Schedule

The schedule contained 46 events, two fewer than the previous season. The schedule was shortened in an effort to complete the FedEx Cup Playoffs by the end of August.

As announced in 2017, the PGA Championship was moved from August to May on the weekend before Memorial Day, starting in 2019. The PGA of America cited the addition of golf to the Summer Olympics, as well as cooler weather enabling a wider array of options for host courses, as reasoning for the change. It was also believed that the PGA Tour wished to re-align its season so that the FedEx Cup Playoffs would not have to compete with the start of football season in late-August. Consequently, The Players Championship was moved from May back to March for the first time since 2006.^[1][2][3][4]

New exemption

The PGA Tour added a one-time exemption for those who made 300 career cuts. J. J. Henry was the first to take advantage.

Events

On hiatus: The Houston Open and Greenbrier Classic were not included in the shortened season, but they did return in the autumn of 2019 as part of the 2019–20 PGA Tour schedule.^[5]

New: Two new events were added to the schedule: the Rocket Mortgage Classic, played at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan, and the 3M Open, played at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.

Relocations: The WGC Invitational was relocated from Akron, Ohio to Memphis, Tennessee when FedEx took over sponsorship of the event.^[6]

Canceled: The FedEx St. Jude Classic ceased due to the WGC event; the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, was played at the Classic's former location in Memphis. The Quicken Loans National; played in the Washington, D.C. area, no longer appeared on the PGA Tour schedule. The FedEx Cup playoff event; the Dell Technologies Championship, was also removed from the schedule with the number of playoff events reducing to three. The Northern Trust alternated between New Jersey, and Boston (the site of the Dell Technologies Championship).^[7]

Rules

From January 1, 2019 onwards, tournaments followed the new rules released by the USGA and The R&A which were designed to speed up the pace of play. The most noticeable changes included golfers being able to putt on the green with the flag remaining in, and drops being made from knee rather than shoulder height.^[8]

Prize money

As well as changes to individual tournament prize funds, the FedEx Cup postseason bonus money increased by $25 million to $60 million, with the FedEx Cup champion getting $15 million. The winner of the Tour Championship will be the FedEx Cup champion. The Tour Championship begins with each player having an adjusted score relative to par which relates to the amount of FedEx Cup points accumulated (previously the Tour Championship was structured similar to other tournaments, and awarded FedEx Cup points). The Tour Championship no longer have its own separate prize fund.

In addition, the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 was introduced, a $10 million bonus to be divided among the FedEx Cup top 10 regular season finishers.^[9]

The tour also introduced the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. In most tournaments, a single hole is allocated to contribute to the challenge. A player's best two scores from every participating event a player competes in throughout the season is used. The player with the lowest average to par score wins $1m. The initiative is replicated on the LPGA Tour.^[10]

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the PGA Tour, but did not carry FedEx Cup points or official money, nor were wins official.

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse ($)	Winner(s)	OWGR points	Notes
Nov 23	The Match: Tiger vs. Phil	Nevada	9,000,000	Phil Mickelson	n/a	2-man match[16]
Nov 25	ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf	Australia	7,000,000	Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters	n/a	Team event
Dec 2	Hero World Challenge	Bahamas	3,500,000	Jon Rahm	48	Limited-field event
Dec 9	QBE Shootout	Florida	3,300,000	Brian Harman and Patton Kizzire	n/a	Team event

Points distribution

The distribution of points for 2018–19 PGA Tour events were as follows:

Tour Championship starting score (to par), based on position in the FedEx Cup rankings after the BMW Championship:

Final standings

For full rankings, see 2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Final FedEx Cup standings of the 30 qualifiers for the Tour Championship:^[17][18]

