Charles Schwab Challenge Format

The Charles Schwab Cup Championship is the season's last event on the PGA Tour Champions, the world's top golf tour for male professionals aged 50 and older, based in the United States. It was formerly known as the Senior Tour Championship and is played annually in late October or early November. It is the PGA Tour Champions' version of the PGA Tour's Tour Championship. Like the Tour Championship, it features no halfway cut and a small field (30 from 1990 to 2015 and 36 from 2016 onward).

The top 30 money winners were allowed in the field through to 2015. 36 golfers have participated since 2016. The FedEx Cup is the last round of a three-tournament playoff, akin to the one utilised by the regular PGA Tour. A further feature that set the tournament apart as the PGA Circuit Champions through 2015 was that the only competition on the circuit, aside from the five majors, played over four rounds. It was held again over three rounds in 2016 and 2017. It is scheduled to take place over four rounds again in 2018. The purse has been $2,500,000 since 2013, of which $440,000 goes to the winner.

What is the format of the Charles Schwab Challenge?

The Charles Schwab Challenge adheres to the PGA Tour's most conventional format, stroke play. More precisely, four rounds of 72 holes, with a cut after the first two, and the player with the fewest strokes wins. It is an invitation-only tournament with an official field of 120 players.

The Priority Ranking of the current season is the basis for the PGA TOUR's standardised method of establishing event fields, which also considers other exemption and qualifying categories.

Both field sizes and the number of exemptions unique to a particular event may differ. All full-field tournaments are guaranteed entrance for fully exempt PGA TOUR members; however, there are a number of conditional categories that are subject to reshuffles on a regular basis based on FedExCup Points earned over the course of the season. Categories with 'reshuffle' notation indicate that a reshuffle period has occurred.

How is the field chosen for the Charles Schwab Challenge?

Since the Charles Schwab Challenge is an invitational tournament, a few criteria are needed to be ticked off for the players to be considered for the tournament. The criteria are as follows:

At least 120 participants were invited based on the following criteria:

1. Prior to 2000 and within the last five years, Colonial winners in the top 150 of the FedEx Cup standings from the previous year

2. The last five years' major championship winners and the Players Championship

3. The previous three years' champions of the World Golf Championship and Tour Championship

4. The previous three years' champions of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Memorial

5. PGA Tour winners from the previous Colonial tournament

6. Players on the most recent U.S. Ryder Cup squad to be announced

7. Members of the current PGA Tour who competed for the United States, International, and European Ryder Cup teams that were previously announced.

8. The Colonial tournament's past and present champions will choose two players.

9. The top 15 players and ties from the Colonial Tournament the year before

10. There are 12 sponsor exemptions: 2 from Web.com Tour finals grads, 6 members who are not otherwise exempt, and 4 unconstrained

11. The Masters provides the official World Golf Rankings Top 50

12. The FedEx Cup points list the top 80 from the previous year

13. Players in the top 125 non-member group whose non-WGC points from the previous season were equivalent to or more than the points gained by the player who placed 80th on the FedEx Cup points list the year before.

14. The top 80 finishers from the FedEx Cup points standings as of two weeks ago

Any openings that need to be filled to field 120 players are taken from the FedEx Cup points list for the current season.