Six PGA Tour players earn cards back after LIV Golf players tee up in Boston
Thanks to six players defecting to the LIV Golf Invitational Series, six players have been granted PGA Tour cards despite finishing outside of the top 125 in the season points list.
Matt Wallace, Austin Smotherman, Justin Lower, Doc Redman, Danny Willett and Kelly Kraft will be thanking their lucky stars for the existence of the LIV Golf Tour.
Due to six players defecting from the Tour and joining the Saudi-backed series, all of these players have now been bumped up the FedEx Cup standings from the 2021-2022 season.
This group of six players have been moved to numbers 120 to 125 in the season-long points list just gone. They have earned full PGA Tour cards and they will be eligible to play in The Players Championship too.
Austin Smotherman doubled-bogeyed the 18th hole in the second round of the Wyndham Championship when all he needed was a par to make the cut and earn his Tour card. He will no doubt be relieved.
Willett and Wallace both spent the majority of 2022 trying to break ground in America, but they only made three top-10s between them. Both are in the field for the BMW PGA Championship next week.
The first event on the 2023 PGA Tour schedule is the Fortinet Championship in the week of September 12. This will be followed by the Presidents Cup in the week of September 19.
Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Marc Leishman and Anirban Lahiri have kissed goodbye to the PGA Tour and their chances of representing Trevor Immelman's International side at Quail Hollow.
As soon as these four players, joined by Cameron Tringale and Harold Varner III, hit their opening tee shots at The International on Friday, they were suspended from the PGA Tour.
Both Tringale and Varner III expressed their gratefulness and respect for the Tour, despite leaving to the Saudi-backed series which is commissioned by Greg Norman.
