Ian Poulter’s PGA Tour Status Reveals New Top 125 Rule

Ian Poulter faces major challenges to retain his PGA TOUR playing status.

Ian Poulter enters the Valero Texas Open needing to win $30,624 to retain his PGA TOUR status. According to the PGA TOUR, that means Poulter needs to finish T36 or better to keep his status and his card for this season. He needs to do it this week on the major medical exemption.

After being out with a medical issue since the 2016 Dean & DeLuca Invitational, Poulter had 10 tournaments in the 2016-2017 season to earn $378,258 or 218 FedExCup points with the major medical category. His T11 finish in the RBC Heritage earned him $114,045, leaving him $30,624 short.

If he is unable to earn sufficient money, he will have to request sponsor exemptions in order to continue to play on the PGA TOUR.

Here’s where, according to a spokeswoman at the PGA TOUR, we get a new wrinkle.

If Poulter does not earn enough money to keep his status and has to rely on sponsor exemptions, he will need to earn enough FedEx points in the remainder of the season to put him into the top 125 in points. Season money is no longer the standard for keeping a PGA TOUR card for the first time since the formation of the PGA TOUR. Only the top 125 in points are exempt for the 2071-2018 season.

In what classifies as a 100% speculation, it is not unreasonable to think that probably means FedEx is going to continue to sponsor the season long program. Otherwise, why change now? However, absolutely nothing has been announced.

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The TOUR spokeswoman added that while it is unlikely that Poulter would earn 125^th place money and not earn top 125 FedEx points, there was the outside possibility that it could happen that way. Regarding the number of points needed to enter the playoffs, she expected it to be approximately 454 by the end of the regular season, but each season is different.

In terms of his ability to get additional sponsor exemptions if needed, she said, “He IS Ian Poulter, and tournaments would like to have him in their events.”

That brings us to the next scenario. According to Mark Williams of the PGA TOUR should Poulter make the $30,624, he will still not be able to enter THE PLAYERS unless he earns 63.775 additional FedExCup points, which equates to solo 12^th or better at the Valero Texas Open.

However, Poulter has also committed to the Zurich Classic, and at that event, a team competition, the team splits, for example first and second points, if they win. So technically, he may have two events to earn the 63.775 points to get into THE PLAYERS.

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If Poulter makes enough money, but does not yet have sufficient points for THE PLAYERS, he could enter Wells Fargo, so long as he has reached the money criteria to regain his PGA TOUR status.

One last incentive for Poulter to earn the $30,624 this week is if he does not get enough money to remain exempt by this week, and if he does not earn enough points by the end of the season, he will be forced to go to the Web.com Finals where he will have to battle it out for four weeks to finish high enough to earn back a PGA TOUR card.

It gets worse. Because 25 of the 50 cards will be awarded prior to the end of the Web.com season, he will have no way to anticipate in advance how high he will have to finish during the four-week Web.com Finals.

Next: Valero Texas Open Top 10 Power Rankings

The PGA Tour noted that Poulter does have past champion status, but that is a lower level category that does not often produce exemptions for players.

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