A sponsor exemption in golf is when a player is invited to play in a tournament that they did not qualify for.
I will mainly discuss PGA Tour sponsor exemptions but the criteria and method for selection is similar on other major tours such as the LPGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour, and the DP World Tour.
Sponsor exemptions can be used to drum up interest, viewers, fans, and to sell tickets.
Each sponsored tournament has a set number of sponsor exemptions (8) that they are allowed to give out.
The tournament director is the one who typically decides who gets the exemptions.
Certain tournaments, such as the Majors, the Players, and the FedEx Cup Playoffs don’t have sponsor exemptions.
PGA Tour Priority Rankings List
To understand how sponsor exemptions work, it’s helpful to know how PGA tour tournament fields are filled.
The PGA tour has a 39 categories in their 2022-23 priority rankings list.
This is the list used to determine the fields for the vast majority of PGA Tour events.
For example, the first four categories are the winners of the PGA Championship, the US Open, the Players, and the Open Championship for the last 5 years.
This means that anyone who won those events in the last 5 years essentially has first pick as to which PGA Tour events they play.
It’s interesting to look at which accomplishments outrank others:
- winning the Memorial Tournament in the previous 3 years gives a player priority over anyone who won the FedEx Cup in the last 5 years.
- sponsor exemptions are given priority over the previous years top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Number 12 on the priority rankings list addresses sponsor exemptions:
Sponsor exemptions (a maximum of eight, which may include amateurs with handicaps of 0 or less), on the following basis:
No players exempt in this category
A. Not less than two sponsor invitees shall be PGA TOUR members not otherwise exempt.
B. Not less than two of the 2020-2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals Category, if not all can otherwise be accommodated.
NOTE: PGA TOUR members may receive an unlimited number of sponsor invitations.
Non-TOUR members may receive a maximum of seven (7) per year.
https://www.pgatour.com/news/2022/priority-ranking-2022-23-season.html
Because there are so many different ways to earn yearly exemption on the PGA tour, in any given year approximately 215-220 players are fully exempt.
With the average PGA Tour event field size being 132-156 players, many exempt players don’t get to play any event they choose.
This is where sponsor exemptions can really help out a struggling PGA Tour player.
Deciding Who Gets The Sponsor Exemptions
For the PGA Tour, pretty much anyone is eligible long as they have a handicap index of 0 or less.
Several factors come into play when deciding who is most deserving of a sponsor exemption:
Local Players
This is a great way for tournament directors to give a young, local players a shot a playing a PGA Tour event.
It’s fairly common for up and coming local high school or college players to get an exemption.
Many players take an active role in getting one of these spots, as Jordan Spieth famously did in 2010.
Many current and former stars were given sponsor exemptions as a young player.
Former Champion
A former champion of a particular event is likely to be invited back to play in that event if they haven’t otherwise qualified.
Former PGA Star
Particularly in less prestigious tournaments, adding a well known former star to the lineup is a great way to entice spectators to come out and watch.
Tiger will always be allowed in any tournament he chooses to play in.
Club Member
Occasionally there is a very good player that is a member at the course the even is being played at. Again, this is a great way to drum up local interest as well as giving the player a potentially once in a lifetime opportunity.
Current PGA/Korn Ferry Member
Each tournament must give at least 2 of their exemptions to current PGA Tour exempt players who did not otherwise qualify as well as at least 2 exemptions to those that were in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals from the previous year.
Many tournament directors want to provide the most competitive field possible. If a player is not otherwise exempt, but has recently been playing very well, they will likely earn a sponsor exmpetion.
Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala are very good examples of this over the past two years.
Notable Sponsor Exemptions
Matt Wolff won the 3M Open in 2019 on exemption. This earned him his PGA tour card for the following year as well as an invite to the most coveted golf tournament of all, The Master’s.
Jordan Spieth won the 2013 John Deere Classic on a sponsor exemption.
Slightly controversially, many celebrities have also been given sponsor exemptions.
Tony Romo has played several PGA and Korn Ferry tour events on sponsor exemptions and Mardy Fish recently played in the 3M Open on the PGA Tour.
Steph Curry has also played Korn Ferry Events on sponsor exemptions and John Smoltz has played several PGA Tour Champions events.
While it’s cool to see celebrities tee it up in professional events, every spot they take is essentially a publicity stunt that takes away an opportunity for a young, talented player to gain some experience and showcase his talents.
Exhibit A is Dan Bradbury, who recently won the Joburg Open on the DP World Tour on a sponsor’s exemption!
The 23-year-old-first-year pro received an offer to play the tournament on an exemption and made the most of it.
Instead of some celebrity playing and very likely missing the cut, Bradbury was given a chance to compete and turned that chance into a two year exemption on the DP World Tour and a spot in the 2023 Open Championship.
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