Are you familiar with the term opposite field event (OFE) on the PGA Tour? Those events take place when tour stars are busy playing in some Majors, elevated events, or in Scotland last weekend. While the stars are playing for big cash (not LIV level, but still a lot of greenbacks), driving around in only the finest of courtesy cars, and staying at the ritziest of Vrbo chalets/estates/penthouses, the journeymen on tour are competing in OFEs where they can still “win” a PGA Tour event and reap “most” of the benefits, but not quite the level of benefits that come with a full-fledged tour victory. Last week an OFE took place opposite the Scottish Open — the Babasol Championship held in steamy Kentucky.
OFE Benefits/Non-benefits:
- 300 vs. 500 FebEx Cup points
- Gain OWGR points, but less
- $$ vs $$$S
- No auto-invite to Masters
- 2-year PGA Tour exemption (the same except for the Majors, Players, and Arnie’s, Jack’s and Tiger’s events which carry longer and more robust exemptions)
- In 2024, OFE victories won’t be auto-qualifiers into “elevated” events, where all other victories guarantee exemption into every subsequent elevated event held during the current season
2022/2023 OFEs
Puerto Rico Open / Arnold Palmer Inv.
Corales Puntacana Championship / Dell Tech Match Play
Barbasol Championship / Genesis Scottish Open
Baracuda Championship / Open Championship
Even though the Scottish Open wasn’t an elevated event, it still carried a traditionally large PGA Tour purse – $9 million. Whereas the Barbasol’s total purse came in at $3.8 million. That’s not chump change, but it’s closer to a Korn Ferry purse than it is an elevated event purse.
Here are the breakdowns from this week’s two PGA Tour events:
Scottish Open Payout:
Win: Rory McIlroy, 265/-15, $1,575,000
2: Robert MacIntyre, 266/-14, $985,500
T-3: Byeong Hun An, 270/-10, $468,450
T-3: David Lingmerth, 270/-10, $468,450
T-3: Scottie Scheffler, 270/-10, $468,450
T-6: Tommy Fleetwood, 271/-9, $261,990
T-6: Tyrrell Hatton, 271/-9, $261,990
T-6: Nicolai Hojgaard, 271/-9, $261,990
T-6: Tom Kim, 271/-9, $261,990
T-6: J.T. Poston, 271/-9, $261,990
11: Grant Forrest, 272/-8, $197,100
T-12: Ewen Ferguson, 273/-7, $151,007.15
T-12: Jordan Smith, 273/-7, $151,007.15
T-12: Ryan Fox, 273/-7, $151,007.14
T-12: Brian Harman, 273/-7, $151,007.14
T-12: Lee Hodges, 273/-7, $151,007.14
T-12: Max Homa, 273/-7, $151,007.14
T-12: Shane Lowry, 273/-7, $151,007.14
T-19: Sam Burns, 274/-6, $105,750
T-19: Corey Conners, 274/-6, $105,750
T-19: Sean Crocker, 274/-6, $105,750
T-19: Garrick Higgo, 274/-6, $105,750
T-19: Tom Hoge, 274/-6, $105,750
T-19: Nick Taylor, 274/-6, $105,750
T-25: Wyndham Clark, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Will Gordon, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Ben Griffin, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Calum Hill, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Viktor Hovland, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Romain Langasque, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Thorbjørn Olesen, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Yannik Paul, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Marcel Schneider, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-25: Gary Woodland, 275/-5, $73,597.50
T-35: Alexander Björk, 276/-4, $52,810.72
T-35: Luke List, 276/-4, $52,810.72
T-35: Tom McKibbin, 276/-4, $52,810.72
T-35: Min Woo Lee, 276/-4, $52,810.71
T-35: Victor Perez, 276/-4, $52,810.71
T-35: Tapio Pulkkanen, 276/-4, $52,810.71
T-35: Davis Riley, 276/-4, $52,810.71
