Matt Kuchar and the Future on the PGA Tour: A New Landscape
St. Simons Island, Ga. – Matt Kuchar finished his 19th consecutive season on the PGA Tour, ranking 118th in the FedEx Cup. This position, which in previous years would have secured his full card, now presents a challenge due to the reduction of the cut to the top 100 instead of the top 125. The next step for Kuchar, 47 years old, could be to use one of his career earnings exemptions, but the situation is not that simple. The PGA Tour has changed significantly since Kuchar joined in 2002. Now, the circuit features eight signature events, four majors, The Players Championship, and three FedEx Cup playoff events. Kuchar is not eligible for any of these in 2026.The main question is whether his conditional status, being 118th in the FedEx Cup, will allow him to participate in a similar number of events compared to using a career earnings exemption. PGA Tour officials estimate that players ranked between 101st and 110th in the FedEx Cup, thus maintaining throughout the year, will be able to participate in approximately 16 of the 19 tournaments, in addition to all FedEx Cup Fall events, except the one in Japan. Kuchar is eight positions below this group and could be affected if he doesn’t perform well initially. He still has time to decide on his two exemptions. Despite the era of big prizes, Kuchar has had an outstanding career, ranking 15th in career earnings with $61,538,738. This figure exceeds by more than $15.4 million the player in 25th place, so waiting one more year to use the exemption for the top 25 will not generate losses. Kuchar will have to make a decision in the next month before the Sony Open in Hawaii. This year, Kuchar achieved a single top 10, a tie for fifth place at the John Deere Classic, but only missed two cuts in 18 participations.I don’t know how many starts I’ll have. I don’t know if using an exemption will give me different opportunities. It’s complicated. It won’t give you access to important events.
Matt Kuchar
It’s not the 2025 I was expecting. It was a frustrating year. I think I only missed two cuts, but I couldn’t string together weeks where I played well and putted well.
Matt Kuchar
