2020 Barracuda Championship format: Modified Stableford points, cut rules
PGA Tour

2020 Barracuda Championship format: Modified Stableford points, cut rules

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The 2020 Barracuda Championship format has been announced for the PGA Tour's opposite-field event played in the Reno-Tahoe area of California, against the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

The Barracuda Championship field is comprised of 132 players, competing over 72 holes. The Barracuda Championship is the only PGA Tour stroke-play event that uses the Modified Stableford scoring system. The Modified Stableford scoring system is a version of stroke or medal play that awards points based on how a player scores against par on each hole. Here's how the points are distributed at the Barracuda Championship.

Modified Stableford scoring system points

  • Albatross: 8 points
  • Eagle: 5 points
  • Birdie: 2 points
  • Par: 0 points
  • Bogey: -1 points
  • Double bogey or worse: -3 points

The player with the highest total after 72 holes wins. After 36 holes, a cut is made to the top 65 and ties, consistent with PGA Tour cut rules and regulations.

The format promotes risk-taking because there is a limit on what can be lost (players can pick up when they know they're going to make no better than double bogey), while only awarding points to those that can go low. It works well at Montreux Golf and Country Club, whose nines were switched a few years back to end with an exciting stretch to promote aggression.

In the event of a tie in points after 72 holes, the Barracuda Championship playoff format becomes a sudden-death stroke-play affair, with the player earning the fewest strokes on a playoff hole advancing or winning the tournament. The Barracuda Championship winner earns a two-season PGA Tour exemption and invitations into the Sentry Tournament of Champions and The Players Championship in 2020. The winner also earns 300 FedEx Cup points.

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Ryan Ballengee

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