12 Pros Withdraw From $4M PGA Tour Event Ahead of Tee-Off

PGA Tour Communications cites the following players as the withdrawals: Greyson Sigg, Adam Schenk, Dan Brown, William Mouw, Austin Smotherman, Nicolai Højgaard, Taylor Moore, Andrew Putnam, Joel Dahmen, Jordan Smith, Emiliano Grillo, and Brendon Todd. Their withdrawals allowed Ben Martin, Jonathan Byrd, and Martin Laird to enter the field as alternates.

Player movement is dictated by the prestige of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and its extraordinary $20 million purse, compared to $4 million in Puerto Rico.

Taylor Moore and Austin Smotherman qualified for Bay Hill through the Aon performance categories, and Joel Dahmen moved in to ‘fill the field’.

The Puerto Rico Open is classified as an “Additional Event”, and “one cannot complain if they want to ditch the $4m event” for a Signature Event when they qualify.

For most of these professionals, the opportunity to fight for a $20 million purse is far more important than an island stop.

Chasing the $20M Signature Prize

Impacting the roster of a secondary tournament via Signature Events is not a first for the Tour.

With the race for the playoffs heating up, plenty of players feel the need to showcase every possible way to earn more FedEx Cup points (and, subsequently, income) through limited-field, high-payout events.

Earlier this year, players on the points bubble also had to face this scenario of determining how to balance guaranteed entries with potentially chasing ‘Aon Swing 5’ positions. 

The essence of all these cases is grounded in a simple “rationale”: finishing high at a Signature Event is more likely to provide greater future job security and accompanying world ranking points than winning a tournament of lesser stature.

Reshuffles of this nature will become more frequent as the season narrows to the majors. For the alternates, their next big decision is to take advantage of this unexpected opportunity to secure their playing privileges through the 2027 season.