PGA Tour Inc.

07/26/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 07/26/2021 11:45

2020-21 Qualifiers for majors, THE PLAYERS, WGCs

Cameron Champ is headed back to the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, except this time he doesn't have to wait over 10 months since his last victory.

The limited-field, no-cut invitational at TPC Southwind is scheduled for next week (Aug. 5-8). When he first qualified for the 2020 edition (that concluded on the first weekend of August), he gained entry via his title at the Safeway Open on the last weekend of the September in 2019. That was his second PGA TOUR title, but his breakthrough at the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2018 didn't yield an exemption into the WGC-St. Jude because it was played opposite the WGC-HSBC Champions.

Champ is among 26 new exemptions into the WGC-St. Jude. This is because half of the top 50 of the latest Official World Golf Ranking hadn't yet qualified.

The first of two checkpoints using the top 50 of the OWGR occurred at the conclusion of play this past weekend. The second aligns with the last OWGR update before the WGC-St. Jude is contested, so it will include the results of the Olympics. The gold medalist in Japan also will qualify if the strength-of-field rating as determined by the OWGR is at least 115. (The Olympics is an official European Tour event.)

The exemptions via the OWGR secure the top-ranked golfers who haven't won a qualifying tournament since the previous edition of the WGC-St. Jude. It includes non-members Victor Perez (44th), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (46th) and Robert MacIntyre (48th).

Bezuidenhout will be ineligible to complete because he's made the maximum of 12 starts allotted non-members who don't achieve Special Temporary Membership [STM]. He fell the equivalent of about six FedExCup points shy.

Both Perez and MacIntyre would be making their 12th start of 2020-21. To qualify for STM, Perez needs no worse than a two-way share of 18th place worth 54 points. He's 53.936 points shy of the target. MacIntyre is just 4.779 points from eliminating the deficit. The Scot needs no worse than a two-way T63 (worth 4.873 points). Should either qualify for STM, it'd open the door to play the Wyndham Championship if space is available.

SJI = WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Recent Additions
SJI -- Abraham Ancer; Christiaan Bezuidenhout; Cameron Champ; Corey Conners; Tony Finau; Tommy Fleetwood; Brian Harman; Sungjae Im; Kevin Kisner; Marc Leishman; Shane Lowry; Robert MacIntyre; Joaquin Niemann; Louis Oosthuizen; Ryan Palmer; Victor Perez; Ian Poulter; Justin Rose; Xander Schauffele; Scottie Scheffler; Adam Scott; Webb Simpson; Cameron Smith; Lee Westwood; Matthew Wolff; Will Zalatoris