When the PGA Tour season was remodelled prior to the start of 2023, the general consensus was that events up to and including the Tour Championship were going to be blockbuster and the FedEx Fall Series that followed would be the straight to DVD equivalent.
Well, it hasn’t quite panned out that way, even if TV ratings would suggest that public interest remains low as the leaves turn brown. But it was always going to be that way. The NFL is by far the most popular televised sport, and a healthy series of international matches – one in Sao Paolo, three in London, one in Munich and one in Madrid – means that many Sundays feature 12 hours-plus of near back-to-back action, so all other sports are fighting for the table scraps.
But what the FedEx Fall Series continues to throw up are interesting storylines. Not that the regular season is devoid of angles – this year alone we had Nick Dunlap becoming the first amateur to win on Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991, Matthieu Pavon striking a blow for all the DP World Tour graduates, and Bob MacIntyre winning the RBC Canadian Open with his greenkeeping father moonlighting on the bag – but most weeks, it was Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and selected others who dominated the headlines and there was an element of ‘same old, same old’ about it.
But the Fall Series has genuine jeopardy as it’s the last chance saloon for players at the lower end of the rankings and whose entire following year hangs in the balance.
A win might not carry the same financial value that a Signature Event or even a regular PGA Tour event does, but a win means you’re heading to Augusta National in April, means you’re guaranteed to be on the PGA Tour for the following two seasons at least, and means you could be heading to the big money events with a chance to thrust yourself into the mainstream.
Last week was a perfect example. 26-year-old Matt McCarty was a good if not great amateur, playing college golf at Santa Clara University – not one of the powerhouse golf programmes – and turned professional in 2021. He scratched a basic living on the Korn Ferry Tour for two seasons before breaking out earlier this year. His first Korn Ferry win came in late July, and he went on to win two more and gain promotion to the PGA Tour thanks to the three-win rule.
Prior to turning up at the Sanderson Farms Championship with a freshly-minted PGA Tour card in his pocket, his only PGA Tour counting event was the 2022 US Open where a 36th-hole bogey saw him miss the cut on the number.
Now, he’s set to make his debut Masters appearance in April, has just doubled his entire career earnings in one week, and is set to begin 2025 in Hawaii when he joins the big guns at The Sentry at Kapalua.
That’s a great story. Who knows, McCarty might go on to become a multiple PGA Tour winner or even a major champion, or he may never win again, but he’ll always have that week in Utah in October where he defied the odds and became a PGA Tour winner and overnight sensation.
The week before, Taiwan’s Kevin Yu got his first PGA Tour title, and the year before we had Sahith Theegala winning his first title and he’s gone on to become a Presidents Cup player since. Add to that, the feelgood stories of Erik van Rooyen winning and dedicating the performance to his terminally ill best man who sadly passed shortly afterwards, and Colombian Camilo Villegas winning his first tournament in almost 10 years, a period that included the tragic death of his 22-month-old daughter.
So while Scottie Scheffler shooting a final-round 64 to win the Players Championship, or Rory McIlroy blitzing Xander Schauffele to win at Quail Hollow will be among the highlights when future 2024 PGA Tour season recaps are rolled out, neither win did much more beyond adding another few million to their already overflowing bank accounts.
But for McCarty, Yu, van Rooyen and Villegas, those victories will forever be highlights, whether they are the first in a career littered with PGA Tour wins, or for the emotional significance involved.
They might not register more than a minor blip on the overall sporting Richter Scale, but they register among the hardcore golfing fans who can appreciate them for what they are.
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