical Extensions = Terms to fulfill are noted where possible. Short of a victory that would yield an automatic promotion into the winners category, golfers on Major Medicals would retain status in the same Priority Ranking for the remainder of the season if they fulfill their terms. Golfers with other medicals would be promoted to the Major Medical category for the remainder. Follow all golfers on medicals here.
• DPWT = 2023 DP World Tour Race to Dubai (10 golfers).
• KFT = Korn Ferry Tour graduates (30 golfers).
• Q-School = PGA Tour Qualifying School presented by Korn Ferry graduates (5 golfers).
• PGA TOUR Accelerated = Only Gordon Sargent, who can accept membership after the conclusion of the college season.
• Conditional = Nos. 126-150 in the 2022-23 FedExCup.
There are 28 rookies to open the season. They are noted accordingly. Others are first-time PGA TOUR members (via the DP World Tour and KFT), but each exhausted his rookie eligibility in a prior season. My Rookie Ranking migrated from this website to a season-long thread on X for the entirety of 2022-23. Click here to read it. I will start a new thread for the 2024 rookies.
As the winner of the 2023 PGA Professional Championship, Braden Shattuck is allowed up to six somewhat restricted starts but he is omitted from the ranking. There are no Life Members in 2024.
Not excluded from the sweeping changes in 2024 is how the reshuffles will work. There are now only two categories.
The higher-positioned of the pair replaces what was only Korn Ferry Tour graduates and former graduates on medical extensions. It now consists of Nos. 2-10 among the DP World Tour top 10, Nos. 2-30 among the 30 Korn Ferry Tour grads (and previous grads with medicals) and all five Q-School grads. They will open the season in separate categories and will remain in that order through the Valero Texas Open after which all golfers in these categories will be reordered into a singular category based on FedExCup points. They will reorder only once more at the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship. Golfers via PGA TOUR University and PGA TOUR University Accelerated can be added midseason. I will continue to monitor these golfers here.
The other reshuffle category combines the golfers on conditional status (Nos. 126-150 in the 2022-23 FedExCup) with all members who finished outside the top 150 in the FedExCup. Similarly, they will open the season in separate categories but will reorder earlier and more frequently, at least six times into the FedExCup Fall. Golfers who achieve and accept Special Temporary Membership can be added midseason (more on this below). There is not a dedicated page to monitor this grouping because fantasy value is extremely low in the long term.
Another new wrinkle introduces opportunities for golfers who finished Nos. 126-200 in the 2022-23 FedExCup. They can accept membership on the DP World Tour and play tournaments on that circuit. Details of this conduit are outlined here. Gamers interested in golfers eligible for this secondary initiative are advised to monitor it closely and maintain shorter leashes than usual until we learn how this plays out both individually and in the macro.
For non-members eligible for PGA TOUR competition in 2024, as of Dec. 18, the target to achieve Special Temporary Membership is 262.946 FedExCup points. This was Paul Haley II’s total from his position at 150th in the 2022-23 FedExCup. If you were not aware, I tracked notable non-members throughout last season on X. This is the last entry of the thread that extends from the beginning of the season. I will launch a new thread for this as well in 2024.
With winners of THE PLAYERS Championship and majors earning 750 FedExCup points and winners of Signature Events banking 700, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf gamers will have even more reason to lean into chalk for the biggies.
Half of the eight Signature Events are in Segment 1, while Segments 2 and 3 each have two majors and two Signature Events. THE PLAYERS opens Segment 2. View the entire schedule here. Motivations always vary in real-time, so be on the lookout for weekly advice in my preview material.
Hit me on X anytime, publicly or privately, and I will communicate with you as soon as time allows. In the meantime and as always, have fun, listen and learn, and remain fluid. In fantasy, in reality.
Rob Bolton is a Golfbet columnist for the PGA TOUR. The Chicagoland native has been playing fantasy golf since 1994, so he was just waiting for the Internet to catch up with him. Follow Rob Bolton on Twitter.