2021 Order of Merit and national tournament exemptions

The PGA can now confirm the exemptions available into the 2020 PGA Professional Championship and next year’s PGA tournaments.

Playing rights for next year’s tournament activity will be determined by both the 2019 and 2020 Regional Order of Merits. This ‘blended’ Order of Merit model avoids over-reliance on historic (2019) performance, while recognising more recent form from the 2020 activity. It also avoids over-dependence on the 2020 results given the limited number of regional events.

2020 PGA Professional Championship
This year’s Championship commences 6 October 2020 at Trentham Golf Club, Staffordshire. In addition to the usual exemptions (see tournament T&Cs), and in the absence of regional qualifiers, a representative number of Members from each of the blended Regional Orders of Merit for 2020 and 2019 who are not otherwise exempt will be exempted into the Championship. The number of spots for each region will be calculated as a proportion of entries received with the field being determined at a cut-off date of 25 September 2020.

2021 Regional Order of Merit Events

Twenty-five exemptions will be available into the 2021 Regional Order of Merit events, allocated alternately between the 2020 and 2019 Order of Merit standings in a ‘blended’ format, starting with the 2020 Order of Merit. The top 10 players not otherwise exempt from 2020, and the top 15 not otherwise exempt from 2019 will form the 25 exemptions. If a player is exempt under both 2020 and 2019, the exemption will drop down to the next placed player not otherwise exempt within the corresponding Order of Merit.

2021 PGA Professional Championship
The top three players from the 2020 Regional Orders of Merit will receive an exemption into the 2021 PGA Professional Championship. If a player is already exempt, or is ineligible, the spot does not carry down to fourth place. Exemptions will also be available for the top 20 from the 2020 PGA Professional Championship, the winners from 2016 to 2020, members of the 2019 PGA Cup team, the 2020 national champions and the host PGA Professional.

2021 PGA Play Offs (for 2021 Tour starts)
The 2021 Play-Offs will be contested alongside the 2021 PGA Professional Championship, with the exemptions forming a 24-player field. This will comprise of the top three from each of the Regional Orders of Merits from 2020, the 2020 PGA Assistants’ Champion and the winner and runner up of the 2020 PGA Professional Championship.

Should there be a tie for third place in the final Regional Order of Merit, the final spot will be determined based on the highest number of first place finishes in Order of Merit events, then runner-up and third places until the tied players can be split.

The prize fund for the Play-Offs will remain at £25,000 and any Tour events added to the schedule prior to the Play-Offs taking place will be awarded back to the 2019 PGA play-Off results.

2021 English PGA Championship

The top three players from each of the 2020 and 2019 Regional Orders of Merit will receive an exemption, should they meet nationality criteria. If a player is exempt in both years, or is ineligible, the spot does not carry down to fourth place. Exemptions will also be awarded to the top 15 from the 2019 English PGA Championship, the 2019 PGA Cup team, past Ryder Cup players, the 2020 PGA Assistants’ Champion, the PGA Professional Champions from 2016 to 2020 and the host PGA Professional.

2021 Coca-Cola PGA Assistants’ Championship

The top three players from each regional Order of Merit arising from the PGA Assistants’ Series supported by The R&A will be exempt into the 2021 Coca-Cola PGA Assistants’ Championship. These exemptions replace the previous Regional Assistants’ Order of Merit exemptions. The defending Champion and a host Assistant will also be exempt.

2021 PGA EuroPro Tour

Category 7 EuroPro Tour cards are available for the winners of each of the 2020 and 2019 Regional Orders of Merit. Category 13 EuroPro Tour cards are available for players 2 – 10 in the 2020 and 2019 Regional Orders of Merit of the PGA Region in which a Tournament is being played.

This model will not be relevant in Ireland where the level of tournament activity post lockdown, coupled with the fact that all tournaments count towards the Regional Order of Merit, has been of sufficient volume to provide a robust ranking based on 2020 activity alone.

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