South Carolina’s PGA Tour players look to fall to bolster status for 2024

Yes, the PGA Tour crowned Viktor Hovland its FedEx Cup champion a couple of weeks ago. But, no, the season is not over.

Tournaments that in recent years represented the start of a wrap-around season are now called the FedEx Fall and provide the opportunity for players to improve their status for the 2024 campaign that begins in January.

Most of South Carolina’s contingent will be striving to take advantage of the seven fall opportunities that began with the Fortinet Championship in Napa, California that ends Sunday.

Among the state players, Lucas Glover (Greenville/Clemson), Kevin Kisner (Aiken) and Matt NeSmith (Aiken/USC) are fully exempt for 2024.

Glover’s late-season surge that included two wins vaulted him to a tie for 18th in the FedEx standings and guarantees him a spot in the so-called signature events with expanded purses and limited fields. Although 199 in the standings after the worst season of his pro career, Kisner is exempt due to his 2021 victory in the Wyndham Championship. NeSmith finished 70th in the 2022-23 points race.

Three others — Andrew Novak (Mount Pleasant/Wofford) at 105, Carson Young (Pendleton/Clemson) at 111 and Ben Martin (Greenville/Clemson) at 113 — will begin the fall events inside the 125 that qualify for 2024 full status.

Looking to the fall to emulate Glover’s charge that saved his season will be Richy Werenski (Aiken) at 144, Doc Redman (Clemson) at 158, Jonathan Byrd (Columbia/Clemson) at 181, Wesley Bryan (Chapin/USC) at 187, William McGirt (Bluffton/Wofford) at 197, Bill Haas (Greenville) at 205, Tommy Gainey (Hartsville) at 208, Scott Brown (Aiken/USC Aiken) at 217, Kyle Stanley (Clemson) at 223) and D.J. Trahan (Mount Pleasant/Clemson) at T228.

The top 50 qualify for all signature and full-field events, and the top 70 are eligible for full-field tournaments. Those who finish outside the top 70 will compete in the fall to retain playing privileges. The top 125 will qualify for full-field events and those placing 126-150 will have conditional status.

All of the state players starting the fall below 150, except Redman, will be eligible for the former champion category, a lower priority, if they do not achieve exempt status.

The top 10 players in the points race at the end of the fall will earn berths in two signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.

Players who finish outside the top 125 and are not otherwise exempt will have the option of competing for five tour cards in the tour qualifying school in December.

After the Fortinet Championship and the Ryder Cup, the schedule calls for three events in October and three in November, concluding with the RSM Classic on St. Simons Island, Georgia.

The 2024 schedule includes the RBC Heritage presented by Boeing, a signature event set for April 18-21 at Hilton Head Island, and the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic, a full-field tournament scheduled May 9-12 played opposite the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte.

The 2024 majors: The Masters, April 11-14, in Augusta; the PGA Championship, May 16-19 in Louisville, Kentucky; the U.S. Open, June 13-16 in Pinehurst, North Carolina; and the Open Championship, July 18-21 at Royal Troon in Scotland.

US Mid-Amateur update

Sam Jackson (West Columbia) advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Mid-Amateur before falling 1-up to Steward Hagestad on Thursday. A two-time Mid-Amateur champion, Hagestad won the 18th hole to advance. Jackson, South Carolina’ss Player of the Year in 2022 and the 2023 Carolinas Mid-Amateur champion, won four matches in the national tournament in Scarborough, New York.

Other state players advancing to match-play included Florence native Stephen Behr Jr., who lost 1-up to Jackson in the quarterfinals; Spartanburg’s Todd White, the U.S. Senior Amateur champions who fell in the round of 32; and Greenville’s Ben Goforth, who dropped his match in the round of 64.

Chip shots

▪ The University of South Carolina women’s golf team put an exclamation point on their season-opening tournament, going wire-to-wire in winning the Annika Intercollegiate over a field that included 10 of the nation’s top 20 teams. Junior Louise Rydqvist shared medalist honors and freshmen Maylis Lamoure and Vaivana Heck made their college debuts with top-10 finishes. The Gamecocks ranked seventh in the coaches’ preseason poll.

▪ Savannah Grewal tied for medalist honors and led Clemson’s women to a third-place finish in the Cougar Classic at Yeamans Hall Club in Hanahan. In the season’s opening tournament, Grewal’s 16-under-par 197 broke the school record and the team’s 30-under-par score also shattered the program’s record.

▪ Daniel Ezelle (Taylors) and Josh Gallman (Boiling Springs) joined forces to win the SCGA’s Players Four-Ball title at Columbia CC. Ezelle’s birdie on the first playoff hole secured the championship over teams of Robbie Biershenk (Boiling Springs)/Nick Biershenk (Duncan) and Levi Joiner (Prosperity)/PJ Jacobs (Prosperity).

▪ Charles Warren (Greenville) and Tyler Macolly (Spartanburg) captured the title in the SCGA’s Forty Plus Series Better Ball tourney at Carolina CC in Spartanburg.

This story was originally published September 15, 2023 at 10:37 AM.