T-42: Jorge Campillo, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Thomas Detry, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Rickie Fowler, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Padraig Harrington, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Maximilian Kieffer, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Ben Martin, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Andrew Putnam, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Richie Ramsay, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Xander Schauffele, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Marcel Siem, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Sebastian Soderberg, 277/-3, $36,255
T-42: Matt Wallace, 277/-3, $36,255
T-54: Julien Brun, 278/-2, $26,190
T-54: Daniel Hillier, 278/-2, $26,190
T-54: Kurt Kitayama, 278/-2, $26,190
T-54: Joakim Lagergren, 278/-2, $26,190
T-54: Joost Luiten, 278/-2, $26,190
T-54: Guido Migliozzi, 278/-2, $26,190
T-60: Eric Cole, 279/-1, $23,220
T-60: Harry Hall, 279/-1, $23,220
T-60: Lucas Herbert, 279/-1, $23,220
T-60: Justin Thomas, 279/-1, $23,220
T-60: Dale Whitnell, 279/-1, $23,220
T-65: Austin Eckroat, 280/E, $20,340
T-65: Billy Horschel, 280/E, $20,340
T-65: Ashun Wu, 280/E, $20,340
T-68: Adri Arnaus, 281/+1, $19,170
T-68: Gavin Green, 281/+1, $19,170
T-68: Antoine Rozner, 281/+1, $19,170
T-68: Erik van Rooyen, 281/+1, $19,170
72: K.H. Lee, 282/+2, $18,720
73: Ben Taylor, 283/+3, $18,540
74: Connor Syme, 284/+4, $18,360
75: Dan Bradbury, 285/+5, $18,180
76: Sami Valimaki, 286/+6, $18,000
77: Matthew Jordan, 287/+7, $17,820
Barbasol Payout:
Win: Vincent Norrman, 266/-22, $684,000
P-2: Nathan Kimsey, 266/-22, $414,200
T-3: Adrien Saddier, 267/-21, $224,200
T-3: Trevor Cone, 267/-21, $224,200
5: Lucas Glover, 268/-20, $155,800
6: Taylor Pendrith, 269/-19, $137,750
T-7: Daniel Brown, 270/-18, $123,500
T-7: Grayson Murray, 270/-18, $123,500
T-9: Akshay Bhatia, 271/-17, $95,950
T-9: Masahiro Kawamura, 271/-17, $95,950
T-9: Doc Redman, 271/-17, $95,950
T-9: David Ravetto, 271/-17, $95,950
T-9: Alexander Levy, 271/-17, $95,950
T-14: Ryan Moore, 272/-16, $71,250
T-14: Marcus Kinhult, 272/-16, $71,250
T-16: Tommy Gainey, 273/-15, $52,345
T-16: MJ Daffue, 273/-15, $52,345
T-16: Christoffer Bring, 273/-15, $52,345
T-16: Adam Long, 273/-15, $52,345
T-16: Ryan Armour, 273/-15, $52,345
T-16: Cameron Percy, 273/-15, $52,345
T-16: Louis de Jager, 273/-15, $52,345
T-16: Jayden Schaper, 273/-15, $52,345
T-24: JC Ritchie, 274/-14, $32,585
T-24: Ryan Brehm, 274/-14, $32,585
T-24: Wesley Bryan, 274/-14, $32,585
T-24: Jason Dufner, 274/-14, $32,585
T-28: Kramer Hickok, 275/-13, $27,740
T-28: Henrik Norlander, 275/-13, $27,740
T-30: Angel Hidalgo Portillo, 276/-12, $24,890
T-30: William McGirt, 276/-12, $24,890
T-30: Chris Nido, 276/-12, $24,890
T-33: John Axelsen, 277/-11, $19,841.43
T-33: Brice Garnett, 277/-11, $19,841.43
T-33: Niklas Norgaard, 277/-11, $19,841.43
T-33: Brian Stuard, 277/-11, $19,841.43
T-33: Andrew Novak, 277/-11, $19,841.43
T-33: Russell Knox, 277/-11, $19,841.43
T-33: Tyson Alexander, 277/-11, $19,841.43
T-40: Jason Scrivener, 278/-10, $15,390
T-40: Bo Hoag, 278/-10, $15,390
T-40: Kelly Kraft, 278/-10, $15,390
T-40: Tano Goya, 278/-10, $15,290
T-44: Zecheng Dou, 279/-9, $11,172
T-44: Scott Harrington, 279/-9, $11,172
T-44: Bo Van Pelt, 279/-9, $11,172
T-44: Chad Ramey, 279/-9, $11,172
T-44: Alejandro Del Rey, 279/-9, $11,172
T-44: Matti Schmid, 279/-9, $11,172
T-44: Justin Lower, 279/-9, $11,172
T-44: Kevin Tway, 279/-9, $11,172
T-52: Clement Sordet, 280/-8, $9,006
T-52: Cody Gribble, 280/-8, $9,006
T-52: Peter Malnati, 280/-8, $9,006
T-52: Mikael Lindberg, 280/-8, $9,006
T-52: Ted Potter, Jr., 280/-8, $9,006
T-52: Max McGreevy, 280/-8, $9,006
T-58: Richy Werenski, 281/-7, $8,626
T-58: Aaron Cockerill, 281/-7, $8,626
T-58: Ryo Hisatsune, 281/-7, $8,626
T-58: (a) David Ford, 281/-7, $0
T-62: Patton Kizzire, 282/-6, $8,360
T-62: Martin Trainer, 282/-6, $8,360
T-62: Johannes Veerman, 282/-6, $8,360
T-62: Michael Gligic, 282/-6, $8,360
66: Greg Chalmers, 283/-5, $8,170
67: Sung Kang, 286/-2, $8,094