There are only two tournaments left before the PGA Tour closes the curtain on 2025. The Fall Series are nearing their end, along with the urgency for those fighting to stay within the top one hundred of the FedExCup, the new threshold to retain playing rights.
However, amidst all the nerves, there are three names that stand out for their apparent calm: Max Homa (96th), Tom Kim (102nd) and Adam Scott (103rd). None are playing this week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, none have won in the last two years… and none are in real danger of losing their card.
The trick lies in the nuances. The case of Adam Scott is quickly explained. The Australian finished 2024 among the top thirty in the FedExCup, and that position not only guaranteed the card for the following year but also for two full seasons. It’s a somewhat more limited category —it doesn’t grant access to all tournaments— but for a player of his profile, it’s more than enough to build a decent schedule, considering he will receive some invitations along the way.
More interesting is the case of Homa and Kim, their names appear in the danger zone, but their status is safe for a slightly more technical reason: accumulated exemptions from victories. It is well known that a win grants you two years of exemption… but there’s more. The PGA Tour Handbook is clear: “A player who earns a multi-year exemption (by winning tournaments like the Genesis Invitational, The Players, majors, etc.) or wins two tournaments in the same year will have their exemption period extended by one additional year for each subsequent official victory, up to a maximum of five seasons from the current one.” For example, if a player like Scottie Scheffler wins four times in a single season, they accumulate five years of exemption (two for the first and one additional year for each of the other three). Like winning a Major. However, the exemption period cannot exceed five years.
The perfect example is Max Homa, who has been extending his margin like adding floors to a building. He won the Genesis Invitational in 2021, a special tournament with three years of exemption (2022-23 to 2025). Then he added a victory in 2022 and two more in 2023. Each of these added an additional year, reaching the maximum of five. Result: card guaranteed until 2028, even though he hasn’t lifted a trophy in almost three years.
Something similar happens with Tom Kim. He won his first title in the 2021-22 season (Wyndham) and secured two more victories in 22-23, which allowed him to add two more years to his initial exemption (22-23, 24, 25, and 26). In other words, his second victory of the season extended his exemption until the end of next year.
In other words, neither a bad streak nor a poor season finish will take him off the Tour.
So while others are making the most of their chances in Bermuda or Sea Island, these three can look at the calendar with some calm.
Scott, due to experience, Homa, due to accumulation, and Kim, due to precocity: three different paths, one same destination. The privilege —the fine print and winning a lot— of belonging to the PGA Tour.
