2021-22 Qualifiers for THE PLAYERS and the majors

For the second consecutive week, the winner of the latest PGA TOUR event already was exempt into the 2022 editions of the Masters and PGA Championship, as well as the Sentry Tournament of Champions, but this page hasn't gone unchanged in the interim.

To recap, Rory McIlroy opened the fortnight with a one-shot title at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT. Hideki Matsuyama answered with a five-stroke victory at home in Japan at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP.

Of the first five winners of the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season, only Max Homa (Fortinet Championship) wasn't yet eligible for the 2022 Masters. He's also the only winner who didn't advance to the 2021 TOUR Championship, but you'd have found all five champions inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking upon arrival, so it's not like any were sweating qualifying for all the premier events next year. Rather, each has fortified position to extend entry beyond this season.

So, that relative silence yields elevated attention to the fact that the PGA of America has solidified the qualifying criteria for the 2022 PGA Championship since the season-opening edition of this page.

There were three changes from the preliminary release:

1) The last five winners of The Open Championship are eligible (2016-2019, 2021). This means that the 2016 champion, Henrik Stenson, can compete at Southern Hills next May. The twist to this exemption is as a result of the timing of his victory at Royal Troon. The first of his five consecutive exemptions into the PGA Championship was two weeks later. Then because the 2020 Open Championship was canceled and because of the shift of the PGA Championship from its traditional slot in August to mid-May (and before the next Open Championship), he's entitled to two additional years of entry into the PGA Championship. (A similar extension was granted to Chris Wood at the 2019 Open Championship. The last three winners of the BMW PGA Championship traditionally are exempt into the major, but because the 2019 edition of the BMW PGA was staged after the 2019 Open, Wood received a fourth exemption into the 2019 Open via his 2016 BMW PGA title.)

2) The winner of THE PLAYERS Championship in 2019 is exempt. McIlroy prevailed at TPC Sawgrass in 2019, but he's exempt for life into the PGA Championship as a former winner of the major, anyway.

3) While assumed because Justin Rose gained entry into all 2017 majors as the gold medalist of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Xander Schauffele now officially is exempt into the 2022 PGA Championship as the 2021 gold medalist. He'd have gained entry on his Official World Golf Ranking if nothing else, but this eliminates the wait for the inevitable.

Qualifying criteria for the 2022 editions of the U.S. Open and Open Championship could be released soon.

NOTE: Golfers are omitted if they recently haven't competed in majors for which they are eligible (e.g. The Open Championship=Justin Leonard).

TPC = THE PLAYERS Championship
MAS = Masters
PGA = PGA Championship
US = U.S. Open
OPEN = The Open Championship

Recent Additions
TPC -- none
MAS -- none
PGA -- Xander Schauffele; Henrik Stenson
US -- none
OPEN -- none

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