Determining Michael's 2017/2108 PGA Tour status |
I've been asked by multiple people over the last six months what Michael's status is for the PGA Tour during the 2017/2018 season. I'm not an expert on the ins and outs of PGA Tour status by any means (I think you need a PGA Tour PhD to fully understand it all) but here's my current understanding of the situation.
Due to Michael's shoulder injury in June of last year, he was given a 6 event medical extension in the current 2017/2018 season. I believe the 6 events represent the number of events Michael would have qualified for in the 2016/2017 season if he had not been hurt. Essentially, Michael is given six events this year to "complete" last year. If he can earn enough FedexCup points in these events such that his FedexCup point total of the new events, combined with his points he had last year at the point he was hurt, are more than the 125th player on the FedexCup Points List last year then he earns a fully exempt card for 2017/2018.
From his six medical starts, Michael has already used two starts and he earned 49.7 FedexCup points. He has four more events to earn 37.235 points. His priority into events is currently based on the reshuffle list where he is currently 23rd. If he can make it past the 37.235 point barrier in four events then he will earn his fully exempt card for this year which will give him priority above the reshuffle list.
If Michael fails to earn the needed points in his next four starts he will still have status on tour because he finished 149th on the FedexCup points list last year.
Players who finish 126-150 are granted status in the following year although their priority for entering events is AFTER the players the in the reshuffle list so they are limited for which events they can enter. They are also granted full Web.com Tour Status.
Here are some useful web pages that I use to track all of this:
Medical List
Reshuffle List
2017/2018 Priority Ranking