New season, same SC golf contingent for PGA Tour. A closer look

A U.S. Open in September, a Masters in November, multiple canceled tournaments and championships without spectators emphasize the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the PGA Tour.

One factor, however, remains the same. The South Carolina contingent that competes on golf’s highest level will be unchanged.

With about one-third of the 2019-20 season wiped out, officials ruled that players’ status for 2020-21 would not be lower than the previous year, a decision that benefited several state players.

From the Palmetto State perspective, the new season begins like most of those in recent years with Dustin Johnson at the top and Kevin Kisner not too far behind.

Johnson, the Columbia native who starred at Dutch Fork High and Coastal Carolina, is ranked No. 1 in the world. His last four starts: tied for second in the PGA, won the Northern Trust, lost a playoff for BMW title and won the Tour Championship.

He routed the Northern Trust field with a 30-under-par 254 score, winning by 11 strokes.

“I’ve been watching that for 25 years,” said Kisner, an Aiken native who grew up playing junior golf against Johnson and pairing with him in four-ball events.

Kisner, who made All-American at the University of Georgia, finished the season in style, too. He had a pair of top five finishes in his last four starts, finished 23rd in the FedEx standings and ranked 30th in the world.

Five others finished in the top 125, qualified for the FedEx playoffs and have status in most PGA Tour events. The list includes No. 56 Russell Henley (Charleston), No. 71 Doc Redman (Clemson), No. 100 Matt NeSmith (Aiken/USC), No. 114 Scott Brown (Aiken/USC Aiken) and No. 118 Lucas Glover (Greenville/Clemson).

Wesley Bryan (Columbia/USC) and William McGirt (Spartanburg/Wofford) are playing under major medical extensions and will qualify for most PGA Tour events. Bryan needs to amass 281.699 FedEx Cup points in 17 starts to regain full status and McGirt must earn 372.457 FedEx points in 28 tourneys to return to full status.

Benefiting from the ruling that maintains 2019-20 status are Mark Anderson (Beaufort/USC), Bill Haas (Greenville), Ben Martin (Greenville/Clemson), Kyle Stanley (Clemson) and D.J. Trahan (Mount Pleasant/Clemson).

Stanley maintains the full status he had last season despite slipping to No. 133 in the FedEx standings. Anderson (158 in FedEx points) keeps status earned on the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour and Trahan (153) holds on to status collected in the 2019 Korn Ferry playoffs. Martin (162) and Haas (209) finished 126-150 on the 2018-19 PGA Tour, which provides limited status.

Tommy Gainey (Hartsville) and Jonathan Byrd (Columbia/Clemson) will get into a limited number of events through the category reserved for past Tour-event champions.

Unlike previous years when the Korn Ferry’s top 25 during the regular season and the top 25 in the playoffs earned PGA Tour status, no players will advance this year.

That virus-related decision negatively impacts Andrew Novak (Mount Pleasant/Wofford) at No. 19, Roberto Diaz (USC Aiken) at No. 22 and Gainey at No. 28 with four tournaments remaining. Both Gainey and Novak won Korn Ferry events this year.

The pandemic created a logjam for the 2020-21 schedule, which began Thursday — just three days after Johnson’s triumph in the Tour Championship completed the 2019-20 season.

Twelve tournaments will be played before Christmas. With the U.S. Open and Masters moved to the fall, the 2020-21 schedule will include six major championships. One, the 2021 PGA, will be played at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course in May.

Chip shots. To accommodate the CBS football telecasts, the third and fourth round of the Masters, moved from April to November due to the coronavirus outbreak this year, will end earlier than usual. The Saturday round will conclude about 5:30 p.m. prior to the network’s Alabama-LSU football telecast. Play will be competed Sunday at approximately 2:45 p.m. to make way for NFL coverage. ... Tim Pope (Spartanburg) and Doug Ramey (Greer) combined to win the SCGA’s Senior Better Ball title at Santee Cooper CC. ... Harry Radley (Indianapolis, Ind.) won the PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com World Amateur Handicap title in three-way playoff. Ryan Reynolds (Camden) captured the Gross Division. The 37th annual event drew a field of 2,150 golfers.