Pos.	Player			Majors & The Players						WGCs					Top 10s in other PGA Tour events							Regular season points		Playoffs[lower-alpha 5]		Total points	Tour C'ship[lower-alpha 6]			Tmts		Money ($m)[lower-alpha 7]
	Nat.	Name		Ply	Mas	PGA	USO	Opn		WGC Cha	WGC Mex	WGC MP	WGC Inv		1	2	3	4	5	6	7			NTr	BMW		Start	Final				Basic	Wynd Top10	FedEx Bonus
1		McIlroy		1st	T21	T8	T9	CUT		T54	2nd	T9	T4		T4	T5	T4	T6	T9	1st		2,315		T6	T19	2,842	−5	−18		19		7.79	1.50	15.00
2		Schauffele		CUT	T2	T16	T3	T41		1st	T14	T24	T27		1st	T10						1,858		CUT	T16	2,030	−4	−14		21		5.61	1.10	5.00
T3		Koepka		T56	T2	1st	2nd	T4		T16	T27	T56	1st		1st	T2	4th					2,887		T30	T24	3,119	−7	−13		21		9.68	2.00[lower-alpha 8]	3.50
		Thomas		T35	T12	•	CUT	T11		•	9th	T24	T12		T5	3rd	3rd	2nd				1,247		T12	1st	3,475	−10			20		5.01
5		Casey		CUT	CUT	T29	T21	T57		T16	T3	T9	T27		2nd	1st	T4	T5				1,629		•	T24	1,768	−2	−9		22		4.26	0.60	2.50
6		Scott		T12	T18	T8	T7	CUT		T18	•	•	T40		T10	2nd	T7	2nd				1,124		5th	T9	1,874	−3	−8		18		4.08		1.90
7		Finau		T22	T5	T64	CUT	3rd		2nd	T25	T40	T27		2nd							1,279		T30	4th	1,911	−3	−7		25		4.34		1.30
8		Reavie		CUT	•	T14	T3	CUT		T35	T65	T56	T27		T7	T3	T4	1st				1,309		T38	T57	1,394	−1	−6		28		3.66		1.10
T9		Kisner		T22	T21	CUT	T49	T30		•	T27	1st	T27		T7	T5						1,098		T12	T9	1,639	−2	−5		25		3.49		0.84
		Matsuyama		T8	T32	T16	T21	CUT		T30	T19	T24	T43		T3	T9	6th	T7				969		T59	3rd	1,821	−3			24		3.34
		Reed		T47	T36	CUT	T32	10th		T7	T14	T24	T12		T5							774		1st	T19	2,946	−6			25		3.59
T12		DeChambeau		T20	T29	CUT	T35	CUT		•	T56	T40	T48		1st	7th	T10	T8	T2			1,203		T24	T48	1,371	E	−4		21		3.19		0.68
		Rahm		T12	T9	CUT	T3	T11		T22	T45	T24	7th		T8	6th	T5	T10	T9	T6	1st	1,447		T3	T5	2,517	−4			20		4.99	0.50
14		Kokrak		T47	•	T23	•	T32		•	•	•	•		T9	T10	T2	T7	T6			721		T12	T19	1,254	E	−3		24		2.33		0.62
15		Woodland		T30	T32	T8	1st	CUT		•	T17	T17	T55		T5	2nd	T10	2nd	T9	T7		1,795		T52	T31	1,912	−3	−2		24		5.69	1.00	0.60
T16		Fleetwood		T5	T36	T48	T65	2nd		T7	T19	T24	T4		T3	2nd						1,193		T43	T11	1,479	−1	−1		18		3.85		0.55
		Kuchar		T26	T12	T8	T16	T41		•	50th	2nd	T43		1st	1st	T4	T7	2nd	T4		2,313		CUT	T52	2,339	−4			22		6.29	1.20
		Simpson		T16	T5	T29	T16	T30		•	T39	T56	2nd		3rd	T8	T2	2nd				1,619		T18	T24	1,946	−4			21		4.69	0.55
T19		Fowler		T47	T9	T36	T43	T6		•	T36	•	•		T4	1st	T2	T4				1,391		CUT	T11	1,637	−2	E		20		3.95		0.51
		Im		CUT	•	CUT	•	CUT		•	•	•	•		T4	T7	T3	T4	T7	7th	T6	1,097		T38	T11	1,407	−1			35		2.85
T21		Ancer		T12	•	T16	T49	CUT		•	T39	T17	•		T5	T4	T8					622		2nd	T28	1,940	−4	+1		27		2.69		0.48
		Cantlay		CUT	T9	T3	T21	T41		T7	T6	T24	T12		2nd	T9	T3	1st				1,730		T12	2nd	3,157	−8			21		6.12	0.85
		Oosthuizen		T56	T29	T60	T7	T20		•	T25	T5	T20		T5	T2						754		T6	T11	1,355	E			19		2.94
T24		Leishman		CUT	T49	CUT	T35	CUT		•	T62	T9	3rd		1st	T4	T3	T4	5th			1,415		CUT	T19	1,587	−1	+2		21		3.89		0.45
		Snedeker		T5	CUT	T16	77th	CUT		T30	•	T24	T27		T2	T4	T5					934		T6	T5	1,709	−2			27		3.12
T26		Conners		T41	T46	T64	•	CUT		•	•	•	T27		2nd	T3	1st					962		T21	T7	1,476	−1	+3		28		2.92		0.43
		Rose		T8	CUT	T29	T3	T20		3rd	•	T9	11th		1st	3rd						1,423		T10	T52	1,739	−2			17		4.36
28		Howell III		T35	T32	T41	T52	•		•	T14	T24	•		T5	1st	T8	6th	T6			1,279		CUT	T37	1,345	E	+4		27		3.04		0.43
T29		Glover		CUT	•	T16	CUT	T20		•	•	•	•		T7	T7	T4	T10	T7	T10		944		T43	T7	1,337	E	+10		26		2.61		0.40
		D. Johnson		T5	T2	2nd	T35	T51		T30	1st	T40	T20		T4	T9	T6					1,686		T24	T57	1,840	−3			19		5.53	0.70