The Rahm rule? Tour says players allowed to skip 1 elevated event

The PGA Tour’s first elevated event is still weeks away, but the circuit has already adjusted the mandatory participation requirement for its Player Impact Program.

According to a memo sent to players last week, players will be allowed to miss one elevated event for “personal or professional reasons” and still be eligible to collect PIP bonuses.

Some players, most notably Jon Rahm, pushed back on the additional requirements, which, in theory, would include 13 elevated events, four majors and three additional FedExCup events.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes,” Rahm said when first asked about the minimums, which will make it difficult for a player like Rahm to maintain membership on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

The Tour also announced that players can use an event from this fall’s portion of the schedule to count toward their three additional events. Next year, the fall portion of the schedule is set to transition into a sort of seeding series for players to earn Tour status.

The WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship were recently added to the schedule as elevated events and the year kicks off with the first of the 13 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The other elevated events for next year are: The Players, three FedExCup playoffs events, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament and WGC-Dell Match Play.

The Tour also announced that because of the return to a calendar schedule starting in 2024, the PIP standings will be calculated from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, to allow “a player as much time as possible to plan his schedule.” This year the PIP measurement period was through Dec. 31.